Is retaking 3 AS-levels in January alongside A2 work too much?
Don't know what to do.
Basically, I need to retake both my history papers and a geography physical paper as I'm not settling for any of those disastrous grades lol.
But is it too much alongside my A2 course?
My history head said I should take one history paper in January and another in June, but do I really want to do that?
Basically, I need to retake both my history papers and a geography physical paper as I'm not settling for any of those disastrous grades lol.
But is it too much alongside my A2 course?
My history head said I should take one history paper in January and another in June, but do I really want to do that?
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Hey, I'm in a similar position to you, although Im doing my 4 A Levels spread over 3 years because I had to retake my Maths GCSE last year. Ive done really badly on both History AS modules, but intend to retake them both in January. This will be alongside the A2 History coursework, A2 Sociology and an AS in Govt and Politics (my college said I had to pick one up even thought its not necessary...) Basically Ive got 4 exams and one 4000 word coursework essay (which is 40% of the History A2) all for January! Sounds a lot but I think its doable.
Are you continuing with 3 AS's at A2? Will that mean you have a total of 6 exams to revise for, for January 2013? I think what your History head is saying is alright, esp. if you have 6 exams to revise for and the module you sit in June is what you would have sat at the beginning of the course - is likely to be very easy compared to the harder A2 stuff.
Are you continuing with 3 AS's at A2? Will that mean you have a total of 6 exams to revise for, for January 2013? I think what your History head is saying is alright, esp. if you have 6 exams to revise for and the module you sit in June is what you would have sat at the beginning of the course - is likely to be very easy compared to the harder A2 stuff.
Original post by SoSewSusanna
Hey, I'm in a similar position to you, although Im doing my 4 A Levels spread over 3 years because I had to retake my Maths GCSE last year. Ive done really badly on both History AS modules, but intend to retake them both in January. This will be alongside the A2 History coursework, A2 Sociology and an AS in Govt and Politics (my college said I had to pick one up even thought its not necessary...) Basically Ive got 4 exams and one 4000 word coursework essay (which is 40% of the History A2) all for January! Sounds a lot but I think its doable.
Are you continuing with 3 AS's at A2? Will that mean you have a total of 6 exams to revise for, for January 2013? I think what your History head is saying is alright, esp. if you have 6 exams to revise for and the module you sit in June is what you would have sat at the beginning of the course - is likely to be very easy compared to the harder A2 stuff.
Are you continuing with 3 AS's at A2? Will that mean you have a total of 6 exams to revise for, for January 2013? I think what your History head is saying is alright, esp. if you have 6 exams to revise for and the module you sit in June is what you would have sat at the beginning of the course - is likely to be very easy compared to the harder A2 stuff.
I'm continuing with three yeah. Last year, I never had January exams as all my papers are June-based, so I think I'll be ok A2 exam wise.
I personally think it will be too much. But if you can handle it, go for it!
Original post by JackJack
Don't know what to do.
Basically, I need to retake both my history papers and a geography physical paper as I'm not settling for any of those disastrous grades lol.
But is it too much alongside my A2 course?
My history head said I should take one history paper in January and another in June, but do I really want to do that?
Basically, I need to retake both my history papers and a geography physical paper as I'm not settling for any of those disastrous grades lol.
But is it too much alongside my A2 course?
My history head said I should take one history paper in January and another in June, but do I really want to do that?
I did retakes along side the A2's and improved on most of them by a considerable amount! Helps because you have knowledge of the a2's to mention in the as's and examiners like that!!!! However, some might not go as well!
With your history, I would recommend doing both in Jnauary as it gives you the extra chance to improve!!!
Original post by JackJack
Don't know what to do.
Basically, I need to retake both my history papers and a geography physical paper as I'm not settling for any of those disastrous grades lol.
But is it too much alongside my A2 course?
My history head said I should take one history paper in January and another in June, but do I really want to do that?
Basically, I need to retake both my history papers and a geography physical paper as I'm not settling for any of those disastrous grades lol.
