Original post by AuchHello Katie, best of luck with your application in the upcoming months. Right, let me see. GCSEs: 3A*: History, Chemistry and P.E - 6As: Biology, English Lit, English Lang, Spanish, Physics, Maths - 2Bs: Drama and R.E... As you can see, my GCSEs were good, but nothing particularly amazing. Comparatively speaking, I'd say those results aren't as good as King's College is a university (if you understand that comparison ha).
At AS I got 3As and a B. The 3As were in English Literature, Spanish and Economics. The B in History. Better than my GCSEs for definite, but certainly not ideal seeing as I was applying for history. I was really unfortunate in that the examiner who marked one of my history papers was a 'rogue' examiner - he gave me a C although all my teachers demanded it was worth more. The examining board was stubborn over the remark (which included a massive amount of my year group) and barely moved anybody up/down. I retook the exam in January 2011, knowing I had produced a worse exam than the previous time, yet I scored 99/100. So in January, I was sitting on 4As, although I had applied with a B. The point I'm trying to make is: don't lose hope if your AS results aren't ideal. Coming from my personal experience, I'd say that universities are quite lenient at AS. They're expecting retakes from a lot of candidates. Obviously, it's great to do well first time round, but don't lose all hope if you don't. You should understand that Bs at AS is far from bad, and you can bump those up to an A with retakes.
At A2 I got 3A* in Spanish, History and Eng Lit - having cashed in Economics.. What does that show? In my eyes, it showed that some people improve drastically in academic terms as they get older. Another point that universities will undoubtedly consider.
History grades have gone up to A*AA at King's now I've noticed - it was 3As for me. Predicted AAB for A2, I'd say you're in a good position to apply for any course that's AAA and AAB. A*AA might be a push in all honesty, but everyone's capable of achieving higher than they're predicted. (I was predicted A*AA). As for my personal statement... MOSTLY ABOUT YOUR COURSE - get that sorted. That was hard for me - I really wanted to talk about personal qualities etc. But no, trust me, you need to put the emphasis on the course. If you can get anything above 60-70% on the course, you're in business - I'd avoid going below that percentage. Anyway, sorry for rambling on. I hope you find that useful and just ask if you need any more advice!