[dreamconqueror]

Most of my exams have been completed and I can't help feeling depressed and regretful about them. I revisised the day before or do all nighters before the exams and I feel like whatever grade I get will be due to my stupid disorganization, when I know I could've done so much better.

I know GCSE's isn't everything, but unfortunately for me medicine is extremely competitive and GCSE'S are incredibly important I was predicted something like 8A*and worked hard at the beginning of the year but know I'm gonna be extremely lucky to scrape A's and B's.

I feel like such an idiot and know I deserve the grades I get, I want to make sure whatever happened this year does not happen next year. Can people help me answer the following questions?

How do you organize yourself and get great grades in college?

Would it be worthwhile to retake any GCSE's or should I just forget about it and focus on A levels?

Is there any hope in going to a decent uni with below average/crap GCSE'S?

I'd appreciate some good advice and bring back some positivity into my depressed and worrying mind. THANKYOU

edit: I was looking back at this thread and feel a bit stupid being so worried about it, so far a levels are going great and I'd like to thank everyone for their advice.

[Lyndonx]

A's and B's arent that bad lol. But A levels are much more important that GCSE's when applying for a uni.

[Muppet Science]

The key element here seems to be motivation. You said that you wish to pursue a career in 'Medicine and Biochemistry' - that makes two of us . It is competitive and that is one of the reasons I worked my backside off. Over the summer I would advise getting work experience if possible. I got work experience in a barristers' chambers and a GP surgery, I didn't enjoy the barrister work experience but fell in love with medicine. That motivated me. I then put up posters in my room showing JD from scrubs (don't judge me which reminded me that I should work and not have another Gears of War 3 marathon etc.

In short, find what motivates you and remember it Good luck mate and I hope to see you on the wards soon!

(In regards to the other questions I've drawn a bit of a blank)

[chaza01]

(Original post by dreamconqueror)
Most of my exams have been completed and I can't help feeling depressed and regretful about them. My terrible procastination led me to revise the day before or do all nighters before the exams and I feel like whatever grade I get will be due to my stupid disorganization, when I know I could've done so much better.

I know GCSE's aren't the be all and end all but unfortunately for me the type of field I wish to pursue is incredibly competitive (Medicine and Biochemistry) and GCSE'S are incredibly important I was predicted something like 8A*and worked hard at the beginning of the year but know I'm gonna be extremely lucky to scrape A's and B's.

I feel like such an idiot and know I deserve the grades I get, I want to make sure whatever happened this year does not happen next year. Can people help me answer the following questions?

How do you organize yourself and get great grades in college?

Would it be worthwhile to retake any GCSE's or should I just forget about it and focus on A levels?

Is there any hope in going to a decent uni with below average/crap GCSE'S?

I'd appreciate some good advice and bring back some positivity into my depressed and worrying mind. THANKYOU

dude, I screwed up mine and I actually worked hard and was also capable of acing them; I just got myself so stressed that I seized up. Dw, just work hard for what's left then chill.

Why would you neg that..?

[stupefy!]

(Original post by dreamconqueror)
Most of my exams have been completed and I can't help feeling depressed and regretful about them. My terrible procastination led me to revise the day before or do all nighters before the exams and I feel like whatever grade I get will be due to my stupid disorganization, when I know I could've done so much better.

I know GCSE's aren't the be all and end all but unfortunately for me the type of field I wish to pursue is incredibly competitive (Medicine and Biochemistry) and GCSE'S are incredibly important I was predicted something like 8A*and worked hard at the beginning of the year but know I'm gonna be extremely lucky to scrape A's and B's.

I feel like such an idiot and know I deserve the grades I get, I want to make sure whatever happened this year does not happen next year. Can people help me answer the following questions?

How do you organize yourself and get great grades in college?

Would it be worthwhile to retake any GCSE's or should I just forget about it and focus on A levels?

Is there any hope in going to a decent uni with below average/crap GCSE'S?

I'd appreciate some good advice and bring back some positivity into my depressed and worrying mind. THANKYOU

What you have to consider is that, like you say, Medicine is extremely competitive. On the other hand, GCSEs, while important, are definitely not looked upon as being anywhere near as important as A Levels. What I mean is A*AA at A Level plus GCSE grades A-B would look a lot better than BBB plus GCSE grades A-A*. (I'm not saying BBB is bad, but the OP's hopeful area of study is competitive!).

