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Secondary education

A level choices

3 replies

Trippingthelightfantastic · 13/03/2013 09:22

Hi my DSyr 11 is bright IQ score puts him in the top 5% but lazy/reluctant and is also very hindered by dyslexia that slows down his writing but he is an avid reader incredibly articulate with awesome comprehension and an almost photographic memory.
He's always under performed at school partly because school has never supported him. Last term we got really fed up as he was becoming anxious and unhappy wrote a few stroppy letters to the school and now they support him a bit more. Unsurprisingly miraculously his predicted GCSE grades have suddenly jumped from a few C's and mainly D's to 5-6 B's and C's! Hes recently received some GCSE results and course work and all are B's.
He's too late to apply to the school 6th form (you needed B's so he was advised last year not too bother) but is applying to our local 6th form college with a good reputation and a switched learning support dept he has chosen three AS subjects RS (he's already passes the GCSE) English Lit predicted a B but apparently one of the best in the school at it but dyslexia will reduce mark to a B, history predicted a B already has this in coursework. He's also now predicted a B in geog he hates it, a B in maths ditto and a B in additional science he's good at physics but weak in chemistry this is why it will be a B. So none of those are suitable for an AS subject.
We've looked on the 6th form college website and he likes the look of Classical Civ. (he's done it before and was good at it) politics (he's from a family of very political trendy lefties), archaeology which will compliment well with history and RS and apparently will get him out of the classroom which would be good for him or philosophy.
He has no idea what he what to do although loves history and we're (maybe wrongly) not even thinking about an RG university.
Any thoughts on those mentioned?

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flyingcarpet · 13/03/2013 17:12

My only thoughts are his chosen subjects are alot of essays already if you are dyslexic. A levels are a big jump in content and work from GCSEs but it definately helps to do subjects you like.

I would be looking at the results the 6th form gets in the other subjects and perhaps see if you can speak to a relevant teacher at the 6th form regarding them.

Perhaps start a shorter thread with a title asking if anyone has a dc who has done classical civilisation, politics or archaeology a levels to see if you can get any more helpful replies.

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secretscwirrels · 13/03/2013 19:51

My DCs are all Maths and sciency so no experience of the subjects you mention.
It did however stand out to me that they are very essay intensive and I would have thought a difficult choice with writing difficulties.
Also there is a monumental leap in difficulty and workload from GCSE to A level.

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BackforGood · 14/03/2013 21:21

My ds sounds not disimilar to your ds, bright, capable, articulate, and, although not dyslexic, he really struggles with organisational skills, and, all his school life we've had comments such as ... 'he's great at talking about it, shows real interest, asks some fantastic questions, and comes up with some great answers and points in discussions but his essay writing / exam technique let him down.
Despite this Grin ds is doing RS, History, Eng Lit, and Drama. He has found the change from GCSE (for which he did hardly any work) MASSIVE. He is literally working for hours every night. There's a LOT of writing to be done for RS, for Eng Lit, and for History, even though he changed at the last minute from his original idea of Gvmt & Politics, to do drama for his 4th.

ds chose them from a combination of them being his favourite subjects, but also - like your ds - by the fact he'd ruled out all the sciences, maths, MFLs, and arts (!) He would tell you though the amount of writing is HUGE. I just worry that your ds would find it overwhelming if he is dyslexic. Is there a reason why you feel he needs a 4th ? I've heard tell that 3 good grades are better than 4 lower grades.

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