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How likely is it to go from reasonable grade in AS to a high grade in A2.

Basically I want to study medicine and I just completed my AS. Let's say I get BBBC in maths chem bio and a C in physics. After dropping physics, what are the chances of me getting AAAc in A2, including AS resits. How many of u have actually improved significantly from AS to A2. Plz share ur stories and give me some advice bcuz I am really scared right now. So if I work my butt off in A2 do I have chances of getting AAA.

Reply 1

chloemo14

Depends why you got those grades at AS. If it was from a lack of work, then yes, it's easily possible if you seriously up your game. If you got them working at the upper levels of your capacity, it's unlikely.

Reply 2

mdajoka

You probably will not get into medicine by declaring your initial As grades .. sorry... I've seen 5A's at AS being rejected by 4 Unis for medicine so I really think you should rethink your career choice. Upping your grade however is possible but only if you put in the effort and retake all your modules. It is possible but not probable, only one in about 10 can do it. Good luck.

Reply 3

Nut.

You can always improve your overall grades at A2, but don't forget that AS's count for 50% of the overall mark.
If you get a middling C at AS and a middling A at A2, that only makes a grade B.
January re-sits are your friend here, especially if there are one or two anomaly papers.

As for my own experience? Complications of a personal nature around the time of my history AS's meant that I got a C in one paper and a D in another. I resat the D in January, got 96%, bringing the overall AS level up to an A, then smashed the coursework and feel that the A2 exam went well. I'm expecting a high B/A from it.
So in short, yes, possible, but not highly likely.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

Freerider101

This advice isn't going to be very useful because you already know the answer. But if you really want something, it will be natural to put your mind to it and you'll get the best result you're capable of achieving. So if you didn't do as well at AS you need to ask yourself why and use it as a learning experience. My Jan A2s and hopefully June A2s will be improvements from my AS although it was because I had a solid AS understanding so A2 seemed to follow on nicely. If there are patches you're struggling with for AS, then get these sorted before you properly start A2. I haven't met anyone who has significantly improved their A2 result from AS but its because people aren't willing to suddenly change their routine in order to get the results.

Reply 5

Smithy-92

Original post by Blackout94

Very possible to get the big increase in grades, but your application to Uni will be badly affected by the achieved AS grades. Unless of course you can produce a stunning personal statement with a reference that fully explains why your AS's aren't as good as they should be and that your A2's could be AAA with work in the second year. Depending on how high your Uni choices are, I'd suggest a gap year? Since you're gonna be in the new tuition fees anyway, it doesn't matter too much.

Reply 6

Jono404

Got BBB at AS predicted A*AC at A2 and the C is mainly cause I ****ing hate politics, if you work hard it's doable. Maths in particular as Core 1 and 2 will seem much easier at A2, so retake those and aim for 90+ leaving you with a bit of a buffer for c3 and c4.

Reply 7

mariya.a

Well like you said if you "work your butt off" then its highly likely that you`ll get the grades that you want and deserve, but let me tell you, if your resitting aswell, and lets not forget science subjects aren`t easy - youve really got your work cut out. Hopefully you`ll do very well as long as you put the effort in - Best of luck! :smile:

Reply 8

Blackout94

To be honest iam expecting an A in biology. Maybe an A in chem if the grade boundaries come off a little. I got full marks in my cw, really good unit 1 paper but unfortunately the unit 2 paper didnt go really well. I am the best maths student in my class and got As allyear round in the class tests, but in the C1 paper, half way through i really panicked and therefore screwed it up. C2 and S1 were just average. In physics, unit 1 went really well but i screwed up unit 3 and unit 2. And unit 3 was screwed up mainly bcuz of maths C1 as they were both on the same day. So thatis the story behind my AS exams. I really want AAA in the end.

Reply 9

Red Devil k18

Because you AS grades are most likely goin to be your predicted grades, you wont have much of a chance with medicine even if you resit all of them whilst doin your A2 year. My advice either choose another course, and retake a few of the exams because A2 gets so much more harder and requires much more study time than AS. Alternatively you could consider redoing your whole AS year, as you are applying in 2012 the uni fees will be high for you no matter what, so redoing the year would be a good option. A lot of people do this and come out with much much higher grades than they would have stuck with. Personally if medicine at a good uni is what you really want to do than its worth doing the year again, you will find it easier and you should really get much better grades.