struggling with 6th form;(

[kidsncatsnwine]

DD2 has just started 6th form. New school (no choice as previous school only goes to 16) She was very happy to be going, lots of friends going too, and she aced her GCSEs..(all A* and As)

Fast forward 2 weeks and she's a mess. She picked subjects she likes and is good at, but she is finding the workload terribly hard and is falling apart with the maths (A* at GCSE so she has the ability). She ahs gone into panic mode 'I can't do it' . Says the maths teacher is setting them tons of work but not actually teaching them how to do any of it! Obviously it's unlikely to 100% the case but she's falling apart.

Her sister did maths A level too and is trying to reassure her that it seems impossible to everyone at first but it'll be ok, but I'm not sure. DD2 isn't the calm person DD1 is. I have told her she HAS to speak to her teacher at school and explain that she just isn't getting it, and see what he says. Presumably it's not to late to switch courses and frankly I'd rather her NOT do maths if it's going to be so awful...we have already lived thro it once with her sister!!

Should I encourage her to stick with it and hope it sinks in, or to ell her to sod it and pick something else before the term is really underway?! She doesn't plan to do anything needing maths at Uni.....

She shouldn't make any decisions until she has spoken to her teacher. Does she have a separate tutor who takes care of the welfare side?

Any change is going to be overwhelming at first. I remember panicking at A level language as I went from O'level basics into a class with a South American teacher who would not speak any English at all.

It took a while to settle in and I'm sure a lot of her friends will be feeling the same way.

She is clearly capable so it probably more of a confidence issue.

If you are worried then I would email the teacher, is everyone else finding it hard?

ds1 started in the 6th form last week and today they had a seminar all about how to organise your workload and take decent notes. never had that in my time, so maybe it is a big leap I don't know. ds1 has just had to write a couple of essays and mostly do research and come to the lesson with his findings.

maths though is a good very good A level to have and if she was an A* candidate at gcse then like you say she has the ability and things will hopefully settle down

tell her to talk it through with her connexions adviser. connexions unfortunately don't automatically see everyone in year 11 so she might not have had any input. If she doesn't feel able to talk to her teacher or head of year then they can do so on her behalf. they will be able to confirm that she won't need maths A Level (if this is the case) and be able to suggest an alternative subject which uni's would be looking for. if she doesn't want to do tis via school then ring the school office and find out who the adviser is and ring them direct - you should be able to make an appt outside of school. Cxns should advocate on behalf of your daughter rather than the school.

Maths is known for seeming awful when you start A level and then suddenly clicking, try to keep her calm and get her to talk to her teacher - it should get better!

Ah, I can sympathise. I didn't choose Maths, but my brother did and he isn't finding it easy either. However, he uses THIS website to watch videos that show how to do the maths step-by-step. He says he wouldn't understand if it wasn't for that, as his teacher is awful. Maybe she could have a look there and do some extra work so she can be more confident in class. I don't know. I would advise her to stick with it anyway. The jump from GCSE was never going to be easy anyway.

I hope it settles down for her soon.

When I went through the same thing at sixth form, some wise person said to me "Everyone hits a brick wall at some point in their education. For some it's at GCSE. Just be thankful that it isn't when you're at uni". This helped me a lot, kinowing that it wasn't just me.

I would agree that talking to her tutor and maths teacher is a good idea. What would really help is getting hold of a copy of the syllabus (find out the exam board and look on the internet if the teacher doesn't want to give her a copy) so that she knows exactly what will need to be covered over the two years.

Maths is a difficult A level and I really struggled, but it is one that will be accepted at all universities for all courses (pretty much). Having said that, there are plenty of A level courses that she will find less stressful, and unless she wants to be an architect or do a Maths degree (etc.) it might be better for her to choose a course that she's more interested in and finds easier.
It is hard picking A levels for "all round" students, and very common to change at around October half term. I would set this as a date to reassess. If she does want to change, it won't be too far into the course for her to catch up on the new subject.
Does she know what she wants to do in later life?

We went through this with DD1, who also had A* at GCSE, signed up for A level Maths and then found it hugely stressful. I think there is a big jump between GCSE and A level, and while DD1 could cope at the lower level by basically following the rules, higher levels of Maths require a bit more insight....In her case, she wanted to do Maths because it was seen as a 'hard' (ie valuable) A level and because close school friends were, but after a while realised that she just wasn't enjoying lessons at all.

In the end, she packed it in at the half term and switched to Govt. and Politics which she loved (challenge from teacher was that she could only make the switch if she covered the missing 6 weeks of work over half term, which she did, and she was consistently near top of the class thereafter).

Depends on what your daughter plans to do and whether Maths is integral to that. Mine decided that although her pride was hurt at not carrying on, she couldn't face another 18months of misery especially as she wasn't planning a uni course which required Maths - opted for Geography and is now off to Bristol.

Thank you for your advice everyone.. it really helps!
We have decided to give it a few weeks linger to see if it 'clicks' and if it really doesn't, she still has time to switch..there seems to be quite a few people teetering on the brink at school.I have also saved your link DustDD as I think it may be VERY useful! Thanks!!!!!