HOW TO TURN AROUND DISAPPOINTING YEAR 12 RESULTS
Has your child significantly underachieved in the 1st year of A level ?
Are you worried they won't be able to turn it around?
At a bit of a loss as to how to help?
I'm an educator with 25+ years experience teaching A levels, and I've seen that almost all year 12 results can be turned around. I've known kids with U and Es go on to get A and B. I've also known plenty of kids who don't!
The good news is that your child has the 'book smarts' to do well. What they need help with is 'work smarts'!
Here are six actions you can take now to help your child turn around a disappointing year 12 / AS Science subject result:
1) The single most important difference between GCSE and A level that smart kids need to understand is that they can no longer blag it on wits alone, or by repeating the processes and systems they used at GCSE.
This is often not easy for them to see. They have built an idea of themselves that they are too smart to need to work, or they have a comfortable, but inefficient, way of revising that and keeps the heebie-jeebies worries at bay but doesn't challenge them so their learning is superficial and soon forgotten.
You can help by modelling the need to try. Show them by everyday reinforcement that for you to do well in your job, or in the home, or in your hobbies, you need to put in hours, to practise, to plan and to monitor and to adjust. We all know how sensitive teens can be to being lectured and how supremely attuned their hypocrisy radar is, so remember to 'show don't tell'.
2) Help them understand why they want to do well. However flippant they seem about poor results they will not be enjoying the experience. They need help to reconnect with the enthusiasm and optimism they entered A levels with. Talk to them about university courses, jobs, career areas. Better still take them to university towns, invite friends around who do exciting jobs, 'show don't tell'.
Try to make the conversation about what they'll do next, without making it a nag. We all know it's a long way from easy and something like 'How to Talk so Teens will Listen & Listen so Teens will Talk' by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish (link to the good reads review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/164277.How_to_Talk_So_Teens_Will_Listen_and_Listen_So_Teens_Will_Talk) gives loads of useful practical advice on how to make sure a potentially difficult conversation is more open, more respectful, easier, more frequent and less likely to become an argument.
3) Model how you break up daunting tasks into manageable chunks. This is a life skill that doesn't come easy to any teenager. (Any, not just yours!) Keep it in mind and 'show, don't tell' at any opportunity. If no opportunities arise, make some.
Having an organised process to learn the vast syllabuses of A level Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Psychology, and Physics, is so important in turning poor results around. A good rule of thumb is that students need to actively engage with each part of the syllabus five times before it's secure in their head. That's a gargantuan task.
4) At its heart this is an emotional struggle. I'd say that the single uniting feature of all the kids I've seen turn this around is that they managed to quiet the catastrophising demons in their heads to enough of a murmur that they can change their behaviours and to start to experience success.
There are some fabulous and very reasonably priced resources designed to help your teen upskill. My absolute favourite is the VESPA system. It addresses the organisational, emotional, intellectual and metacognitive aspects of how to learn. It's fabulous, practical and cheap.(https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/the-vespa-handbook) It'll work a lot better if you do it with them!
Allowing yourself to be assessed and being honest about what you need to do to improve will work an awful lot better than a lecture! Remember your teen has the most sensitive BS filter the world has known. Shame it's so selective though!
5) Learn something about why students fail to learn. The short, crystal clear, jargon free and reasonably priced 'why learning fails and what to do about it' by Alex Quigley is my top pick.(https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Why_Learning_Fails_And_What_To_Do_About.html?id=L8Zb0AEACAAJ&redir_esc=y).
6. Keep making time for the stuff they love to do, the meals they love to eat, the words they love to hear, the people they love to see. This is an emotional struggle above all else.
Found this useful? I run free 20 minute webinars where I go through the factors that separate success from disappointment at A level, covering the six key ideas above in more detail. I'm a STEM specialist and focus on the sciences. There are 20 minutes available to ask questions. If you'd be interested see the link in the comments. There are multiple dates available and you'll receive a recording in case you can't make it live.
Tickets for 7pm Thursday 20th June. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-to-help-your-teen-turn-around-disappointing-asyear-12-results-tickets-923835064547?aff=oddtdtcreator
Tickets for 10:30 am Sunday 23rd June.
