'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.

I've heard of admin/SLT going into teachers grading system (whichever one the school uses) and changing teachers predicted grades.

I don't understand what you mean. Grades are calculated by reference to the full exam. Individual papers do not have grade boundaries as far as I can see?

We don't do AQA and we do have boundaries by paper.

I was talking about the y12 exams the op says her daughter got an A in.

She did mention seeing a therapist or counsellor recently having been completely resistant to it before. I didn't jump into 'let's contact the GP' or anything, as it needs to be something that she's fully committed to not just a passing thought.

What is your reasoning there?

The right therapist will be able to make her feel comfortable and willing to meet again.

You could revisit the topic and ask if she's willing to start looking for a therapist. Assure her that if she doesn't feel the sort of rapport that makes her comfortable she can keep on trying therapists out until she finds the right one.

Your first appointment with a therapist is where you sort of interview the therapist. It's not always the case that you and the therapist will click. Sometimes you'll find it's third one lucky, or even more.

@Alevelsmockshock

Has your DD ever been part of a study group?

It's often really hard to sit on your own in your room for long stretches trying to master material, and if she has experienced trauma or anxiety, it's very possible she has been spending all those hours just ruminating or dealing with feelings of panic.

It might be a good idea for her to set up a study group to meet a few times a week. Group members can check each others' knowledge and keep spirits up. There is a feeling of accountability too.

How has she been checking whether her practice exams and the rest of her work has been correct or whether she's answered the questions fully?

My reasoning is exactly what you described mathsanxiety - absolutely no guarantee that the first therapist you meet is going to be the one, but it can still stir lots of stuff up and I'm not sure we need to add 'finding a therapist' into the stress mix at this point.

If she asks again with more of a 'I'd like to see one' rather than 'I'm vaguely thinking about it' tone, that might be different. I know from past experience that me trying to drive dd to do anything quickly becomes counterproductive.

Yes, she does study with friends at school - they're in 8.30 to their last lesson and she often stays later. She's been regularly handing work into her teachers/tutor who have been marking it. I've encouraged her to use the mark scheme more to review how she approached a question rather than 'mark' papers herself because it's incredibly difficult to be objective and easy to award yourself marks for something you sort of know but didn't write down.

She's much calmer today. I agreed not to ask her anymore about school as it's stressing her out. Will see if she goes to parents' evening - she knows I'm intending to.

I knew you’d say Biology- it’s such a harsh marking scheme, then once you crack it, it’s possible to jump up the grades. My dd went from D/C to a really solid A in the actual a-levels, so a big leap is possible. With past papers, tutoring and lots of tlc and support, it’s 100% possible to improve the mock grades. Agree with you that a gap year would be good- especially if your dd will have slogged through her a-levels (by that point) it’s such a good time to decompress, think about their own plan, mature a bit. It was totally transformational for my dd.

I was referring to predicted grades, hence I used the term predicted grades.
I have many more conversations along the lines of "Why have you predicted so low, the child will not get an offer for X university?" than "Why have you over predicted".

I was referring to predicted grades, hence I used the term predicted grades.
I have many more conversations along the lines of "Why have you predicted so low, the child will not get an offer for X university?" than "Why have you over predicted".
Predicted grades are not an absolute science. The conversation about students underachieving is more likely to be based on in class test and exam performance than predicted grades.

You use the dismissive terms 'immature' and 'drama' but then list lots of genuine issues. Sounds like she's had a tough time? Some people do really struggle with exams.

It's pretty human to be defensive in these situations, although of course it's more helpful to be open to discussing failure.

Is there a teacher she trusts that she can speak to?

But it's possible to take the marks from the grade boundaries from the previous year's exam and work out the boundaries for marks for the mock. So it's a factual representation.

Editing to apologise. Responding to another poster.

Goodness, I know dd has lots of genuine issues, the last thing I'd ever be dismissive. Yes, she had a very tough time Y9/Y10, as we were coming out of covid restrictions and it's had a huge negative effect on all aspects of her life. Really distressing to witness.

She has good relationships with teachers who I'm sure are saying 'exam technique, exam technique, exam technique'.

Generally, she won't talk about the traumatic experiences at all. She did bring it up in conversation a few months ago, describing it as 'traumatic' so I think she's processing that she does need some professional help with it to move on.

Bibbitybobbity yes, I don't think it's particularly lack of subject knowledge. It's about working out what the examiners want and getting that down on paper.

Thanks again all.