• Replies 8 replies
  • Subscribers 67 subscribers
  • Views 4517 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

A-level mocks a complete failure

chucklepie

Hello,

My son has HFA. For this he receives additional time in exams to read the papers.

On finishing GCSE's he got mostly A and B grades. However, he's finding the mock-exams at A-level grade difficult in that on his latest he got a U. 

The problem is he fully understands the subject (and his other subjects) and probably knows more about it than the others but he simply cannot infer from the questions what they want him to say (he doesn't take things literally like answering 'yes' to questions requiring a full answer, just fails to pick out what is being inferred).

It seems the move to A-level is exaggerating this greatly.

It's really quite sad that someone who clearly fully understanding the entire topic to a high level will fail completely due to this.

Is there anything that can be done, e.g. (I doubt it but) is there a way exam questions can be altered to be more specific, or are there any books available where I/he can read to attempt to improve his ability to interpret questions, etc. ?

Thanks.

Parents

  • Dear Chucklepie,

    I have similar issues in this area and it was very hard for me with the jump from GCSEs to A Levels. I like your son was good academically but at times struggled to put things down on paper; especially as is the case with A Levels when you need to interpret what the question is really asking you to do. In my scenario I found moving to a more vocational qualification (e.g. BTEC or OCR Level 3 Extended Diploma) a bit better but I am not sure if this may be the case with regarding your son.

     

    Unfortunatly for me this is still an area I need to develop so I am not able to offer a full solution or alternative manner to really tackle this issue. BUT what I found to be a little helpful was the learning support department at my college giving me (and other students like those with Dyslexia) help with the issue I described above. They gave me worksheets (which should be available in some study support books) that explained for example when a question says explain etc, what does this really mean (i.e. contrast the differences and similarities between the concept(s) in the question and give a conclusion). I know this might not be of particular use at this current moment in time with your son's mock exams but hope it gives you some idea for the future. Also prehaps getting him publically (i.e. via college or ideally social services) or privately assessed by an Educational Psychologist and/or Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) as he seems to be struggling with lingustics (i.e. the meaning of language in a variety of contexts) and inferences. Some american SLTs have mentioned this issue with Autism and you can find out more by searching about lingustics and Autism/Asperger's Syndrome. Have a look at:

    http://www.speechpathology.com/articles/oelig-eading-between-lines-making-1526 

     

     

    Regards,

    urspecial

     

Reply

  • Dear Chucklepie,

    I have similar issues in this area and it was very hard for me with the jump from GCSEs to A Levels. I like your son was good academically but at times struggled to put things down on paper; especially as is the case with A Levels when you need to interpret what the question is really asking you to do. In my scenario I found moving to a more vocational qualification (e.g. BTEC or OCR Level 3 Extended Diploma) a bit better but I am not sure if this may be the case with regarding your son.

     

    Unfortunatly for me this is still an area I need to develop so I am not able to offer a full solution or alternative manner to really tackle this issue. BUT what I found to be a little helpful was the learning support department at my college giving me (and other students like those with Dyslexia) help with the issue I described above. They gave me worksheets (which should be available in some study support books) that explained for example when a question says explain etc, what does this really mean (i.e. contrast the differences and similarities between the concept(s) in the question and give a conclusion). I know this might not be of particular use at this current moment in time with your son's mock exams but hope it gives you some idea for the future. Also prehaps getting him publically (i.e. via college or ideally social services) or privately assessed by an Educational Psychologist and/or Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) as he seems to be struggling with lingustics (i.e. the meaning of language in a variety of contexts) and inferences. Some american SLTs have mentioned this issue with Autism and you can find out more by searching about lingustics and Autism/Asperger's Syndrome. Have a look at:

    http://www.speechpathology.com/articles/oelig-eading-between-lines-making-1526 

     

     

    Regards,

    urspecial

     

Children
No Data