pass at A level

want-it-all

If he has uni in mind, Wendy, work your motherly magic to ensure that he gets the best he can

You can often get into uni with relative ease and reasonably low grades...a big shock to many new graduates though comes when they find that many 'blue chip' employers require 300+ UCAS points on top of your degree, with some of the more stringent ones going one further and insisting on 300 points in 3 subjects (i.e. ABC, BBB).

So, you can have the best degree and all the will in the world, but be penalised for not trying hard all those years earlier.

Good luck to him!

MusicalLawyer

want-it-all wrote: »

...a big shock to many new graduates though comes when they find that many 'blue chip' employers require 300+ UCAS points on top of your degree

I am starting to find this out when applying for Training Contract sot become a solicitor - so now I'm having to take an alternative route in to working in Law

wendyl1967

want-it-all wrote: »

If he has uni in mind, Wendy, work your motherly magic to ensure that he gets the best he can

So, you can have the best degree and all the will in the world, but be penalised for not trying hard all those years earlier.

Good luck to him!

He is a very laid back bright 17 year old who does need to push himself more. I will show him what has been said because these are things we did not realise. thanks

katiefinger

thatlemming wrote: »

Technically yes, but it's a pretty worthless pass.

Gosh, don't tell my my worthless passes that; they were very proud to be deemed worthy enough to get me into uni, where I blossomed remarkably ...

redpete

wendyl1967 wrote: »

My son is at college. He said if you get an E at A level it is still considered a pass. Is this true? I know it is a C at GCSE so I was surprised. thanks

It is a pass, but no-one asks how many A-levels a candidate has passed - they ask what grades they got and an E is not considered a good grade.

RAS

Hi

E is a pass at A level but he will be very limited as to which courses he can do if he has less than 240 points (CCC) and for the more popular courses ABB/AAB is often required.

The best universities do not look at anything less than AAA and may require A* in the specialist subject and AAA in three other subjects.

heretolearn_2

And employers will discount anything less than a C, the 'C is the real pass grade' idea applies just as strongly in the real world for A Levels as for GCSEs. If your son is imagining he can coast through and get crappy grades and it won't make any difference to getting into university, or that employers just think 'pass/fail', he is heading for a HUGE disappointment and will have totally wasted these two years. Anyone getting an E in anything should not include it on CVs/job applications as it creates a terrible impression - even a D is a borderline decision as to whether to admit to it or not. But definitely not an E.

The 'D and E's are still passes' is the line schools feed to low ability pupils to build their confidence and stop them giving up and feeling like total failures. For some people, that is all they can achieve and that achievement should be recognised. But it very dangerous if more able students start thinking it can apply to them as well and not matter...

want-it-all

When I was at school, one year we were given swanky personal organisers/diaries, with 'inspirational' quotes on each page. I'll never forget one: "if you only aim for middle grades, you will only get middle grades".

Reminds me of my cousin...she was an able student, but she had the "a pass is a pass" outlook. A pass is fine if you've worked your socks off for it, but not so fine if you could've achieved 'top' grades. When applying for uni, she received an unconditional offer for the course she wanted, meaning that she was 'in' no matter what. She had been doing brilliantly in her A-Levels, but stopped attending college and came out with something like D,E,E. She could've got A,A,A. She still went to uni as planned, and her A-Levels haven't done her career any harm, but I think part of her regrets the 'waste'.

thegirlintheattic

There is a difference between a pass and a good grade. Anything about an E is a pass at A Level and most universities do not give out letter grade offers anymore but instead give a UCAS point offer (or a combination e.g. 300 points with an B in Physics)- in which one below C grade might not be as disastrous as some on here would have you believe. A*-B are considered 'good' grades at A Level. 300 points is a good level to be aiming at as it is often the requirement for graduate schemes but that could be made up BBCe or AAEe or anything in between.

At GCSE school are assessed by the number of 'good GCSEs A*-C but for some students and some career paths a D or an E is good for them - so should not be considered worthless. You can get grades down to a G. Only a U is a fail.

I suggest you drop the word pass from your vocabulary with your son - you both need to research what the standard offer is for his chosen course/universities and aim for that or above. For some places it could be as low as CCC others as high as A*AA. This might help up your DS aspirations. I would also do research on the application process - most of my students are already researching unis and sorting out open days.

I would also be careful following advice on leaving grades below a C off a CV or application. This is certainly not allowed by UCAS and is frowned upon in other areas, and can also make it look like you only took a small number of A Levels (which would raise questions).

peachyprice

Does he know what sort of degree he wants to do yet?

If you have a look on the UCAS site it will give him a good idea of what combination of grades and points he needs for the sort of courses he's interested in and it may just give him the impetus to do better knowing exactly what he's going to need to be able to do the course he wants rather than be limited to the course he can do with the grades he gets

http://search.ucas.com/cgi-bin/hsrun/search/search/search.hjx;start=search.HsKeywordSearch.run?y=2012&w=H

HTH