A Levels - amount of work?

[Melbatb]

Just wondering how many hours your year 13 (I think that is the right year - upper sixth to us parents...) have in lessons each week and at the beginning of the year how much they are working at home (out of interest really as we are in the French system!)

DS has about 30h of lessons a week - 9h of maths, 5h-6h of Biology and of Physics-Chemistry then the rest is made up of History/Geography, English, Spanish and Philosophy. As from October, he will also have 4h exams on a Saturday morning

Since they started back, he has been working about 2-3h of an evening and 5-6h yesterday and today.

Poor lad is taking it well and we are making sure he is getting out and having some fun! It is a lot more than I remember to have to do back in the 80s!

[jndt]

My ds is in year 12 and is taught 13/14 lessons a week (3 A levels) out of a 25 lesson timetable. It's a 2 week timetable and he gets 9 hours per subject a fortnight.

[TheDisneyCouple]

That does sound like a lot. When I did my sixth form years I had four subjects in year 12 (English Literature, Art, History and ICT) and three subjects in year 13. We were advised to drop a subject but were allowed to do four if we wished.

We had Wednesday afternoons off. However there were strict requirements for work outside of lesson time. We did not go into college at all on weekends.

That was at a high performing college .

Why is your son doing so many subjects?

[Mexy02]

Crikey that’s a lot of work and subjects . We are 3 a levels max at our college . 15.5 hrs per week tutor time the rest is personal study .

[Leggibone]

Is he doing Alevels or International Baccalaureate?
Cause that sounds like far too much for Alevels, but about right for IB from what I’ve heard of it!

[marypoppins38]

Dd does 3 A Levels and studies for around 3-4 hours each night and more at weekend. However she is at a very high achieving college and is very focused on A*'s.

[Melbatb]

It is neither the IB nor A-levels. It is the usual French Baccalaureate (in French ). He is doing the Science option which is the most difficult but the one that gives the most options. They have little choice once they choose which Bac to do (Science, Economics or Litterature). History/geography, two foreign languages and Philosophy are compulsory. He took his French exams in June (as do all the kids) and the results for these count towards the final result!

Admittedly his Lycée is one of the best in the department and they push them hard so the Saturday exams is not the norm. But they get the results! And the staff are excellent - very child focused!

[jamieolivia15]

I done 3 subjects in year 13 that had 12 hours each contact time in school, then were advised to do an extra 4 hours of each topic in the week and work in the weekend. It is a lot of work to do in A levels but it’s worth it.