A Level choices for a B grade GCSE Level

Gepetto

Gepetto

Gepetto

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We attended a Sixth Form Evening at our 15 year old's school last night, and would appreciate some advice on whether his A Level choices are achievable. He is in the second year of his GCSE's

He is pretty much at a comfortable B grade level at GCSE, and has picked Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Business/Economics to study at A Level, which, I think, he will find really heavy going.

The four individual teachers all think that he has the ability (in each of those four subjects separately) to gain a good pass at A level, but, when questioned further, they all expressed a concern at the combined workload.

Can anyone who's been in this position offer some input? Apparently there is a huge jump between GCSE and A Level, so if the overwhelming response is "don't do it" we will have to sit down with him and look at the options he has.

Many thanks, Andy
 
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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.
 
I would suggest an A in maths would be more suited to go on to A-Level, but this is based on what it was like 15 years ago. I'm not sure how things have changed.
 
Why is it too much!? It is entirely down to the individual. They will achieve what they deserve to achieve, that's generally how these things work. This business of some subjects being "heavier" than others isn't as relevant as you might think, if the student is interested, that is the important factor. He'll do better at 4 hard subject that he likes (And picks himself) than at 1 hard subject he likes and 3 medium difficult subjects he has no interest in.

For context, I was a B grade student at GCSE and A-Level (With subjects that were difficult), and then went on to get a very good 1st class degree in a "difficult" course. It's all down to the student.
 
Just because he picks all 4, doesn't mean he has to carry on doing them - he can start them and if needed bin one of them off in favour of another, or to spend more time on the remaining three :)
 
He'll be fine, if he's prepared to work for it. You don't generally need A's at GCSE to go on to A-Levels (there are some exceptions, eg. you shouldn't take Further Maths without A/A* at GCSE, but that's not the issue here).
 
I'd like to second what Redgie said, at GCSE I never achieved my A's/B's as expected because I wasn't engaged with what we doing, I didn't enjoy the teaching, I was never mis-behaved or didn't try I just was disengaged from the teaching as I didn't enjoy it.

However when I went to college and picked the subjects I wanted to do, BTEC IT & Graphic Design I came out with the highest grade for both subject, because I wanted to do it and was fully engaged and committed. The workload was extreme in some cases, where I was working at 2am/3am in the morning and up for 6am, but it's ultimately what I thoroughly enjoyed.

So if those subjects he picked are what he will commit and enjoy, there's nothing stopping him at all from achieving. Also my Sixth Form made it so in the second year you drop a subject to finish as an A level and the other will finish as an AS level, so if that's the case as well that can help in the second year.
 
Thanks guys! Some very valid points and it does indeed come down to him in the end.

We did look at the BTEC options with him, so that might very well be a viable option. It would be more limiting though, as it would pretty much push him down a specific route now.
 
In my opinion you shouldn't be questioning those choices. Obviously you don't want to create massive expectations etc, but the fact is: it's only A-Level, and I think you'd be causing more damage by questioning his ability to work to this level.

Let him do it, give him support and make sure he has some good structured learning and see how he copes. Plenty of time to make other decisions if it doesn't work out for him.

For what it's worth, I didn't do fantastically well at GCSE's (All B with the exception of a couple A's) yet I'm doing a MSc after my BSc hons.

If I had been judged on prior performance then I'd have been out years ago!
 
sports_brah said:
In my opinion you shouldn't be questioning those choices. Obviously you don't want to create massive expectations etc, but the fact is: it's only A-Level, and I think you'd be causing more damage by questioning his ability to work to this level.
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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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Gepetto said:
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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then he can move vocational, if he cant handle this workload hed be ****ed second year onwards of uni.
 
When I was at school, there was a massive jump between GCSEs and A-levels, I sailed through the majority of my GCSEs without doing much work, did Maths/Further Maths/Physics/Chemistry at A level, and screwed up the lot of them due to being so used to getting away with being lazy.
 
Having done it myself at BSc level, I'd tell him to drop Business. Boring and useless, unless he knows he wants to go into a specific area (e.g. marketing).

Economics, on the other hand, is essentially applied mathematics. If his maths skills are good enough for subjects in the physical sciences he'll be able to do economics with his eyes closed.
 
Gepetto said:
My wife and I place high value on A Levels, primarily because we view them as the door to University...
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This is not an incorrect assumption, but what kind of "door" are you expecting? There are plenty of institutions which will accept students with "lower" grades at A-Level. That said, the question you should be asking is "does he want to go to University"? So far this is all coming across very much as what you want...

What if he carries on and takes these four subjects, and fails miserably?
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Way to show confidence? I don't know what answer you want to that question.
 