I absolutely would not consider retaking your GCSEs (also that would not look good on your university app) - I would just focus on your A Levels. After all, your GCSE grades are still very good, not "crap" if you get A's and B's.

Move on and learn from your mistake that you shouldn't procrastinate (it's so difficult though, I procrastinated so much this year and I'm in AS year.. not good!)

Good luck!

[Glenbot3000]

(Original post by dreamconqueror)
Most of my exams have been completed and I can't help feeling depressed and regretful about them. My terrible procastination led me to revise the day before or do all nighters before the exams and I feel like whatever grade I get will be due to my stupid disorganization, when I know I could've done so much better.

I know GCSE's aren't the be all and end all but unfortunately for me the type of field I wish to pursue is incredibly competitive (Medicine and Biochemistry) and GCSE'S are incredibly important I was predicted something like 8A*and worked hard at the beginning of the year but know I'm gonna be extremely lucky to scrape A's and B's.

I feel like such an idiot and know I deserve the grades I get, I want to make sure whatever happened this year does not happen next year. Can people help me answer the following questions?

How do you organize yourself and get great grades in college?

Would it be worthwhile to retake any GCSE's or should I just forget about it and focus on A levels?

Is there any hope in going to a decent uni with below average/crap GCSE'S?

I'd appreciate some good advice and bring back some positivity into my depressed and worrying mind. THANKYOU

Chill. Like you said, GCSEs aren't everything.

1. The best thing about college is you get to manage your time independently. Having free periods means you can prioritise and get work done as it comes a lot easier. Some people, like myself, thrive in the removal of certain boundaries - just make sure you don't use it as an excuse to procreate!
2. No. Unless you get lower grades than what you need to get on a course, don't even consider it. GCSEs get you into college, A Levels get you into uni, only your degree gets you a job.
3. #2 plus I think most unis are reasonable unless you're looking at Oxbridge and others in the top tier. The only uni I've seen even mention GCSE grades is Edinburgh for Classics.

Hope that helps.

[lou_100]

(Original post by Lyndonx)
A's and B's arent that bad lol. But A levels are much more important that GCSE's when applying for a uni.

Yeah I agree with this. I'm sure you've done loads better than you think anyway, just wait until results. You may be pleasantly surprised.

You can always make up for mediocre GCSEs with things like work experience (which you'll need to get a lot of in college if you want to compete with thousands of others for medicine placements so start thinking about that now) and good A level grades. These are much more important.

Some hospitals offer some sort of regular work experience placement for college students. Maybe contact your local one and tell them you want to practice medicine and have they got anything for you to do over the next 2 years on a regular basis, even if its just a feeding programme or talking to some of the patients.

Then also work hard towards A levels (I trust you've done your research and picked the right ones) and voila. GCSEs won't matter so much after all that

Edit: Also, to actually answer your questions..

How do you organize yourself and get great grades in college?
Time management, avoiding procrastination (although almost everyone does it) and revise thoroughly for exams.

Would it be worthwhile to retake any GCSE's or should I just forget about it and focus on A levels?
No, hardly anyone I knew retook GCSEs. It's not worth it just forget them and move on to A levels. They are more important. Unless you got a low grade in maybe Chemistry for example. Then reconsider. But otherwise, no.

Is there any hope in going to a decent uni with below average/crap GCSE'S?
I was told by a classics professor that you need good GCSEs to get into top unis, but apart from that there are many decent unis that will accept below average GCSEs. In fact, if you say you might get Bs and As, thats not even below average. Those are still good. The guy used Durham History as an example and said, on average, you need 6 or 7 A*s and the rest As. But firstly Durham is very popular and History is extremely competitive. So these are probably very very very high grades than most, if not everywhere else (apart from maybe Oxbridge and UCL or LSE where I've heard you need a set of mostly As and A*s for most courses but whether thats entirely true I'm not sure. The poster above seems to think a similar thing :/). Your Bs and As and hopefully the odd A* or two will get you into almost anywhere you want, so don't worry and think about that later

[Archengsculp]

(Original post by Glenbot3000)
Chill. Like you said, GCSEs aren't everything.

