disappointing AS level results

[yvonne]

my DD is interested in engineering and his As grades are very weak -CDE, most of the UNIS require AAB.
His grades are too far adrift for me to hope for a recovery at A2.

My concern is that he now needs extra help and or a resit of his papers in january.
is this advisable ?

would unis (russell grp) look kindly on resit, as i understand they are not in favour of resits ?
Should i get a tutor , any great ones pls mail me personally

Any help is welcome ...i am really concerned

---what is worse is that he put in a lot of extra hours studying and thought the exams papers were within reason , i am concerned that there is a fundamental issue in either his approach or his exam technique....not sure what to do to help him.... now ....CONFUSED.......

[hermanmunster]

Hi Yvonne

Has your DS managed to have a chat with any of the teachers at school yet as they may be in a better position to advise.
I am not sure that resits are such a no no as so many people seem to do them these days - however you have to remember that he will be busy doing the other work for the A2 modules at the same time in January....

Did he do any modules last january? How did he get one with those?

[daughter]

Hi Yvonne, really sorry to hear things haven't gone as well as hoped. Agree with Herman you need to speak to the school/teachers. The most critical thing in the application will be the predicted grades as you have to be predicted the required grades (you said AAB) for any real chance of receiving an offer. If you then receive an offer you obviously then have to find away of achieving these grades. You don't have to declare your AS grades on your UCAS application (Cambridge you do) - so as long as he met his A level grades resits (in the same 2 year exam cycle) shouldn't matter. Most schools however will not predict significantly higher grades than achieved at AS.
It may be worth getting remarks and a photocopy of the script as this may help him, you, teachers and or tutors regarding where he went wrong.
Another option if the school don't predict the required grades (but you still think he is in with a chance to get them) is to not apply now but take a Gap year and apply with his A level grades - I know anumber of people that have done this when their AS's have been disappointing. It has been difficult to do this this year due to fee situation but will not make a difference for your DS.

Sorry if this is a bit long. Best wishes.

[Guest55]

There are Engineering courses with lower grade offers - and these are attractive to employers and you can do a Sandwich course.

All module results and AS results DO have to be declared on UCAS as the Government introduced new rules on cashing in.

Predicted grades need to be 'getable' - I will not predict an A just because a student needs if I have seen no module result of an 'A'. The school prediction become worthless of the school is known to inflate results.

Use the UCAS course finder to find courses looking for lower grades would be my advice.

[Belinda]

,

[Thingsbehindthesun]

All module results and AS results DO have to be declared on UCAS as the Government introduced new rules on cashing in.

Predicted grades need to be 'getable'

I would have to agree with this.A letter from my nephews college stated that AS results have to be mentioned and predicted grades should ideally be just one grade above what's currently being achieved.

The college can also provide copies of the papers ( at a fee I think) that your son sat,which show the areas he lost marks on.This would highlight if he misread questions or exam nerves themselves can also be a huge factor in actual performance.

[wonderwoman]

Hi Yvonne, how have you got on?

I'm in a similar boat or should say my DD, but somehow I have ended up feeling responsible for DDEU

Anyway after a hideous meeting at school DD appears to have these options and it might be helpful for you to see what we've done and perhaps others can offer their thoughts and ideas too. Are there some other options we don't know about?

1. Apply to local college - very poor choice of A levels, will have to start 3 new options because of limited range, college is very far away and we have poor public transport.
2. Repeat the year and start 6th form again - not guaranteed a place as 6th form already oversubscribed by Y11s, a place relies on some Y11s failing to gain a place. We will only find out just before term starts.
3. Find a place at another 6th form - I've rung around, but here only grammars have 6th forms, there are no comps and guess what, they won't consider offering her a place.
4. Try to find a job - not keen.

So she has applied for college and is waiting to hear back from them. For me option 2 is favourite, if she can get a place. I'm hoping it would be a fresh start and that a university would look at the new 2 year course and not this first lot of AS grades. I'm assuming she won't have to list them when applying to uni. Perhaps someone knows the answer to this.

I'm hoping some good will come of this and she will realise that to get good results requires some hard graft on her part. She is really shocked - she never expected to be kicked out and last week was busy telling us she'd just resit the odd module and it would be fine.

OMG I've gone on a bit - but I feel a bit better, I think

[Stroud Mum]

How about re-sitting AS modules in Jan - that's what my DS will probably be doing. I have rung some Unis to ask if poor AS results will affect his chance of offers and been told that it is what he gets at A2 that counts. What was she predicted? School need to tell you what they think she will get at A2, again Unis have told me that is what they are interested in. Good luck.

[marigold]

Wonderwoman, what does she want to do at university ?

My eldest has always wanted to do nursing and went into the sixth form to do 4 A levels, it was completely the wrong choice and after a year she had 4 not bad AS levels but was very unhappy. We researched what qualifications she actually needed to go to University ( all nursing is now degree level ) and were amazed at the number of courses she could do at good universities in various subjects with an Extended BTEC rather than A levels.
She has done a year at our local college and received a distinction in every assessed piece of work. If she continues like this she will be given DDD (Three distinctions ) as her final grade which will equate to the same points as three As at A level.
She is a changed girl, working very hard in something she really enjoys and will be applying for university in October. With the best will in the world she never would have got good enough grades at A level to go anywhere decent.

There are extended BTECs in many different subjects all of which can lead to university as well as giving qualifications in their own right. It is obviously not the path to chose if you want to study maths at Warwick or history at Oxford but I have been totally convinced that they are a fantastic alternative to the traditional route to university and it may be worth looking at what courses your local college offers to see if any can lead onto what she actually wants to do.

[wonderwoman]

Thanks Stroud Mum and Marigold

School won't let her back to do resits - she needed a minimum of 3 Ds. She thought they would, then she thought she'd just start again with a slightly different choice of A levels, but as I said the school is not sure there will be place.

She is not sure what she wants to do at uni, which is making this more difficult, I think. She did want to do something to do with chemistry, possibly with a year abroad. She is quite interested in pharmacy.

I have tried to suggest a BTEC as a suitable qualification for nursing or midwifery, which she has shown an interest in previously. I actually think this would be a good choice for her and better than the strange choice of A levels she has put on her college application form. She has dismissed it without a second thought.

However at the moment she seems lost and I'm not sure she is thinking further ahead than having somewhere to go in September. I am a little disappointed that her current school have been so unhelpful - I know she has brought this on herself, but I could do with some pointers as I have no idea where to start and have no time to check out the options available.