A levels 2021

[kenyancowgirl]

Literally nothing at home at all - except for FIFA!!! DS2 is only taking 3 (he was asked to take 4, and had chosen 4 against our advice, but saw the light when he signed back up for 6th form!). He has every afternoon off (bar enrichment pm, lecture every other week and one lesson every other week) and has lots of private study periods (they are not allowed to call them frees!!) so does his homework then. He still plays a lot of sport and is doing volunteering and mentoring and currently has the weekends pretty much free (after school rugby). Our school has classrooms allocated to private study periods in the morning - so all 6th formers sit and work with a teacher so it is quiet. The library is available in the afternoon so it works really well. Perhaps your DD could suggest her school do something similar, Eccentric?

Our school allows changes to A levels right up until half term - the vast majority currently taking 4 will drop one in the next week or so (except for those taking Further Maths.) The work load does increase expodentially as they go further into the course, so make sure you allow for that. Most importantly 6th formers should enjoy life and the "other half" - ie all the other things, volunteering, part time work, work experience - and the very important parties etc, that get them used to halfway to independence.

[loobylou]

As we already know Eccentric, our dd's are basically identical!
DD is also working hard although she doesn't have too much formal homework at the moment. She's probably doing 14 hours a week plus anything she does at school. She's only just dropped her 4th subject though so only now getting used to the extra free periods.
She's using the library to work and the common room to relax and seems to be enjoying things. She's enjoying the work at the moment so it's not much of a stress. It's a pretty interesting fine too be studying politics

[Daogroupie]

A number of Y12/13 I know were at the Warwick open day on Saturday.

It is a good option to attend open days now as it helps you to find out the type of university that appeals to you.

There is such a lot of choice. DG

[Crackerjax]

Joining too if that's ok.

So far so good although for DD, she's doing PE/Geography/Psychology/Core Maths. Her plan was always to do History but is was in the same block as PE so school suggested Core Maths to go along side Geography and Psychology. She was more stressed about the possibility of having to move schools than her GCSE results so was always open to changing a subject as long as she could do PE.
She's loving the smaller class sizes and the more relaxed approach from teachers. She seems to be getting homework done in her study periods so when she gets in she's concentrating on writing up notes.

[Eccentric]

As we already know Eccentric, our dd's are basically identical!
DD is also working hard although she doesn't have too much formal homework at the moment. She's probably doing 14 hours a week plus anything she does at school. She's only just dropped her 4th subject though so only now getting used to the extra free periods.
She's using the library to work and the common room to relax and seems to be enjoying things. She's enjoying the work at the moment so it's not much of a stress. It's a pretty interesting fine too be studying politics

My DD is still refusing to drop her 4th subject. I ask frequently about the work load but she seems happy with it at the moment. We will see!

[kenyancowgirl]

If she is coping that is not an issue though is it? She may wish to check at which point she would have to declare it to UCAS (once she has formally been entered for it, which may be January 2020?), so she can drop it before then if it becomes more challenging. And, of course she needs to be aware that if she offers 4 A levels, universities may make offers based on 4, however, if she only offers 3 they will only make their offer on 3 (ie there is absolutely no benefit from a university point of view in offering 4).

[Eccentric]

If she is coping that is not an issue though is it? She may wish to check at which point she would have to declare it to UCAS (once she has formally been entered for it, which may be January 2020?), so she can drop it before then if it becomes more challenging. And, of course she needs to be aware that if she offers 4 A levels, universities may make offers based on 4, however, if she only offers 3 they will only make their offer on 3 (ie there is absolutely no benefit from a university point of view in offering 4).

I had a chat with the senior tutor at one of the Oxford Colleges who is responsible for admissions. She said that Oxford will only offer on 3 A levels regardless of how many are being taken (these must include the required Chemistry/Maths or Physics but some others will offer on 4 particularly if a DC is at a privileged school such as Eton, MCS or OCS. She seemed to think that the right time to drop a subject would be the end of year 12 or term 1 in year 13 before UCAS applications are made. For Oxford Applications she said it doesn't matter if the 4th A level is on the UCAS application they will only offer on 3. She was adamant though that DC's should drop one and concentrate on the subjects they need for the application. So for example if applying for Medicine a DC gets a B in Chemistry which is a requirement of the course and A*AA in other subjects they will not get passed for interview. So it is vital to concentrate on the required subjects.

[kenyancowgirl]

Each college in Oxford operates as a separate university, effectively, so have very different rules and regulations, "feels" and entry requirements. The overall course structure, content and general outcomes (as well, ironically as the small size of the course, as DS1 wanted to meet lots of new people from a vast array of backgrounds), did not suit DS1 at all, so he was able to rule that out fairly swiftly. Our consultant who works in Oxford and has many on placement, says he feels it suits "academic medics" very well - those who want to go on and tell medics what they should be doing, rather than doing it themselves, which was not DS1s ambition, but could be for others. One of DS1s best friends has started on the Oxford Medics course two weeks ago and is finding the compulsory black tie socials quite hard work already! It actually wasn't her first choice but once they made the offer, her parents and school were so excited that she felt she shouldn't turn it down - bit of a shame really! But like any Medical School, the student has to choose 4 that they like - and people like different things - at Open Days, however, particularly the smaller ones, it does help if you let them do the talking to Admissions Tutors etc - following a very specific conversation DS1 had at one uni Open Day, the Admissions tutor recognised him in interview, for example - in fact some universities don't let parents in to the Medicine talks, (and having seen some where parents seem to be more focussed on their child doing medicine than the child, and are asking all the questions, I can understand why!)

When AS levels used to be the first year of the A2 qualification, it made sense to finish the 4th A level at the end of Y1, getting credit for the work you had done to that point, so that makes sense that she would say finish at the end of y12 - however, with them not now being credited with the return to linear A levels, her info may be a bit out of date, in that respect. She is absolutely right though that concentrating on 3 is the way to go - whilst Oxford and Cambridge are actually the easiest Medical Schools to get into (in terms of no of applications to places), having an application that works for 4 medical schools is still essential, as their admissions process is still the most "quirky" (ie not transparent at all), and the first tranche of offers from all medical schools (after results) will always discard any candidate that has not met the offer exactly.

It was heartbreaking on results day to see students in DS1s year who had fantastic results - but missed offers because they firmed and insured two very high universities and didn't get a minimum A or A* in a specific subject (not specifically Medicine courses) and several have ended up without a university place this year because of it.

Good luck to her in her application - remind her to keep details of all her work experience contacts as she will have to fill in a work experience form with references for every single bit of work expereince/voluntary work she lists on her PS (including non medical related work experience and paid work!), so the unis can follow up on them (nobody tells you this in advance!)

[tiffinboys]

If some one has taken 4 subjects, it makes sense to do the one being dropped to AS level and take the credit for it, rather than just dropping it without taking exam. This was the advise to DC1 by his school.

The uni offer would still be based on 3 subjects, but AS would help too at shortlisting or interview stage. For example, a mfl AS would help for UCL.

[ToadMum]

If some one has taken 4 subjects, it makes sense to do the one being dropped to AS level and take the credit for it, rather than just dropping it without taking exam. This was the advise to DC1 by his school.

The uni offer would still be based on 3 subjects, but AS would help too at shortlisting or interview stage. For example, a mfl AS would help for UCL.

TB, that only works where the school still enters students for AS level exams - DS2's school does, but as far as I am aware, is the only 6th form provider in our area to do so.