A* student at GCSE to DBC at AS

Hey ugh

So in my gcses I got all A*s and few As

This year in my AS I got a B in biology
C in chemistry AND
D in maths

I was supposed to get a B in maths but I got a low U in C1 (due to extenuating circumstances lololol) bringing my overall to a D. loooooooool

So i should have achieved BBC. Do you think unis will consider this? Does this story sound dumb? Am i still gonna be able to apply for courses wanting AAA/ABB even though I got DBC....

Whats gonna happen to me?!
Did anyone else go through something familiar?
Help..

Reply 1

Randall13

I got BBC at AS. Turned it round to AAB.

Do retakes in Maths. C1 and C2 ideally.

Both Chemistry units retakes. I got a C but did AS and A2 in one year and managed to get an A not too far from an A*.

Reply 2

GenuineHpLaptop

Original post by Randall13

Did you pay for retakes?

Reply 3

Randall13

Yes I think they are about £10 each.

I cannot stress this enough, prioritise the A2 over the AS, start revising for the AS retakes around March/April it is very manageable.

Make sure you use physicsandmathstutor.com, do all the questions by topic for all the chapters before you start on past papers so you identify weaknesses otherwise past papers will be useless. This is for maths.

Don't memorise for biology/chemistry. Use youtube videos in order to achieve solid understanding.

Reply 4

Mutmit287

Original post by GenuineHpLaptop

This is not uncommon at all, a lot of people who do exceptionally well at GCSE do not see a reflection of that in their AS grades for many reasons.

My advice now if you need to retake the maths modules and some other modules of the other subjects if your Alevels are not reformed for them. Try and see where you went wrong in AS in terms of revision, exam technique etc.

The one thing I cannot say enough is you need to put the work in, A2 is a jump up from AS so just try hard!

Reply 5

GenuineHpLaptop

Original post by Randall13

Thats acc really good advice cause i can imagine doing AS all the time to try and make myself feel better about the grades

Reply 6

username2752874

Original post by GenuineHpLaptop

AAA courses are pretty much out of the question, so is ABB. I'm not sure how you'd get your teacher to predict those grades for you.

If you're on the new system, for bio and Chem, just start revising for your A2 exams, as AS no longer counts towards it(though those exams will have AS content). For maths just resit the modules, they'll become easier once you've done A2 maths, since you use the knowledge at AS quite a bit.

I haven't really seen a student with mostly A* and couple A get those grades. Lowest I've seen was ABBB and he had 7A* and 3A.

Reply 7

GenuineHpLaptop

Original post by Natalierm2707

Only my maths isnt reformed! Ahh thanks for the advice :smile:

))

Reply 8

PharaohFromSpace

Original post by GenuineHpLaptop

Yup, very similar, A-level is just on another level of effort, so
1-don't worry,
2- look into resits
3- Try and convince your teachers that you can achieve those grades, if they predict them for you on paper, then I don't think the unis care, just know that you will have to actually achieve them and work very very hard throughout the year, (unless you resit in November, which I did for some subjects).
4- You will see that the gap between AS and A2 is much smaller, so you will feel relieved
5- Don't give up, you can still get high grades for high courses.

Good luck!

P.S Good idea to start looking at unis now concerning resits etc.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 9

Elastichedgehog

Just make the resits count, another year of experience in the subject will be so valuable. I went from a C grade to an A grade (with almost full marks in the resit) on my Sociology resit.

Reply 10

sunnyrays07

I am more or less in the same situation. I did so well at GCSE but am disappointed with my AS results. I was told universities won't look at them but do you think I'm at a disadvantage. I really want to do dentistry (like so badly, I've finally found a career which I will love) and wondered whether it would be worth taking a gap year or going for it and applying being prepared for possible rejections?

Reply 11

annaj97

Original post by GenuineHpLaptop

I got 9A*s and 1A at GCSE level, but my AS results were also disappointing. I got a D in Chemistry (worse in maths!! but I dropped this) but I have just accepted a place to study at the University of Southampton for an AAB course, so all is not lost!Work super hard this year. Do every past paper as soon as you've learnt the course. Once you've finished a paper then go through every question you got wrong and try again, then get help until you fully understand why you went wrong as questions in many papers are similar. Make detailed notes and use class notes on top of the revision guides (most only include the basics).I ended up with a strong B in Chemistry A level (retook both AS exams), but as Chemistry was a hard subject for me I had to slog to get that grade (the second A2 exam was ew). But I did it and you can too if you knuckle down and get serious about this year. If you've learnt a part of the course it is never to early to start doing past paper questions - I would have started even earlier looking back.

Also depending on the place if you drop a grade here or there a lot of Universities don't mind and let you in anyway. And as AS levels don't count towards A2 on the new system, they are more likely to focus on your GCSE grades if you put in an application.

But seriously, work hard. It does get pretty unbearable at times with the hard subjects, but there is light at the end of the tunnel!