Missed GCSE grades but offered complete change of Alevels to business, PE & Sociology

[lechatnoir]

DS was meant to be doing PE, Biology & Psychology A Level but got a shock 5 in Biology (predicted 7). His school say hard no to Biology + Psychology and only agreed to PE as got a high 7 for this one and strong throughout the course.

They've offered him sociology and business studies (neither of which he did for GCSE) and he's keen to accept because he wants to stay at his school but it seems totally random and I'm worried he has little interest in either and will really struggle. Plus he didn't even do Business for GCSE and presumably most/all of the students will have this head start.
He's undecided about uni but keen to work in sports although clearly sport Physio that he had considered is now off the table.

Any thoughts?

I suspect he'll do really well. I hope he enjoys it. Statistically, he stands to do better in business and sociology than he might have done in his original choices.

Interesting they've offered sociology as my daughters grammar was a hard no on that because she didnt have 7s in English and history and said its a humanity so need to be strong in those subjects. Shes much stronger in sciences so now doing biology, physics and psychology and for the latter had to have a 7 in maths. Weird how inconsistent the advice from different schools is.

I presume most grammars are after A stars. It is certainly true that you are more likely to get an Astar or A in sociology with a 7 + in English .

My son needed one mark to go from a 5 to a 6 in English Lang (he got an 8 in Lit) this was a couple of years ago- had a remark and they found four extra marks!

My lad is interested in physio. He's undertaking a BTEC level 3 in Sports & Exercise science. Think the actual course is not far spread. Off the top of my head you can find it at Hartpury, Moulton and Loughborough.

Don’t worry too much about not doing Business GCSE. Our local college offers it at A level and takes kids from a range of schools, most of whom don’t offer it at GCSE, mostly because of eBACC. They take them through it all.
My son is now 20 and he believes that A level Business would have been more useful to him than Physics. He is a degree apprentice in Project Controls with a big multinational.

It depends on what he wants to do after A Levels and how quickly he wants to progress. As in, if he wants to be a sports therapist then he'll have to take further courses after A Levels which will slow his progression by a few years, so does that bother him? But, if he's undecided on what he wants to do, it's not a bad set of options if he wants to stay at his current school. For context, at A Level I started with PE, Biology, and Psychology. I'd lived in the US for a couple of years prior so had no GCSEs so also sat English and Maths GCSE at the same time. I was thrilled when I got offered these choices. However, after the first year I was getting really down - my biology teacher was really odd and not at all motivating, and my psychology teacher was the loveliest person but taught in a really dry way. So I ended up doing PE and Communications (with the X2 GCSEs) instead. I did the comms in a one year course - I can't remember what they called it back then but it was a condensed version of a 2 year course. I really enjoyed it and then went on to study marketing at Uni with no marketing or business studies quals. Yes I did struggle getting up to speed and was continually out of my comfort zone. But I got my BA and a job straight out of uni. I worked with marketing professionals which I very much enjoyed. Then I tried my hand at marketing itself but didn't get on with being told to redo my work multiple times when it was such minor changes that were just personal preferences. And now, some many years and experiences later, I work in a non technical PM role in an engineering company. So my advice is, don't get too caught up in what he's being offered and wants to accept. There are many options available to him after A Levels. If he's motivated, he'll succeed in whatever field he pursues.

@ButterPiesAreGreat
Taking subjects such as physics will get you into some really good apprenticeships and internships (so long as the grade is decent). Business studies is less likely to.

That’s a bit odd. I’ve done Psychology A level and it has barely any biology in. I’ve never seen that as a requisite before. I loved it and it was a great subject. That’s very disappointing if they won’t budge.

It's definitely a thing now. Psychology has pretty much rebranded itself from a social science to a straight science over the years. All the local schools ask for a specific grade in science (at my school it's a 5 but many schools are higher).

Biology is a pretty popular A-level in a lot of schools and can usually be choosy- a 5 at GCSE is a sign the student doesn't have enough core knowledge to do well. It's a huge step up from GCSE to A-level. Plus if they do it for him, they likely have to do it for others.

Headline results are often a big recruiter for sixth forms, and they won't want to accept someone onto a course only for them to potentially get an E or a U. They'll offer courses with low uptake instead and hope he goes for those!

When DD was at school psychology was popular with a lot of the less academically able students as it was an untried subject and they didn't have high enough grades for the mainstream subjects. I wonder if this is why it is consider a "weaker" subjects than the traditional academic ones?

Could it be they've offered him courses which are under subscribed and they need someone to make up numbers?

I don't think it is now though!

@lechatnoirI know I’m late to this (just saw it on FB) but as an A level Business teacher - not having done it at GCSE is no barrier. What I find is that in the first term, those that have done GCSE are clearly more able to answer questions / do well in tests, but beyond that and moving towards the end of the first year it is often those that are new to it that start to really shine. If you did it at GCSE you might find first year a bit dull (it’s mostly a repeat) and you are stuck in the the methods that you are taught at GCSE to do well in exams when it’s different at A Level. If you are new to it you have no preconceptions to overcome and you just take it all in.

Business, PE and psychology are a very popular combo, but PE and psychology are often harder and more boring than expected!!

This. There are Sports Psychology units in the BTEC Sports course.