Anybody who has doubts in applying due to grades, read my story

This post has really motivated me! I've always wanted to do Spanish at Uni, did French and Spanish at GCSE studied so hard, put in relentless hours and got an A in French and A* in Spanish. I picked Spanish when I first started sixth form again studied so hard, relentless hours then on Thursday got a terrible shock receiving my AS results CDEE and the D was in Spanish After reading this I'm more determined than ever to turn this around )

What were your overall predictions then? I thought they would automatically reject you if you got less than an AAA prediction? Also, what were your references like?

Right.. At GCSE I got 11 A*s and was one of the top students at my school, then at AS I ended up with ABC (A in Bio, B in Geo and C in Eng Lang & Lit). I was devastated not only because of the huge drop from my performance back at GCSE but cos I was so set up for English at Oxford. It had been my dream and I spent my entire secondary school career preparing for it, and yet right there I got an E in the Lit paper because I only managed to finish half of it. It was like a slap in my face.

My head of 6th form told me to 'repeat Year 12' and said to me 'alright then now English at Oxford is dead in the water' and 'normally you should even drop English but shame that you're already only doing 3 subjects', right on the day when I was at my weakest. Then I decided to change and apply for Psychology instead and thus ignored him and carried on with Year 13. After some struggle I decided to still go for Oxford. Between Results Day last year and the day my school began, I was spending all the hours except sleeping and eating just studying and preparing for Psychology at uni. I was fueled with the sheer desire and will to rise back up from my rock bottom again and prove anyone who doubted my ability wrong. I had never thought I'd go for Psychology and so I had to catch up with what I think a typical Oxbridge applicant would have done in like 2 to 3 years within 3 to 4 weeks. And that was the only way I could prove to people that I'm capable and deserving of a high enough prediction out of my ABC when I went back in September in order to apply to Oxford.

After I got back to school everyone was telling me not to waste a place, and teachers were advising me not to apply for unis that have offers higher than AAB. The head of 6th form was telling my English teacher not to predict me anything higher than a B. My English teacher though was the one I must thank as he said to me in the end 'I won't predict you anything less than an A. I want to show you that I believe in you.' So there I went and went for it.

And then I got an interview invite. And then an offer. And then an offer for their scholarship.

I've put in a huge amount of work and time both for the preparation for the course and for my EPQ which is subject-related (and it has expanded my mind and knowledge so much; also helped massively at my interview), and an even huger determination and effort for 'upping' my grades. A2 was hard work, resitting was too, but when I found the will, I found the power.

In the end I got 4 A*s for my A2. A* in all 3 of my subjects and an A* for my EPQ. What kicked that head of 6th form and all others who have ever doubted me in the arse the most wasn't even that I got into Oxford, having defied all odds. It was that I got full UMS in my English, while just 10 months ago my head of 6th form was saying 'don't even predict a B'. And now I'm off to read Experimental Psychology at Oxford in October. This past year was my come-back, my rebound. I just want to tell you that if you have the will, you'll keep turning 'impossible' into 'possible'.

When there's a WILL, there's a WAY. Don't ever let anybody tell you that you 'can't', most of all, don't let yourself tell you that you can't. Find your will, prepare to be flexible and be open to changes, and always believe, and always always try, then you'll find a way. I hope my experience empowers you, and I wish you all the best. x

Right.. At GCSE I got 11 A*s and was one of the top students at my school, then at AS I ended up with ABC (A in Bio, B in Geo and C in Eng Lang & Lit). I was devastated not only because of the huge drop from my performance back at GCSE but cos I was so set up for English at Oxford. It had been my dream and I spent my entire secondary school career preparing for it, and yet right there I got an E in the Lit paper because I only managed to finish half of it. It was like a slap in my face.

My head of 6th form told me to 'repeat Year 12' and said to me 'alright then now English at Oxford is dead in the water' and 'normally you should even drop English but shame that you're already only doing 3 subjects', right on the day when I was at my weakest. Then I decided to change and apply for Psychology instead and thus ignored him and carried on with Year 13. After some struggle I decided to still go for Oxford. Between Results Day last year and the day my school began, I was spending all the hours except sleeping and eating just studying and preparing for Psychology at uni. I was fueled with the sheer desire and will to rise back up from my rock bottom again and prove anyone who doubted my ability wrong. I had never thought I'd go for Psychology and so I had to catch up with what I think a typical Oxbridge applicant would have done in like 2 to 3 years within 3 to 4 weeks. And that was the only way I could prove to people that I'm capable and deserving of a high enough prediction out of my ABC when I went back in September in order to apply to Oxford.

After I got back to school everyone was telling me not to waste a place, and teachers were advising me not to apply for unis that have offers higher than AAB. The head of 6th form was telling my English teacher not to predict me anything higher than a B. My English teacher though was the one I must thank as he said to me in the end 'I won't predict you anything less than an A. I want to show you that I believe in you.' So there I went and went for it.

And then I got an interview invite. And then an offer. And then an offer for their scholarship.

I've put in a huge amount of work and time both for the preparation for the course and for my EPQ which is subject-related (and it has expanded my mind and knowledge so much; also helped massively at my interview), and an even huger determination and effort for 'upping' my grades. A2 was hard work, resitting was too, but when I found the will, I found the power.

In the end I got 4 A*s for my A2. A* in all 3 of my subjects and an A* for my EPQ. What kicked that head of 6th form and all others who have ever doubted me in the arse the most wasn't even that I got into Oxford, having defied all odds. It was that I got full UMS in my English, while just 10 months ago my head of 6th form was saying 'don't even predict a B'. And now I'm off to read Experimental Psychology at Oxford in October. This past year was my come-back, my rebound. I just want to tell you that if you have the will, you'll keep turning 'impossible' into 'possible'.

