failed AS levels HELP

lotties_mum

My son has just had his AS reults and was really disappointed. He failed economics had a D in English Lit and an E in geography. After he had taken his exams he did a weeks work experience which he really enjoyed and had an excellent report. They suggested him doing a diploma in digital photography then going to uni or a HND. His AS results were below his predicted grades and he is the first to admit that he did not work as hard as he should. My dilemma is should we encourage him to go back to school and resit his as levels or go down the college diploma route. He has contacted the college himself and they have told him to go to the enrolement day as they have places left on the course. He is a sensible boy but quite young for his age and can tend to be a little lazy. I'm torn whether he should go back to school or go to college?

fraser

was he planning to go onto a levels following the as levels?

I did exactly the same subjects and had a similar scenario after my first year. I found it flicked that switch in my head as I was dead keen to get to uni so worked my socks off for the final year successfully

he could drop a subject if he plans to go for a levels, or if just as levels get the resit done

Broke_Student

He could (if the college lets him) carry on and complete the full A-level in the subjects, whilst resitting the AS-level modules during this year. He may find it alot easier if he resits during the second year as not only is he learning everything a second time, but he will laso have more knowledge of the subject from the other modules and will feel more comfortable with it.

If he is sure of what he wants to do for higher education then the first thing he should do is look at the courses at the various institutions and get an idea of the minimum entry criteria he should be aiming towards.

He failed economics had a D in English Lit and an E in geography.

LOL I just had to add that this government counts anything E and above as a pass and not fail :eek:
I was so peeved off when on results day they were boasting about a high national standard with a 97% pass rate (grade E and above!) :rotfl:

pixiedust_2

If he openly admits that he didn't work as hard as he should of, are you/he sure that A levels are really what he wants to be doing? I was in a similar position when I sat my A(s) levels, and ended up with 3 D grades and one U - mainly because I'd been bored with all 4 course and hadn't paid much attention or tried as hard as I should have done. I chose not to continue, and turned my part time job into a full time job. I'm off to uni this year, but not doing anything linked to my original courses - proving that I really didn't choose subjects well at 16/17! Maybe he should take the chance to think about what he should be doing? A levels aren't for everyone, and maybe the diploma & HND that he had suggested to him are more his thing - if it's a problem with wanting a degree at the end of it all, lots of uni's will let you move onto a degree course at the end of a HND, to study the third year of a BA/BSc.

Pixie

Stubert

Broke_Student wrote: »

He could (if the college lets him) carry on and complete the full A-level in the subjects, whilst resitting the AS-level modules during this year. He may find it alot easier if he resits during the second year as not only is he learning everything a second time, but he will laso have more knowledge of the subject from the other modules and will feel more comfortable with it.

He may be better completely resitting the year in my opinion. Assuming he'll probably want to resit all the exams there would be a lot of pressure as he'd have double the amount of exams in January and May/June. Also some schools like mine did like you to have more exams in June that January, so he could end up with an awful lot of exams which wouldn't be helpful if he's sesceptible to being a little lazy.

With AS/A Levels being modular the subjects he will cover may be completely different. For instance I did Geography A-Level (like OP DS), the human geography modules I guess you could say were fairly similar (well they weren't really but built on same principles I guess) in both years but the physical ones weren't really comparable (rivers to weather for example). But thats just my experience of that subject and it will be different now and his will probably be on a different exam board.

eira

Colleges leave students far more to their own devices than school sixth forms do. My youngest daughter (formidably bright) refused to go to the school sixth form because it was 'middle class crap'(!) It has to be said that a no of her equally bright friends have dropped out as they felt they were being processed towards the school's league table results. The school wanted her to attend because she is very bright-a highly competitive school and she hated the pressure. College suited her much better. A BTEC counts for university entrance and actually seems to be worth more points ( check UCAS points calculator) it has the added advantage that it is a stand alone qualification for employment.

He hasn't 'failed' he just hasn't done as well as expected. Colleges can let you do BTEC and AS/A level as an add on. I would go to an Open Day and let him 'smell out' the tutors, the building /facilities etc. I would add that my eldest daughter went to a really good school and they treated her like nothing. It was through her college attendance that she was finally diagnosed as severly dyslexic. Colleges get extra money for this (I believe) so they are a lot sharper than schools on learner support. I would check that the tutors are full timers-the pay in FE has dropped so low that staff turnover is massive

Rikki

He will have a breakdown of the marks for each modules. He just need to retake the modules with the lowest grades. Lots of students do this.

A levels and AS exams are alot harder and more concentrated than GCSE's. Don't let him worry and just give up.

Fizog

At my son's school if you don't make the grades to return (D) you have to attend an interview with your offspring to discuss their future..i.e. whether they want you back or not. If your offspring hasn't worked and made the predicted grades, they want to know why if in Feb. you were on course to get a B in English and got a D, what happened in the three months between?
Your son should be guided into the best future for him not the school's results. Did he get the grades predicted, any extenuating circumstances, just lazy? Does he really want to got to uni or do you want it? Some people will flourish in the workplace with an HND or Btec course in a more vocational subject behind them and can go onto uni that way.
Good luck

lazymoezy

Just finished my BTEC National Diploma in Business. Got 3 Merits which I'm just about happy with. Got into University and I have and will continue to reccomend a BTEC course to everyone.

Nearly, everyone I know didnt like their A-Levels, either all the subject or one, I found BTEC much more hands on, less pressure and it's all coursework in my case and spread over 2 years, no need to revise for the last 2-3 weeks for exams and it is much better than A-Levels if you know what path your heading towards.

I wanted to do Business all along, so, BTEC Business was a much better choice than AS Business with 2-3 other subjects.

Ask your son if he would like to do a BTEC, tell him what it's all about, or he can resit his exams or even go back to his part-time job I think it was as he got good reviews, many people are better off that way.

Uni's & College's don't suite everyone and usually isnt the best route forward for everyone.

-MoE-

studentphil

It is probably not a huge consern as often it comes down to the very limited time that is available at AS level say 4 weeks to study a whole module. It could be as simple as just doing badly on the day of the exam. Often these sorts of issues are overcome with the extra skils and knowledge you gain as you study A2 level. If there is no underlying huge cause then it should be possible to improve things greatly for the final A level grades.

A D and E grade even at A2 level is still enough to get onto HNC/ HND/ Fda and then to have a fresh start from there if things don't really improve but packing in with just AS is the hardest as you have more than GCSEs but not enough to more into HE.

lotties_mum

Hi thanks for all your replies. I think we will take Lazymoezy's advice. He is much better at coursework than exams. So we think the BTEC is the route. He has to go to the college a week on tuesday to see if he can enrol, He has already contacted the college and there are spaces left so we will keep our fingers crossed he gets in.