'A' levels mocks shock

[Alevelsmockshock]

Household is in a bit of a state of shock. DD predicted A, B, B and got C, E, U in her February mocks, real thing this summer.

She focused on the subject that she got a C in, but had major problems with time management in all of them. She's currently blaming everyone else but herself (a defence - she's humiliated and shocked). But still going from an A to a U in her 'best' subject was a shocker.

We've had a couple of talks and I'm giving her a bit of space to process things at the moment. She's applied to universities and has some offers based on her previous predicted grades, which now look very unlikely.

I don't care about getting the grades for uni - I just want her to be happy, but never thought I'd see her struggling with academics.

Any chance that focused revision from here on in will help her pull it out of the bag? Not to achieve the offers she has, but just to make her feel reasonably proud of herself.

TIA.

If you can id throw money at the problem by way of tutoring. Even an Easter boot camp if possible. Dd went from a 2 to an 8 in English gcse from mock to real thing with a tutor once a week.

Did she not pick a university with some lower offers to give herself choice if things don't work out?

I would be wanting to talk to her teachers about why things went so badly with her mocks. They may have a better idea about why she is so far off the mark. How where the predicted grades worked out, DD had mocks end of year 12 and course work which they based hers on and they where very accurate.

Which subjects were involved? Some subjects lend themselves more to cramming than others.

If time-management was the problem rather than knowledge, that suggests that she really has not practised exam technique. In my subject (maths) she really needs to do loads of past papers to ensure that she becomes able to manage time.

What subjects? Where did she do so badly – can you look at the papers and see if you can identify areas to improve? There is time for sure. Did she actually revise in an effective way?

If you look at the papers or speak to the teachers they may be able to analyse it and tell her where she went wrong. If she can be honest and see that "I really didn;t know subject xyz very well" then that would be helpful, if that makes sense. If her view is that she worked hard and knew all about abc topic (but still did badly) then that's more tricky.

Agree a short-term tutor may help. Depends a bit on the subject tho.

I'd agree about tutoring. I'm sure you're right though to give her time to come to terms with it.

And then a practical attitude. These were mocks. She has a chance to improve. You'll support her. In the end it's only exams; there will be good options whatever happens.

Quite encouraging that she did better in the subject she focused on - she did something right; with a tutor's help, she can do better.

I also did really badly in my mocks- needed AAA (old money) and got CDD. I did turn it around. The key thing was identifying where it went wrong- so for example time management- understanding that it's better to spread the time evenly as it's always easier to get the first 10 marks on a 20 mark question than the last 10 so don't be tempted to spend more time on questions you are confident on. Was the problem not having the information in her head to answer the question (i.e. not knowing the content) or not applying the information (i.e. not answering the question or failing to identify key requirements such as "describe" "explain" etc. ?

Mine were a massive kick up the arse and I got my head down- don't think my parents saw me at half term or easter as I was in the library constantly.

If time management is the issue then it would be worth having a tutor go through old exam papers with her and show her how much time per section she needs. Plenty of practice between now and exams and she should be fine.

She needs to ask her teachers to sit down with her and go through the papers. She needs to be able to explain exactly what went wrong, otherwise she won't be able to improve. Time management definitely can impact marks, but it sounds like maybe she missed a whole essay question or something.

No point getting a tutor unless she knows what she needs to work on. Quiz potential tutors about their knowledge of that exam spec - anyone who doesn't know that specific one will be a waste of cash at this stage.

This.
Throw money at it.
And help her with her time management.
That’s what I’d do to give my daughter one last shot at coming away from school without regrets.
Get her tutor(s) for her subjects.
Invoke rules on phone usage maybe? Help her plan and carry out repetitive revision (bring snacks/drinks/quiet time in the house for an hour or something).
Has she got friends? Could you encourage revision groups at your house but all phones stay downstairs or something.

I agree with others a tutor if you can - but if its time management issues in an exam then lots of mock papers under timed conditions at home so your DD can get into getting the timings right for each type of question.

Sounds like an exam technique problem. What have the teachers who marked the mocks said? They shouldn't be handing out mock grades like that with no further explanation and discussion about the way forward.

yy to this last point from @Aitchemarsey – there are tutors and tutors and I have worked with students who have been prepped for their exam by someone who may have had good subject knowledge (MFL) but had little knowledge of the exam spec.

She must have known they went badly. Agree time management and exam technique can be learned. Was she perhaps not tailoring her answers to the question and mark scheme, being too narrative?

English, Biology and Sociology. She's had a tutor with good knowledge of her exam spec for biology for a while and has been consistently doing past papers and getting B+.

Yes, she did miss out whole questions. I was trying to explain to her that this really drags your marks down even if you do well on some answers, but she's not ready to listen or knows and is angry with herself.

Yes, she did apply to unis with lower offers, but these results are way off that. I'm not sure that it's worth going to university if you can't work out how to revise and do exams, unless it's an entirely coursework based degree.

I think it is mainly exam technique - realising that it's fundamental not an optional extra. I've got parents' evening next week (she's refusing to go at the moment, which is up to her) and I'll find out more then.

Her predicted grades were based on GCSEs, past mocks and work she'd submitted during the year.

I’d definitely be speaking to the teachers. Something has gone wrong here. I assume she got As/Bs in her mocks in year 12, so she must have had better exam technique then.

I would also suggest tutoring.

Yes, I'll speak to them next week. Much better in previous mocks - that's why it's such a shock.

Thanks all.

When you say "gone from an A to a U", how was that A determined?

Her year 12 mocks are pretty meaningless. They wouldn't have been real past exams and so there would not have been any grade boundaries to give her a meaningful grade.

Is it one of those schools where the teachers aggressively under-score the mocks because they think the shock will motivate the kids? I have known some pretty egregious examples of that happening.

If she genuinely just bombed them, the best thing you can do is help her pick herself up and get on with working towards a better experience in the real thing. It sounds like you've got a good understanding of where she fell down, so you have time to get her the right support to target her weaknesses. I wouldn't go overboard with tutoring etc however. She needs to stay calm and keep things in perspective. Too many kids are burning out and collapsing because they're being force-fed the idea that the exams are everything and their lives won't be worth living if they fail. I know two who managed to get the top grades, got into Oxbridge and have rusticated during their first year because they just can't take any more pressure.

Not necessarily true. My subject uses a past paper and those grade boundaries.

Sociology she can absolutely turn around if she learns everything. I went from an E to an A 30 years ago. It is a knowledge based subject. Biology will be possible too if she can really focus on learning. I think English lit is a bit harder and maybe where to focus. Obviously her individual strengths are key..

How have you covered enough content to do a full A level in year 12?

We are in a similar situation DS predicted ABB and got B, C, U in his mocks.

He also gets very defensive about discussing it, doesn't want to listen to advice or offered help and to be honest seems embarassed about it. He is really starting to put the hours in but again I don't think those hours are that productive (listening to music), messaging on social media and he won't listen about the need to do past paper after past paper!

A full paper. A we have the grade boundaries for each paper so we use those.

Because that's the way we plan the course. We can't do more than one mock in y13 because we're not allowed, so we designed the course to make it as effective as possible.

So we don't need to mark up or down to suit the story we're trying to tell. We simply say "you got X which would've been a grade Y" and take it from there.

It works for us.

refusing to go is very immature. Yes it's humiliating, but hiding away and getting angry is not going to change this. She needs to have an action plan, drawn up with the support of her teachers and family.
Stomping her feet and blaming everyone else is 13 year old behaviour, not from someone who is thinking about university.
Not a dig at you OP. You sound brilliant and supportive.