Ds not studying for final exams

[Anyonegotacluewhattheirjobsabout]

My son has his final school exam today. He got an unconditional for uni and has done v little study for 6th year exams. He has 4 exams and thinks he will fail 3. While I can’t do the studying or exams for him I can’t help but think he’ll be annoyed when it comes to getting his results and he’s been an A level student for the years that matter. How have your 6th years treated this year? It doesn’t matter in grand scheme of things but I hope it’s not a sign for things to come at uni!

This will be one of life's many lessons for him.

Doesn’t he still need to "matriculate" though? That is get a minimum standard? In my day it was 2Es. So an unconditional offer really meant 2 Es, unless you had grades in hand.

Edit to add: he'dcstruggle at uni anyway, if he hasn't mastered foundational material, study skills and motivation. Perhaps a gap year working and catching up and also maturing a bit might be helpful.

Not the end of the world though. There will be something else for him if academics isn't his thing any more.

This happened to most of DS's friends who got unconditional offers. All but one had now dropped out of university.

My dd is sitting 3 A levels. She’s a bit of a last minute artist and I’ve had to be on her case to study. She really knuckled down over Easter. She hasn’t had it easy and needs ABB, which is way higher than her mocks, but she wasn’t in a good place then. She’s in a much better place now and I’m hopeful she will get close to that.

Unconditional offers sound great. However, the majority of A level students are only 17 or 18 and not mature enough to understand they should still do their best. I know if my dd had had an unconditional offer, she probably would have stopped trying and ended up with much lower grades.