Dosent like one of a levels in year 13

[Rox20]

My dd, does bio, chem and maths and she is quite a bright student who achieved mostly nines and a few eights at gcse. Although she is happy with bio and chem (wants to do dentistry), she wishes she did philosophy instead of maths as she would enjoy it more and find it easier. Often, she is angry and regretful about this choice. Is it worth retaking a year or not?

How would it work?

Do you mean drop out of y13, go back to y12 a term late with 1 A level changed? Would a school/college even agree to that?

Or do you mean finish y13 with existing A levels then do maths in a year? In that case she wouldn't be 'full time' and would have A levels so you may need to self fund.

Or are you thinking of something else?

Would she be able to just re take 1 year if already in year 13. I thought most a levelswere a 2 year couese

Won't she need maths for dentistry?

What grade is she likely to get for her maths? A levels are only really 5 terms worth of learning and she’s already done 3.5. Unless her maths grade will stop her from getting onto the degree course she wants it would seem a bit late to change things now.

She's got just over a term's teaching to go, then the exams. She should just get her head down and get on with it. In dentistry, or whatever else she does, there will be aspects she doesn't enjoy. No part of education, no job, not even your dream job, is without its tedious or less enjoyable parts. Believe me, I'm old eough to know. You just have to get on with it.

She needs maths for dentistry so she just needs to stay focused on her goal and stick with what she's doing. Short term pain for long term gain.

If she’s within reach of the grade she needs I’d look at the Oxford Easter residential revision courses.

I'd say no. She's so close to finishing now. It's fine not to enjoy maths, but just slog on and in 6 months she'll never have to think about it again. Starting a whole new A-level at this point that she thinks she'd probably like better is just a waste of time IMO. Maths is also recommended for dentistry.

Hasnt she pretty much finished the curriculum now? DS is finished at Christmas and then its just mocks and revision

She just needs to get her head down and work. She's got about 6 months before her A level exams.

Philosophy won't be any use for dentistry, so that's daft. It doesn't matter if she thinks it would have been 'easy' and 'enjoyable'.

Has she looked at dentistry courses to apply to?
What subjects do they need and what grades?
Do you mean to take her out now, start philosophy and then sit those three in 2026?
Like others have said, I'd grin and bear it.

If she's in year 13, hasn't she already put in her UCAS application (dentistry is early application I believe)?

Absolutely not

I think changing A-levels at this point only makes any sense if someone discovers they need a particular A-level for their chosen career. She can always study philosophy by some other means at some point in the future, and it would be a bit of a waste of the effort she's put in so far on the maths to stop now.

If she doesn't make it on the grades she needs for dentistry, then there might be a decision to make on whether she retakes maths or finds somewhere that offers a different subject in one year - or perhaps both!

Stick with current A levels. Score well. Get into desired university on preferred choice. Join philo club or sign up for some philo courses on the side.

Some dental schools want all exams done in the same sitting, so she does need to stick with it. What are her predicted grades?

Is the subtext of this that her predicted grade for maths wasn't enough to apply for dentistry this year, or maybe she just had some mocks in which she's falling short of predictions? If the latter, I think there can often be quite a difference between maths mocks results and the final grade because so much of the exam prep is doing past papers. Maths mocks seem to serve mostly as a wake up call I suspect!

The other thing to check is whether the dental admissions require 3 a levels taken at the same time - I seem to have heard this sort of thing in relation to medicine, but don't know if that's correct or if it's relevant for dentists.

Every single bit of this. Also, dropping and adding subjects now could result in messing up her chances for dentistry

She was thinking of doing bio and chem this year, and studying for philosophy now, but doing that next year

Where is she thinking she might study dentistry?

Admissions for Dentistry won’t be happy about her sitting 2 then just 1 A level. Most want to know applicants can handle a heavy academic load.

I think she is at an A / B at the moment. She has been finding a2 a big jump from AS and mechanics particularly hard.

maths isnt a requirement, only biology and chemistry are

Most dentistry course will want 3 Alevels at one sitting. Did she sit UCAT and apply this cycle?

Has she already applied or is she trying for entry next year with grades in hand?