AJK said:
This is not an incorrect assumption, but what kind of "door" are you expecting? There are plenty of institutions which will accept students with "lower" grades at A-Level. That said, the question you should be asking is "does he want to go to University"? So far this is all coming across very much as what you want...


Way to show confidence? I don't know what answer you want to that question.
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Tefal has already provided an answer, and, as I stated, it is no way a derogatory comment, merely an expression of our inexperience with the education system. It was a "what if", not a lack of confidence, and I don't want him forced down any route.


With regards to your comment that this is coming across as what "I want", I can assure you that our boy's best interests are what "I want". He has expressed his desire to get his A Levels, and carry on to University.

He has not, however, decided on a career path, although he is thinking seriously about that at the moment, and has started to put forward some thoughts.
 
Gepetto said:
With regards to your comment that this is coming across as what "I want", I can assure you that our boy's best interests are what "I want". He has expressed his desire to get his A Levels, and carry on to University.
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Excellent, that's good to hear. Too many parents simply push their children into useless A-Levels and degrees simply because they don't know any better. I wasn't trying to be offensive - and apologise if that's how I came across - just commenting on how I thought your comments might be interpreted in the topic.

He has not, however, decided on a career path, although he is thinking seriously about that at the moment, and has started to put forward some thoughts.
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Well so far his A-Level choices will allow him entry onto most business, maths, engineering or science courses except straight Physics, so there isn't a great pressure for him to decide on a career path yet.

Fulax said:
Having done it myself at BSc level, I'd tell him to drop Business. Boring and useless, unless he knows he wants to go into a specific area (e.g. marketing).
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Counter-argument: the Business/Economics A-Level will be the easiest of the four (given that the others are straight maths/science), and dropping one of the two sciences in second year (once University applications are decided on) might be a better option to ensure plenty of time to study the remaining three...
 
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AJK said:
Excellent, that's good to hear. Too many parents simply push their children into useless A-Levels and degrees simply because they don't know any better. I wasn't trying to be offensive - and apologise if that's how I came across - just commenting on how I thought your comments might be interpreted in the topic.


Well so far his A-Level choices will allow him entry onto most business, maths, engineering or science courses except straight Physics, so there isn't a great pressure for him to decide on a career path yet.


Counter-argument: the Business/Economics A-Level will probably be the easiest of the four (given that the others are straight maths/science), and dropping one of the two sciences in second year (once University applications are decided on) might be a better option to ensure plenty of time to study the remaining three...
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No offense taken. I could have worded it better! :o

I. personally, would love him to take these subjects, as, I too, believe they provide him with options in the future, but, if he wanted to take an apprenticeship, or a vocational course, I would fully support him in that as well.

The workload does concern me though, with the step-change, and one thing that came up in discussion last night has come up in this thread as well, namely, does he really enjoy those subjects? I think this is a huge factor, and whilst he love Chemistry and Maths, he is not a huge fan of Algebra which forms a large part of Mathematics going forward, and he also finds Physics boring which does concern me slightly.

His teacher indicated that he would find the Economics/Business quite easy, although it does contain quite a bit of work, so the scenario you've mentioned might very well become the case, and depending on what route he chooses, one of the Sciences could perhaps fall away after the first year.
 
In all honesty, business is not a demanding a level.

The other 3 he will find a massive learning curve, weigh up what he needs to progress on to his chosen field at university (I'm guessing medicine or a STEM science or some kind?).

Then decide what A levels he should take. If he needs to do all of them you might consider additional tuition if he struggles assuming you can afford to do so.

I took 4 A levels I enjoyed and did an additional year part time in order to gain a 5th, maybe he could also consider doing something similar, doing 3 of those and then taking an additional year for the 4th. I spent most of my 3rd year working and saving money for my studies (it was a fast track electronics A level so wasn't highly demanding), well, that was the plan, I probably spent more getting drunk than I saved for university.
 
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With maths and chemistry it is generally recommended to have at least an A grade at GCSE, it's a massive step up and even those with A's can struggle. Biology is considered slightly easier "if you can do it" and Business will be fine, easiest of the four.

The benefits of doing two sciences and maths is that there is a lot of overlap in the subjects, for example chemistry and Biology will overlap a reasonable amount alongside chemistry and maths.

Biggest question is whether he will be able to take the next step up with maths IMO, however if his teacher thinks he is ok he may be able to.

I'm sure he will get told this a lot but A levels are by far the hardest part of the academic system outside of postgraduate work. He's chosen two/three hard subjects so if he can get through the two years with reasonable grades the three years of uni will be a doddle.
 
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