The world is nigh!

stebiz

Well not quite but it is in my daughters eyes. She did so well at GCSE. All A's and (A*s) but has just had her first half results for her AS levels EEDB. There is no way in a million years she'll pull those results up in the Summer. She's come to Dad for advice. Only falling grace is that the B is 1 mark short of an A.

Restart AS course in September
Ditch the 2 E subjects and do another subject starting in September
Start college in September

In short she wants to go to University to be a Doctor in Medicine. As we all know with these results she hasn't got a cat in hells chance.

ps. The tone of this post isn't what I'm portraying to my daughter as I am and will continue to be very supportive.

Voyager2002

What do her teachers say?

It is entirely possible that she does not have the academic ability to get A in everything: that is true of lots of people, many of whom go to university and do well, and most of whom find satisfactory lives and careers. In which case, she should consider options other than Medicine.

It is also possible that the atmosphere and teaching style she has experienced over the last few months does not suit her, in which case starting again at College might be a smart move. Or perhaps she just needs to learn a new set of study skills and behaviours appropriate for this stage of her education.

Fleurlur

What she can do is retake her AS exams in Summer. If they're still not satisfactory retake them in the following January and again in the following Summer with her A-levels.

I did this for Chemistry and Physics and managed to pull them up from D's/E's to B's.

flea72

Your DD is very similar to mine. Sailed through gcses with good grades, then AS grades came as a complete shock.

My DD resat her AS earlier this year and has just got the results. First time she got ABCDU. This time she brought the C and D up to a B, and surprisingly the U went to an A. But she had already decided to drop the subject she got the U in at A2 level as she wasnt enjoying it

If she had her time again, she would opt to do only 3 A levels. Based on her gcses the school said taking 5 would be no problem, but personally i think it ws too much study for her to cope with and has overall diluted her results

I also think the 6th form was a bit of a culture shock for my DD and it took her a long while to settle in, which didnt help

Why does your DD say she got lower than expected results? If she chose the subjects based on what she enjoys, then no, i wouldnt ditch them for another subject. However if she based her choices on subjects she did well in at gcse, then i might look at other subjects. However, she would then be restarting the bulk of her a levels, so would have to do a third year. How does she feel about starting uni a year behind her peer group? Also alot of unis only take a levels that are attained over 2 yrs, so if she repeats a year, then those subjects would be over 3 yrs and not counted.

I kinda agree that medicine prob isnt where your DD will be heading, but there are other fields within the health service, that have fantastic career progression and earning potential. Maybe encourage your DD to explore theses, as the uni entry requirements would be lower.

I also think its hard as a parent. When they get good gcse grades, you start to think big for your kids but then the a level results just dont seem to tally and youre like, !!!!!! has gone on? Are they not studying, got in with the wrong crowd, etc

personally i think its the change in teaching style. Gcses the kids are spoon fed everything, a levels you have to start thinking for yourself. It takes a while for a teenager to understand that, but usually the first results are the wake-up call. I know my DD has changed her learning style in the past 6m, and that may be why her grades have improved (college were no help, she had to do all resit study herself alongside her A2s). Shes alot more independent in her studying, which can only help, once she starts uni

Hth F

bambinaUK

Fleurlur wrote: »

What she can do is retake her AS exams in Summer. If they're still not satisfactory retake them in the following January and again in the following Summer with her A-levels.

I did this for Chemistry and Physics and managed to pull them up from D's/E's to B's.

This is not possible any longer as January exam sessions have now ceased to exist. From Sep 2013 there will only be one exam session at the end of the year. I would recommend that she goes to college and retakes her AS year, but really needs to think about whether to change subjects.

GCSEs are not that hard to pass in comparison to A Levels and often students who were very successful at GCSE can't repeat this at A Level. I would recommend that she tries to get some work experience within the NHS and that might help her look for alternative career paths.

My daughter was a straight A student at GCSE, but I knew the leap from GCSE to A Level would be huge and didn't expect the same at AS Level.

Dunroamin

flea72 wrote: »

I kinda agree that medicine prob isnt where your DD will be heading, but there are other fields within the health service, that have fantastic career progression and earning potential. Maybe encourage your DD to explore theses, as the uni entry requirements would be lower.
F

Perhaps surprisingly, potential medical students who don't (or won't) make the grade, don't tend to choose to go into other health areas so the OP would be best advised to look more widely at her options.

stebiz

Thanks all. We've discussed the results and the main bug bearer was Chemistry. Apparently it was on the same day as one of her other exams and she spent so much time on it she neglected the others.

We have decided jointly that she ditches Chemistry with immediate effect and concentrates on her other 4 A levels. She was doing 5 in total, including General Studies.

I spoke to a couple of Universities yesterday who would be happy to offer her a place local with BBA or even BBB. One of her results was a point off an A and the other two where D and E. If we can pull these upto two B's then she will do well. Bearing in mind she may be able to fall back on General Studies.

I have also spoke to a college and she can go on a 4 year course (rather than 3) in September and leave the school altogether. This is again an alternative we will consider come August if her results are bad again.

So for now its lots of study. Plenty of love and support and we'll see how she goes.

Noctu

Bear in mind that some medical programmes do not accept General Studies at A-Level.

If I was in your daughter's shoes (and it was feasible), I'd re-start AS levels in September, without General Studies - taking either 3 or 4 subjects, and in the meantime find voluntary work in the NHS and/or the community. The latter part is most important as this will significantly boost her UCAS application for medicine. There are many applicants with extremely good grades and she needs to show both very good grades plus NHS/community work.

Best of luck!

Bennifred

General Studies is generally (:p) perceived as a waste of time and energy - especially for brighter students. The time is better spent on the other subjects.

V_Chic_Chick

Please be aware that dropping chemistry will completely exclude her from just about every medical school in the country, so even if she was to pull her results up then she wouldn't be able to pursue that route.

stebiz

V_Chic_Chick wrote: »

Please be aware that dropping chemistry will completely exclude her from just about every medical school in the country, so even if she was to pull her results up then she wouldn't be able to pursue that route.

Chick Chick, she was looking at becoming a Charted Psychologist. Would you show me where you got that information from because that would change our train of thought. Three Uni's I spoke to on Friday didn't even mention this.