pass at A level

onlyroz

wdyw wrote: »

Then again many courses around the country where the teaching quality is rated as being excellent achieved that rating 20 years ago and it hasn't been assessed since.

I thought that university teaching quality was assessed around every 4 years.

juno

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

"Juno, if it's the same one, is a personal statement helper on the TSR forum. It's not a job, you apply for it voluntarily and the only qualification is that you have attended a undergraduate degree course. You get monitored for your first few PS reviews and then read applicants personal statements and give them help to improve them."

You are a PS helper, it is voluntary, and even in 2005 the qualification to apply was merely that you were at or had graduated from university (although I admit some people were let in around 2005-2006 who had not yet been to university or had been then left but that was a one off).

Maybe when you applied there was not a system of checking the first few reviews so I'll happily say that Juno may not have gone through a system of review checks. The bulk of my statement was completely accurate and gives people an idea of what a PS helper is - so not completely wrong.

I was just trying to point out where people may have got the impression, as I did, that you were employed in a role that involved looking at UCAS applications. Obviously you have taken it the wrong way, so I'm bowing out of this back and forth.

You're still working on the assumption that I'm just a PS Helper, though. The bulk of your statement about PS Helpers is still wrong, and it is not at all relevant to the discussion anyway.

Yes, I am a PS Helper - but that's a role that I fell into because of my UCAS stuff. Being a PS Helper in itself does not imply and knowledge of UCAS, and many of the other Helpers don't know much about it.

As I say, I've been involved in UCAS advice for around 8 years. You can assume that it's just TSR if you wish, but it's not. I do not have to justify my knowledge to you and I will not do so, but do not spread lies about me when you clearly have no idea of the extent of my qualifications and involvement.

Person_one

Why so cagey? You can't just demand everybody respect your 'qualifications and involvement' when you're so reluctant to let on what they are!

flea72

sorry to hijack this thread, but it sorta ties in

my DD is currently studying 5 AS, leading onto 4 A2 in september. when she started college she was given E as her predicted grades. Having looked at how this translates into UCAS points it puts her quite low down in the scale of things, which surprises me, as she got A* and A in all her GCSEs.

So does your ability at GCSE not translate to A level, or would you expect someone to progress at the same rate?

the college obviously think shes not struggling if they are allowing her to take 4 A2, but i just dont get the low predicted grades, espec as every Uni course she has looked at want at least ABB. any ideas?

F

poet123

I am surprised that an A*/A student was predicted E's. It is a big academic jump from GCSE level but that is a huge difference.

Were the subjects she chose new to her or were they the same ones she studied for GCSE? Colleges are usually known to err on the side of caution for several reasons but in this case I would be asking some serious questions of her tutors.

juno

flea72 wrote: »

sorry to hijack this thread, but it sorta ties in

my DD is currently studying 5 AS, leading onto 4 A2 in september. when she started college she was given E as her predicted grades. Having looked at how this translates into UCAS points it puts her quite low down in the scale of things, which surprises me, as she got A* and A in all her GCSEs.

So does your ability at GCSE not translate to A level, or would you expect someone to progress at the same rate?

the college obviously think shes not struggling if they are allowing her to take 4 A2, but i just dont get the low predicted grades, espec as every Uni course she has looked at want at least ABB. any ideas?

F

You can do predicted grades calculations - this page explains one - to see roughly what can be expected. High GCSE grades don't automatically equal high A Levels grades, as the assessments are different and some students find GCSE work relatively easy and thus haven't developed the necessary study skills at that point. But with A* and A the general expectation would be at least a B - unless all of the subjects are new, or your daughter is taking subjects that really aren't suited to her.

It might be an idea to go and have a chat with the college. However, at this stage predicted grades aren't important as they're not used for anything - her AS results will be more important, as they will be used to predict her eventual A Level grades. If she does well here then her predictions will have to be more accurate - if she gets an A at AS then she already has an E at A Level with no further work, so that isn't a realistic prediction there.

thegirlintheattic

flea72 wrote: »

sorry to hijack this thread, but it sorta ties in

my DD is currently studying 5 AS, leading onto 4 A2 in september. when she started college she was given E as her predicted grades. Having looked at how this translates into UCAS points it puts her quite low down in the scale of things, which surprises me, as she got A* and A in all her GCSEs.

