I'm literally going through the same kind of problem, which upset me so much. I recently turned 18 this year and my A level grades were really bad, I know I didn't spend too much time revising, which sucks, btw this was my first year doing A levels, everyone in my class had already done it the previous year. My college said I can't re take my A levels and that I should look at a different pathway, which really upsets me. So I decided not to go back to that college and now I'm just really confused with what to do, whether I should re take my A levels somewhere else or do a access course including socio, english etc. Since I have a passion for English I wanted to do something related with that and creative writing. But the thing is apparently you have to be 19 that's what I've been hearing, my parents are telling me to take a gap year, but I just don't want to give up. And also is maths compulsory in a access course, since I haven't got that yet.