Much lower than expected A Level mock results Y13

[HarveyLouis]

DD had A-level mocks before Xmas and got the results today. She knew Maths had not gone well but she has done 3-4 grades lower than expected in her other 2 subjects too. The report from the school still says she is on track for a B in one subject where she got an E in the mock. Parents Eve is next week so we can disuss face to face with the teachers. Not sure what to do, I am also a bit shocked.

Is it usual to have a blip like this and still get your predicted grades? If she gets CEE in the real exams ( UCAS predicted grades are A B B) what would she do?

I would say that year 13 December mocks of CEE when PGs are ABB is unusual tbh and would indicate (sorry) that ABB next August is unlikely. Especially if one of the grades is maths. Is maths one of the grade Es?

DS2 took maths and was tracking an A in year 12 and then when the work got harder in year 13, I recall his wonderful teacher telling me he could possibly get an A but it would be a struggle. He was working at a B in autumn of year 13 and that’s what he got in the end. It was a hard-won B too.

I would suggest conversations with teachers as to exactly what she needs to do to improve. Is it about not understanding the work, does she not target her answers correctly? Is it exam meltdown, has she missed lots of classwork or HW, is she not doing enough private study? Is it her revision, doesshe need to do more practice qus?

What are her other subjects and what is she hoping to study at uni? If she worked hard (and assuming there are no major issues around lack of concept understanding or masses of missed work) I think turning CEE to CDD or even BDD is not impossible. Even with CDD some uni places would be open to her. It does depend on what her plans are though.

Maths was an E and she knows she messed up on one paper in particular and basicslly knew it all fell apart. The C was CS where she has always got an A previously and Econ was an E which was a big shock as she thought it had gone well and has consistently been at a B all the way through.

Can you afford a tutor? My husband paid a maths tutor as did one of my friends parents. He did an hour or so a week and said it really helped because if he couldn’t get something into his head the tutor could go over it or look at it from a different angle.

I would also suggest a tutor.

My DD got a C in her mocks for English and an A in her exam.Her friend failed all her mocks and got AAB.They did both work really hard to turn that around .We got a tutor for DD.She found her school didn't teach exam technique well...a tutor turned her understanding round really quickly so you might not need many sessions.

See what the school say, but often predictions exceed actual grades.
You may need tutors for every subject if uni is the aim.

DS got one grade less in his A levels than his mocks (B, D, D) although I think many of his friends did bettee than their mocks. And that was with extensive tutoring. I think predicted grades are boosted a bit to give them a chance on uni applications. He was predicted A, C, D.

My son was predicted ACC (CS, Maths, Physics) but after his mocks he was lagging. We tried tutoring and he worked hard but wasn't able to pull the grades up. He did his best. He got 2 grades below in each. He ended up getting a Degree Apprenticeship in an IT field and is now flying. A level results are not everything.

Ds got an E/D in his November and February mocks and got an A in the real thing.
He got a 7 at GCSE.

BUT.
It was a lot of work.
He was lucking in that DD1 was able to remember her A-levels and effectively tutor him.
From February onwards he did a paper a week, an hour with dd1 to go over the paper, and then corrections, plus 1-2 hours with dd1 to go over subject matter he struggled with.
Part of it was learning to play the game eg. Sometimes adding a word or two of explanation gave a mark. He thought this was stupid, but eventually agreed to do it.
Part of it was he has health issues and so had missed subjects/part of subjects
And part of it (he has ADHD and ASD) was learning to concentrate for 2 hours. The first few papers he did, he did about 45 minutes of concentration, then about another half an hour of semi-concentration, then gave up because "he couldn't do any more" - even though he could iyswim.

So it is possible. Just bear in mind that he didn't do much on the other subjects and your dd had 3 she wants to pull up. She needs to decide: is it worth it? If she doesn't think it is, then she won't manage it because the effort will be too much.

Is it comp sci she is hoping to do at uni @HarveyLouis ? Or econ? Both are pretty competitive to get into. What sort of uni offers is she holding?

I agree btw that a tutor is probably a good idea. Make sure it is someone who really knows the spec and can work with her on what she is getting wrong or where she is missing marks. I tutor (not these subjects!) but would only be happy with an A level student who was sitting the spec I know best. GCSE is different. But yes, basically choose carefully.

My DS struggled during late Y12/early Y13 and was tracking D/E in his two A level subjects (was doing fine on the L3 BTEC he took alongside but the A levels were a nightmare). He'd been predicted an A in one and a C in the other. With a huge amount of work and effort he ended up achieving Bs in both (biology/psychology) so based on that experience I'd say it's not impossible but it's definitely not easy.

Definitely definitely try tutoring and as a PP says make sure it's someone experienced with the relevant exam boards, who can offer advice on mark schemes and so on. We used the mytutor website and would recommend it - DS found the online interactive format very helpful and it's easy to see how experienced individual tutors are because the website specifies not just their areas of expertise but also how many teaching hours each tutor has completed.

https://www.mytutor.co.uk/how-it-works/

Tutoring can help where the child is wanting to do better and is bright but lacking in understanding of some topics or answer framing or time keeping. The right tutor can spot and work at the weakness thereby pushing the grade up significantly. Mine went from DDD to ABC in 1 year. But it wasn’t easy. The C was a subject in which we did not get a tutor so the weaknesses were not fixed - I’m sure it could’ve been a B.

It feels like we are already in Jan but there is still enough time to gain some grade improvements.

for each subject you need a separate plan in order to turn things around.

do teachers often give low mock grades to encourage students work harder towards higher grades which are more in line with predicted grades? Especially at this stage when there is still a hard slog ahead and some students aren’t as motivated unless they’re hit with shockingly low mock grades.

I think there may be an element of this with what has happened to DD. Apparently no-one got above a C in CS and the maths mock was particularly hard and last year they set the same one and students got Us in it and Cs in the real thing. We will see what is said at parents eve but I am not sure this tactic is having a motivating effect on DD so far, she is very down.