The "I'm scared I'm going to miss my offer" thread

i did a really really bad physics paper last week and i don't think i'm going to get grade i need for my offer. my uni has asked that physics is the highest grade of my offer. is it possible i will still get in if i achieve highest grade in another one of my subjects and get the lower grade in physics? any chance do you think - has this happened to anyone before?

Hey everybody.
This might sound like a stupid move on my part, but every single one of the universities that I applied for gave me the same offer, allowing no room for error. This was the case because they were the only unis I remotely liked. Now with how badly I've done in exams, I'm almost certain that I'm going to miss my AAB offer.
If I miss my offer, could I take a gap year and during that year indepently sit some retake exams to bump up my grades to what I need and then reapply?
Thanks.

Yes, you could do that. Though you'd have to bear in mind that your A level grades would then be achieved over three years rather than two, which may put you at a disadvantage.

STEP

Cambridge? Just keep at it with the past papers really.

Yes, you could do that. Though you'd have to bear in mind that your A level grades would then be achieved over three years rather than two, which may put you at a disadvantage.

x

Yes, you could do that. Though you'd have to bear in mind that your A level grades would then be achieved over three years rather than two, which may put you at a disadvantage.

At this time of year many people worry a lot about whether they are going to make their offers. For some people it's simply a loss of confidence, while others are panicking about that exam that they are sure went really badly and can’t imagine how they will get the grades they need. This thread is for you

Extenuating Circumstances
If you have been ill or there have been other things going on in your life (eg bereavement) which may have significantly affected either your revision or the exam itself, you should make sure that your school/college informs both the Exam Board and your firm/insurance unis well before Results are published. There is no guarantee that this information will be taken into account, but on the other hand it can’t be if the Exam Board/unis don’t have it in the first place. Bear in mind, however, that you are very likely to be expected to provide some documentary evidence of the issue, whatever it was.

If you have had a teaching disaster - wrong syllabus, absent/incompetent teachers - the school/college should be prepared to write to the unis concerned to inform them about it. Again, there's no guarantee the uni will take any notice, but it can be helpful.

I’m panicking – I don’t know enough/the work is going really badly/I don’t understand a key topic
Easy to say, but really important: stay calm. Freaking out is not a good strategy for exam preparation. However bad things may seem, unless you’ve been bone idle you certainly know more than you think you do, and you’ll be surprised how much surfaces when you need it in the exam.

Try and be organised in your approach to revision, but don’t beat yourself up if the timetable doesn’t work out quite like that. Most revision timetables are works of fiction worthy of the Nobel Prize for Literature. If you are too distracted at home, go into school/college or a library and work there instead.

If there’s a topic you absolutely have to understand and you don’t, contact your teacher and ask for help. It's not a good idea to rely on your friends unless you are absolutely certain they know what they’re about

Keeping well...
Looking after your health is really important. Don’t stay up all night on TSR; try not to sleep late in the mornings (yeah, yeah, I know) and make sure you get out for some fresh air every day; a brisk walk beforehand is excellent preparation for an exam. Seriously.

Try not to eat too much random rubbish; keeping the fruit and veg and plenty of water going in will improve your ability to fend off the bugs, and generally help you to cope with the stress more positively. Remember to take some plain water into the exam with you as your brain works better if you have enough fluid on board!

I’m sure I failed/won’t have got the grade I need
Whatever happened in yesterday’s exam, however disastrous you thought it was, don’t be distracted from the exams you still have to do. You are likely to have done better than you thought, and there will be very little more annoying than to find out in August that it was the exams after the ‘disaster’ that actually let you down.

If I do miss my offer, what are the chances that my firm/insurance uni will let me in anyway?
No-one can say what your chances are. The higher ranked the university, and the more competitive the course, the more likely it will be that they won’t take you if you don’t meet your offer. HOWEVER this is not definite, by any means. In previous years, many unis have accepted people who’ve missed their offers, even for competitive courses, so do not assume that all is lost. The only time when you will know for sure either way is on Results Day, so there is little to be gained by worrying about it now, and it is a terrible waste of energy if you still have exams to do.

x

im definitely gonna take some of that advice and start to go hard with the revision, thanks for the push!

hi. just saw both of your sigs said PS help and unis. so i was wondering that if i choose to reapply and take a gap year next year, on my PS do i have to include things i will be doing in my gap year or can i apply with the same PS? as in, i dont really have anything planned for summer ie work experience or any sort of extra curricular and i cant see that being possible tbh so i wont have much to add to the PS itself apart from the grades i achieved. im assuming that merely talking about my plans for the gap year would be sort of pointless since it would be pure speculation (they have no real reason to believe i will follow through with any plans).

im sorry , this has turned to be a very convoluted post but i would be so appreciative if you could lend me some advice on this matter.

thanks a lot.

I don't know, sorry. That's more of an A levels issue than an applications issue. You may get a better response in the A levels forum

Are postgrad offers allowed in this thread?

I don't see why not but you may find the Postgraduate forum more use if you have any particular concerns