So does your ability at GCSE not translate to A level, or would you expect someone to progress at the same rate?

the college obviously think shes not struggling if they are allowing her to take 4 A2, but i just dont get the low predicted grades, espec as every Uni course she has looked at want at least ABB. any ideas?

F

This seems very odd - whilst an A student at GCSE is likely to be predicted lower for A Levels that is a huge jump. Was she predicted the A*/As at GCSE? It could be the college is being very cautious for some reason.

I would get her to speak to her tutor ASAP and ask them how they worked out her predicted grades and when a review of those predicted grades is going to be undertaken. Predicted grades are important as they inform your DDs UCAS choices as well as universities' offers to your DD. Depending on the school/college these early predictions may be used for UCAS or they may update predictions based on AS performance or teacher assessment - it's important to find this out as at the moment those predictions limit your DDs choices. Again this is all school/college specific - our students have their predictions reviewed every term and a combination of teacher assessment and AS Levels are used at the beginning of A2 to produce predicted grades for UCAS.

For a bit of background: A Level grades can be predicted in a number of ways, some schools use one and some schools use a combination. The two most common are ALPs and ALIS. ALPs assigns a point score to each of your GCSE results then it is divided by the number of GCSEs taken and compared to a chart to show what grades previous students with those grades got. ALIS is a test on the computer which also takes into account your GCSE grades. Some schools/colleges just use the raw GCSE data.

flea72

thanks for the help

no, all the subjects she is taking at AS are the same as she studied at school, so English, Geography, Media, Maths, Biology.

Dropping media and geography to take accelerated Law at A2

i too was surprised, but tbh never having gone the A level, uni route myself, i didnt know if E was bad or not.

According to the college prospectus over half of students leave with A* to B at A2, so now im even more surprised.

will speak to DD tomorrow and get her to have a word with her teachers

thanks again

F

mandragora_2

I haven't read every post, so sorry if I'm miles off, but in reply to the OP, you may be interested that, for my son, at least, grade E's at A level (and he managed to get not just one, but two of them....) did have a value. He did great at GCSE bringing home 12 A/A* and a couple of B's, but then had a nightmare of a time at A level, with self-confidence leaching out of every pore, and singlehandedly, I reckon, lowered his school's 'value added score' when he finally emerged at the end of two very tough years with a C and two E's in the sciences. However, he had kept consistently working as a volunteer working with rescue dogs, and the Animal Science course he applied for at a red-brick university (which asked for B's and A's) offered him a place if he got threee C's - which of course he didn't. The day his results came out the course director rang us at home, and told us to pass a message for him to speak to the uni BEFORE he looked at his results. They then made an offer based on the grades he'd achieved because of his commitment over a number of years; his super GCSE's; the way he'd impressed them at his interview, and the references his school and employers had given him. He did not let them down and went on to graduate with a 2.1. Grade E's at A level are worth something. For my lad, it was just the tiniest flicker still left on the candle, that a university professor managed to see a spark in, and reignite. The day he graduated was one of the proudest days of my life, and one of the best. Of course, if he can do better, go for it - don't settle for less than your very best. But they had a value in his life, because of everything else he 'brought to the table'.

redpete

mandragora wrote: »

They then made an offer based on the grades he'd achieved because of his commitment over a number of years; his super GCSE's; the way he'd impressed them at his interview, and the references his school and employers had given him. He did not let them down and went on to graduate with a 2.1. Grade E's at A level are worth something. For my lad, it was just the tiniest flicker still left on the candle, that a university professor managed to see a spark in, and reignite. The day he graduated was one of the proudest days of my life, and one of the best. Of course, if he can do better, go for it - don't settle for less than your very best. But they had a value in his life, because of everything else he 'brought to the table'.

I would still say his E grades had little value - it was all the other things that the admissions person saw that got him onto the course, not those grades.