The only uni I've seen even mention GCSE grades is Edinburgh for Classics.

and Glasgow School of Art

[lil-mazie]

(Original post by dreamconqueror)
Most of my exams have been completed and I can't help feeling depressed and regretful about them. My terrible procastination led me to revise the day before or do all nighters before the exams and I feel like whatever grade I get will be due to my stupid disorganization, when I know I could've done so much better.

I know GCSE's aren't the be all and end all but unfortunately for me the type of field I wish to pursue is incredibly competitive (Medicine and Biochemistry) and GCSE'S are incredibly important I was predicted something like 8A*and worked hard at the beginning of the year but know I'm gonna be extremely lucky to scrape A's and B's.

I feel like such an idiot and know I deserve the grades I get, I want to make sure whatever happened this year does not happen next year. Can people help me answer the following questions?

How do you organize yourself and get great grades in college?

Would it be worthwhile to retake any GCSE's or should I just forget about it and focus on A levels?

Is there any hope in going to a decent uni with below average/crap GCSE'S?

I'd appreciate some good advice and bring back some positivity into my depressed and worrying mind. THANKYOU

You sound like you need a hug
It's not the end of the world, i too want to pursue a job in medicine (i wanna be a dentist) but most of my GCSEs were in yr10 and i couldn't give a flying monkey so there pretty **** but this year i finally found something worth working for and guess what it's too late...
My grades are pretty rubbish I know i won't get any A* and i too wanted to re-sit my GCSEs but no uni will accept you no matter what your grade is. I know bummer
The best advice i can give you is work your butt off in A-levels and write the best damn personal statment, and if your interview is good enough then we see what the future holds for. Please don't get disheartened try your best and see much broader options, science has a wild field of jobs
NOTE: this is my PERSONAL opinnion

[TheGrinningSkull]

(Original post by dreamconqueror)
Most of my exams have been completed and I can't help feeling depressed and regretful about them. My terrible procastination led me to revise the day before or do all nighters before the exams and I feel like whatever grade I get will be due to my stupid disorganization, when I know I could've done so much better.

I know GCSE's aren't the be all and end all but unfortunately for me the type of field I wish to pursue is incredibly competitive (Medicine and Biochemistry) and GCSE'S are incredibly important I was predicted something like 8A*and worked hard at the beginning of the year but know I'm gonna be extremely lucky to scrape A's and B's.

I feel like such an idiot and know I deserve the grades I get, I want to make sure whatever happened this year does not happen next year. Can people help me answer the following questions?

How do you organize yourself and get great grades in college?

Would it be worthwhile to retake any GCSE's or should I just forget about it and focus on A levels?

Is there any hope in going to a decent uni with below average/crap GCSE'S?

I'd appreciate some good advice and bring back some positivity into my depressed and worrying mind. THANKYOU

I'd just like to mention that if you're considering medicine then most unis would look at your original results and not the resits. Although if you feel the resists would not do much harm to your other work then you could take them just in case you decide to look into other courses.

Anyway, relax now, you can't do much to change what's happened so just look ahead and concentrate on doing well for any remaining gcses, like the English language tomorrow is it? Good luck

[nehaxx]

yep i screwed up my as year, and i wanted to do medicine, so now i'm gonna have to work super hard for my A2 and take a gap year FML

[AMELIA-x]

Shut up seriously, "Scrape A's and B's" they're good grades and still able to do medicine with them, so long as you work hard at AS.

[octopauly]

(Original post by AMELIA-x)
Shut up seriously, "Scrape A's and B's" they're good grades and still able to do medicine with them, so long as you work hard at AS.

Good grades are relative, clearly they are not as good as he feels he could get

[lukas1051]

For a start, don't jump to any conclusions, you haven't received your results yet. A lot of people focus only on the negatives and come to the conclusion they've done really badly when in fact they may have messed up one or two questions, but still scored >90% on the rest of the paper. Don't make any hasty decisions or get worked up until you know your results, and you have plenty of time after that to change your plans if needs be.

