A Level choices for a B grade GCSE Level

IMO B grade is fine for all of those subjects. Presuming of course he didn't/doesn't work very hard to achieve it, and is willing to put in some more work at A-level.

My advice would be for him to take all 4, and see how he gets on.

I started of doing 4.5 A-levels (I don't really count critical thinking as we were forced to start it, and only a handful continued it when we gained the option to quit), and found that I still had a lot of free time, so picked up Chemistry as a 5th subject.
The second year is tougher, so I dropped down to 3 A-levels, which is all you need for university admittance.
 
I took maths, chemistry, phyiscs and IT for my A Levels a few years ago, coming from an expected straight-A set of GCSE results but ended up with mostly Bs. I messed up my A levels quite severely and if I could go back to that time I would probably pick different subjects or a different type of course altogether.

Those subjects will bring a fairly big workload, so I would want to make sure that he is up to the task. As someone mentioned above, if he genuinely enjoys the subject and finds it engaging, he will do well regardless of the amount of work. I made the mistake of thinking it was too easy and I wouldn't need to work for it and my first year results proved that - I ended up dropping both maths (by far my strongest subject) and chemistry to pick up 3D product design instead. This was mostly down to me realising that I wouldn't he able to recover those subjects to grades of any "real" (to me) worth. Coupled with a lot of personal, family and health problems, the second year went better but again was very sub-par of what was expected of my ability.

Just be supportive of what he wants to do. If those are his subject choices then encourage him as best you can. If he does go for it and finds he doesn't like a subject or finds it boring, it may be better for him to change subjects whilst it is still early days.

Good luck to him!
 
Gepetto said:
That's an interesting point. My wife and I place high value on A Levels, primarily because we view them as the door to University, but we are "out of touch" when it comes to the Education system in this country.

What if he carries on and takes these four subjects, and fails miserably?

I am, in no way, suggesting that he will fail at all, I'm just looking at the worst case scenario.
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If he completely screws his A levels, he could always do a foundation degree or Cert HE (you enter uni at year 2) and get to university that way. University is again a step up from A level, which has a major focus on self motivated learning. I think some tough A levels would be a perfect way to see if he was ready and willing to maintain the level of focus required to complete a degree.

If not, then perhaps he should work for a bit and come back with a little bit of life experience and the maturity that it brings.
 
If he screws up his A-Levels, then perhaps academia is not right for him, at least not right now. But ultimately, you should be letting him make his own decisions and not interfere too much. He's becoming a man, and part of that involves taking responsibility. Give him support of course, but don't interfere. As he seems to have already chosen his path, let him walk it.
 
If your son is keen to take on four "serious" A-levels, in subjects that can lead to a degree in any number of highly employable areas, then I suggest that you take the "win" and go with it.


Anyway, I wouldn't put much stock in GCSE results. When I was doing GCSEs I got a few Bs and Cs as well - primarily because GCSE topics were so simple and uninteresting that I never bothered to study, or to revise for exams. Still, I took five reasonably hard A-levels (Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology) and got A grades in all of them. Then I went to Cambridge to study Maths, then did an MSc and a PhD. Now I'm a post-doctoral researcher and I'm growing my own consulting company.


In short - if your son wants to take on the challenge, then why would you even consider standing in his way? I don't see why you would want to make him feel like he's not capable of more than he's achieved so far... Let him dive in and have a crack. If it's too much then he'll find out soon enough, and there are always plenty of options (dropping his weakest subject being the most obvious).
 
I've had a few friends graduate with 'Business' degrees recently, all of whom are now struggling to find a decent job because all employers they have contacted have pretty much said "A degree in business does not mean you are any good at operating in or managing a business - go get some experience".

Personally I don't believe in Business being offered as a subject as the world has managed perfectly fine in the past without this sudden surge of people studying business. Seems completely pointless.
 
wndzr said:
I've had a few friends graduate with 'Business' degrees recently, all of whom are now struggling to find a decent job because all employers they have contacted have pretty much said "A degree in business does not mean you are any good at operating in or managing a business - go get some experience".

Personally I don't believe in Business being offered as a subject as the world has managed perfectly fine in the past without this sudden surge of people studying business. Seems completely pointless.
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I can vouch for this, I have friends in a similar situation. The solution for many is to become an intern, usually unpaid. Not ideal, but if it gets you a job...
 
benjii said:
I can vouch for this, I have friends in a similar situation. The solution for many is to become an intern, usually unpaid. Not ideal, but if it gets you a job...
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Indeed. Plus I've found other managers react very coldly to somebody coming in with a business degree. Often they come in with all these nice text book ideas that simply don't work in the real world.