When there's a WILL, there's a WAY. Don't ever let anybody tell you that you 'can't', most of all, don't let yourself tell you that you can't. Find your will, prepare to be flexible and be open to changes, and always believe, and always always try, then you'll find a way. I hope my experience empowers you, and I wish you all the best. x

Thanks moon, I realised I hadn't worked maybe as hard as I could have, and focused so much time on maths but now that I've dropped the maths I really want to get my grades up so I can do economics at Loughborough. For me, it's just finding the motivation to study, but I did work experience at a large company who now I really want to work for, and so that's inspired me to do as well as I can. Did you make lots of revision notes/flash cards or just read from the book for revision?

Right.. At GCSE I got 11 A*s and was one of the top students at my school, then at AS I ended up with ABC (A in Bio, B in Geo and C in Eng Lang & Lit). I was devastated not only because of the huge drop from my performance back at GCSE but cos I was so set up for English at Oxford. It had been my dream and I spent my entire secondary school career preparing for it, and yet right there I got an E in the Lit paper because I only managed to finish half of it. It was like a slap in my face.

My head of 6th form told me to 'repeat Year 12' and said to me 'alright then now English at Oxford is dead in the water' and 'normally you should even drop English but shame that you're already only doing 3 subjects', right on the day when I was at my weakest. Then I decided to change and apply for Psychology instead and thus ignored him and carried on with Year 13. After some struggle I decided to still go for Oxford. Between Results Day last year and the day my school began, I was spending all the hours except sleeping and eating just studying and preparing for Psychology at uni. I was fueled with the sheer desire and will to rise back up from my rock bottom again and prove anyone who doubted my ability wrong. I had never thought I'd go for Psychology and so I had to catch up with what I think a typical Oxbridge applicant would have done in like 2 to 3 years within 3 to 4 weeks. And that was the only way I could prove to people that I'm capable and deserving of a high enough prediction out of my ABC when I went back in September in order to apply to Oxford.

After I got back to school everyone was telling me not to waste a place, and teachers were advising me not to apply for unis that have offers higher than AAB. The head of 6th form was telling my English teacher not to predict me anything higher than a B. My English teacher though was the one I must thank as he said to me in the end 'I won't predict you anything less than an A. I want to show you that I believe in you.' So there I went and went for it.

And then I got an interview invite. And then an offer. And then an offer for their scholarship.

I've put in a huge amount of work and time both for the preparation for the course and for my EPQ which is subject-related (and it has expanded my mind and knowledge so much; also helped massively at my interview), and an even huger determination and effort for 'upping' my grades. A2 was hard work, resitting was too, but when I found the will, I found the power.

In the end I got 4 A*s for my A2. A* in all 3 of my subjects and an A* for my EPQ. What kicked that head of 6th form and all others who have ever doubted me in the arse the most wasn't even that I got into Oxford, having defied all odds. It was that I got full UMS in my English, while just 10 months ago my head of 6th form was saying 'don't even predict a B'. And now I'm off to read Experimental Psychology at Oxford in October. This past year was my come-back, my rebound. I just want to tell you that if you have the will, you'll keep turning 'impossible' into 'possible'.

When there's a WILL, there's a WAY. Don't ever let anybody tell you that you 'can't', most of all, don't let yourself tell you that you can't. Find your will, prepare to be flexible and be open to changes, and always believe, and always always try, then you'll find a way. I hope my experience empowers you, and I wish you all the best. x

I'm usually fine with just reading from the book and doing past papers. For bigger exams (like the end-of-term ones, not the weekly tests that we have), I try to make powerpoint slides so yeah sort of like making flash cards. But you see, both making notes and flash cards etc are just serving the purpose of forcing you to look at the book/material and then re-enforcing the content so that it enters your head in some way. So gradually I saw that the fastest way is the simplest way which is to just keep my mind really focused and just read the books straight. I also highlight as I go along. But everyone does it differently so find your own way. Hope you'll eventually succeed, and if you put your mind to it, you will!

Congrats Any idea what you want to do after you graduate?

How did you get the scholarship? also how do you have any tips for writing a personal statement

Thanks, I'm going to try my hardest to I spent so much time doing maths past papers I didn't do that many others, and with the new AS there wasn't the same amount available. I'm going to try making flash card notes, the powerpoint slide idea is actually really good and one I might copy lol, maybe I'll do a slide summing up work from each lesson or something. Reading got me really good grades at GCSE but I think I need to do something a bit more engaging almost to keep me focused on it. Thanks for all the advice, I hope you enjoy Oxford

You're such a huge inspiration, kudos to you! It just proves you should never let people put you down, no matter of their 'experience' and judgements and strive to improve and get the best because anyone and everyone has the potential to do well it's just about staying true to your goals and working your socks off. A big hearty congratulations to you, wish you all the best in the future

I didnt revise during my mocks but when I did revise for my exams I got the same grades as When I didnt.

Im going to go for a remark before I even think about a resit. However do you think it would be a waste of an uni option if I apply to uni's that want AAB , if I get predicted BBB

I had the same doubt when I had my AS results, worried that I wouldn't get predicted high enough. I'd make sure I get the AAB just to be safe.. If not then explanation may need to be done in your reference to explain why you don't have the prediction and why actually you will get the required grades in the end. Unis care about the actual and eventual outcome so if you can somehow say to them you're confident in getting the required grade in the end then they'll consider you. Do you think you can persuade your teachers somehow? x

I can persuade my teachers to ABB, but that is only if my geography remark come back to a B grade