There's no point beating around the bush here - medicine is very very competitive and poor GCSEs will put you at a big disadvantage compared to the thousands of candidates with flawless grades, but different universities place a different amount of emphasis on them, so it's not the be all and end all. If you're going for something like biochemistry, there's a good chance you'll get into a good university if your A-levels and personal statement are up to scratch. Nothing is impossible, although you do have to be realistic.

But ignore that last paragraph because none of what I said matters until you know your results, and there's nothing you can do now. So just sit back, relax, wait for results day.

[Above.The.Empyrean]

Haha, you think you've done bad? I've revised one hour before my exam? I think I've screwed up.

[CJ-3]

So I'm in a similar position to the OP. Three quarters of my exams are done now and I feel like I've made a complete mess of some of them. While I wasn't predicted 8 A* or anything like that, I was aiming for five, but that's certainly been taken down to maybe two now. Basically I'm now looking at 2 A* and 3 A's, the rest B's. I'm not being pessimistic here, that's just genuinely what I reckon I'll get after a lot of thought.

But I'm waffling, basically my questions are : Do you think these GCSE's are good enough for Computer Science (or could someone point me in the direction of an appropriate thread, sorry I'm new here) And if not then... Well I guess I'll have to re-take won't I? I mean it's not medicine but Comp Sci is still pretty competitive, no?

And while I know you all think re-taking GCSE's is generally pointless, would you say that it would be worthwhile re-taking a B in English Language to get an A or an A in Chemistry to get an A*? Don't worry I plan on working my backside off in the next two years. (OP we have a lot in common!)

Thanks for any help, and again sorry if I shouldn't be asking this here

[TheDannyManCan]

It's not the end of the world I got mostly As and Bs at GCSE and got offers from two med schools. Just pick wisely and put all you can into the other parts of your app (and I mean all :P).

[Lyndonx]

In my eyes there is no point retaking a subject to get 1 grade higher, unless its majorly important for the A level or degree you want to do. If i get a B in my English Lit then i dont really care, but for dentistry i need a A in English Lang. So if i get a B in that then i would retake.


but hopefully i wont :'(

[Saleha]

(Original post by dreamconqueror)
Most of my exams have been completed and I can't help feeling depressed and regretful about them. My terrible procastination led me to revise the day before or do all nighters before the exams and I feel like whatever grade I get will be due to my stupid disorganization, when I know I could've done so much better.

I know GCSE's aren't the be all and end all but unfortunately for me the type of field I wish to pursue is incredibly competitive (Medicine and Biochemistry) and GCSE'S are incredibly important I was predicted something like 8A*and worked hard at the beginning of the year but know I'm gonna be extremely lucky to scrape A's and B's.

I feel like such an idiot and know I deserve the grades I get, I want to make sure whatever happened this year does not happen next year. Can people help me answer the following questions?

How do you organize yourself and get great grades in college?

Would it be worthwhile to retake any GCSE's or should I just forget about it and focus on A levels?

Is there any hope in going to a decent uni with below average/crap GCSE'S?

I'd appreciate some good advice and bring back some positivity into my depressed and worrying mind. THANKYOU

Hey there hun, i know how you're feeling atm because i felt the EXACT same way you did after i did my GCSE's and i was panicking for aaaagess, but look you've got ages to enjoy for now and you can't change anything now and despite all my unnecessary panicking i still managed to get satisfactory grades. Even if you end up disappointed with your grades like a lot of my friends did then SERIOUSLY focus on your A-levels because one of my friends goes to Manchester uni and got like 1 A* a few A's and some B's at GCSE, but had amazing A-levels and is doing medicine so seriously A-levels, your personal statement and interviews have a huuugeee impact
some unis dont even consider GCSE's very much surprisingly and i've noticed that the people that didn't do so well at GCSE and more motivated to work at A-level and are getting fantastic grades so there's always other options and also make sure you get relevant work experience to your career aspiration because it also helps a lot
don't give up hope because the most important is yet to come and you will get in to uni
the only people that don't get in to uni are those who mess up both GCSE's and A-levels, which i doubt you'll do because you seem sensible enough to be focused
I hope that helped love and now relax and ENJOYYY! It's summerr!! xx

[sc0307]

Don't worry, I screwed my GCSE's (got B's and C's) but worked extra hard for my A-levels and managed to get a place at UCL