My advice to the OP: Get your lad to ditch Business and focus on the other three (very good) subjects to ensure he has a solid chance of getting the best possible marks. I'd say three very good grades in those subjects is better than four average grades because his time was spread too thin.
 
MooMoo444 said:
GCSE's aren't really challenging, so honestly if he only managed B at those then A levels a probably too much.

If he is adamant, I would probably take three A levels rather than four, and distribute the free time into those three accordingly.
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This. Maths will be challenging, but it's worth it. If he's into science such as Chemistry & Biology, then take those without business - especially useful if he's interested in possible going towards study in those areas after A Level. It gives him more time to concentrate on those three subjects. But, it depends where his interests lie most. :)
 
Looking back, if I retook GCSE exams now, I'd get A*'s if I'd applied myself more, and just ignored the ********* who made school life harder than it had to be.
 
This whole "hurr durr GCSE's are easy". Yes, maybe for you they were, but it's entirely up to the student, not everyone is perfect. If he's trying as hard as possible to achieve those's B's, and he reaches his goal, the great on him, he deserves it.

Anyway, back to the original question. Keep all choices open. IB, A Levels, college, all are viable options, one again, it's down to the student. What does he want to do? Where does he see him self doing after A levels? I'm sure he's got at least a rough idea on what he would like to be, and how he could achieve it. If not, don't worry. Sit down and talk to him, see what he finds interesting. Usually, if you love a subject, chances are you are probably good at it too. So if he really enjoys maths, sciences and business, let him do it. Don't put him down about it, you don't want him worrying about his GCSE's and his A Levels after all.
 
A-Levels are easy, they are quite literally advanced forms of GCSE. If your kid knows what he wants to do in life then check for a BTEC that exists. If you want him to go to Oxford or Cambridge though you'd better stick him on A-Levels as they are snobs.
 
i found a levels fairly easy, but highly boring i dropped out after the first year and have now got an apprenticeship. The subjects that he has pick only have as much work as you make them, if that makes sense. i found that if you do more work you don't really get better grades at all, especially in exam based subjects. One of my mates did all of his product design course work and revision for the exam in the last 2 weeks and got a b which was better then most of the people who had had no life for the whole year and were constantly doing work. i did half of the work (literally) and came out with a C when we had year 13 taking the same exam and getting E's and D's. If you are naturally good at a subject its fairly ok but i can imagine if you struggled at gcse then you would need to do more.
 
PooBrain said:
A-Levels are easy, they are quite literally advanced forms of GCSE. If your kid knows what he wants to do in life then check for a BTEC that exists. If you want him to go to Oxford or Cambridge though you'd better stick him on A-Levels as they are snobs.
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I assume you did BTECs not A-Levels then, and certainly didn't go to Uni...?
 
The big jump is from btech/a-levels to uni, the only difficult bit is getting past the fact he won't have to be there unlike gsce.

All choices aren't down to what will be a difficult subject, basically they are all the same work loads (more or less) and the difference between the subject choices is how well they are taught and the type of learning your son responds well to. If he likes maths and is really good at it then most those topics will be good, but if he's not amazing at them/is good at a writing topics to get him to mix it up.

For uni it helps to know what sort of thing he wants to do there/where to give him the best chance
 
Winky_The_Winking_Turtle said:
This whole "hurr durr GCSE's are easy". Yes, maybe for you they were, but it's entirely up to the student, not everyone is perfect. If he's trying as hard as possible to achieve those's B's, and he reaches his goal, the great on him, he deserves it.

Anyway, back to the original question. Keep all choices open. IB, A Levels, college, all are viable options, one again, it's down to the student. What does he want to do? Where does he see him self doing after A levels? I'm sure he's got at least a rough idea on what he would like to be, and how he could achieve it. If not, don't worry. Sit down and talk to him, see what he finds interesting. Usually, if you love a subject, chances are you are probably good at it too. So if he really enjoys maths, sciences and business, let him do it. Don't put him down about it, you don't want him worrying about his GCSE's and his A Levels after all.
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Good post :)

Nobody has a true idea of what they want to do at that age. Just do what interests you at the time.
 
Everyone is different at the end of the day, but one thing to tell your son is that the jump from GCSE to A-level is extremely big.

If he does end up doing as well or better than expected don't let him get into that state of assumption that some students (like myself) got into, that A-levels won't be that hard since we obtained A or A* in x subject.

I genuinely think from my experience that A levels are harder than 1st year of university and possibly 2nd year (currently 2nd year student).
 
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