But is it too much alongside my A2 course?
My history head said I should take one history paper in January and another in June, but do I really want to do that?
I'm going to have to retake 2 of my history papers too! As well as 2 more exams ahhh! i want to do them in January as I always have June then
What did you get in history and what do you want?
Original post by Keelo
I did retakes along side the A2's and improved on most of them by a considerable amount! Helps because you have knowledge of the a2's to mention in the as's and examiners like that!!!! However, some might not go as well!
With your history, I would recommend doing both in Jnauary as it gives you the extra chance to improve!!!
With your history, I would recommend doing both in Jnauary as it gives you the extra chance to improve!!!
How difficult is it to do AS retakes during A2? I might have to do 7 AS retakes and I don't know whether I should or just retake year 12.
Original post by Keelo
I did retakes along side the A2's and improved on most of them by a considerable amount! Helps because you have knowledge of the a2's to mention in the as's and examiners like that!!!! However, some might not go as well!
With your history, I would recommend doing both in Jnauary as it gives you the extra chance to improve!!!
With your history, I would recommend doing both in Jnauary as it gives you the extra chance to improve!!!
Is it really worth it to retake AS alongside A2? cuz the amount of work you will have to do is incredible, if I cant handle AS alone, how am I gonna handle AS and A2 at the same time? it will be too much pressure and your predicted grades will be bad, so you wont go to a good university
Original post by Chriss95
I'm going to have to retake 2 of my history papers too! As well as 2 more exams ahhh! i want to do them in January as I always have June then
What did you get in history and what do you want?
What did you get in history and what do you want?
a D overall, an E in one paper and a C in another. I think I read the question wrong, as all my mocks have been A or B grades. I would like a minimum of a B grade.
. What about you?Original post by HelloGoodbye
How difficult is it to do AS retakes during A2? I might have to do 7 AS retakes and I don't know whether I should or just retake year 12.
I ended up taking about 7 or more! Yes, it's hard but it depends how many A2's you would take! I only had 1 to take, so they didn't get that far in the way
Original post by HelloGoodbye
How difficult is it to do AS retakes during A2? I might have to do 7 AS retakes and I don't know whether I should or just retake year 12.
Personally, I think 7 is waaay too many... maybe it will be better to retake the whole year. Right now, that probs sounds like the last thing you wanna hear, but trust me it will fly by, and when you achieve brilliant results that would exceed anything you couldve done if you took all 7 of them, you will be over the mooooon
Original post by nsolma1
Is it really worth it to retake AS alongside A2? cuz the amount of work you will have to do is incredible, if I cant handle AS alone, how am I gonna handle AS and A2 at the same time? it will be too much pressure and your predicted grades will be bad, so you wont go to a good university
Depends how many A2's you will take in January!
Original post by Keelo
Depends how many A2's you will take in January!
I'm gonna have 4 A2 exams in January so I'll do 3 AS retakes in Jan and the other 4 in June but I'm so confused right now!
Original post by SoSewSusanna
Personally, I think 7 is waaay too many... maybe it will be better to retake the whole year. Right now, that probs sounds like the last thing you wanna hear, but trust me it will fly by, and when you achieve brilliant results that would exceed anything you couldve done if you took all 7 of them, you will be over the mooooon
I was hoping no one would tell me to repeat the year lol but you're right, I think I might have to retake year 12. The thing is that I'm worried about if I can get into good unis if I retake the year.
Original post by HelloGoodbye
I'm gonna have 4 A2 exams in January so I'll do 3 AS retakes in Jan and the other 4 in June but I'm so confused right now!
I'm no expert but both choices have benefits!
Doing y12 again: you focus on as's only
Doing y13: you would get the knowledge from A2's to apply to AS's! You would probably be ok with doing A2's in Jan with resits as A2's normally start a week or 10days after as's finish and for most subjects you need as knowledge for your a2's!!!
Original post by JackJack
a D overall, an E in one paper and a C in another. I think I read the question wrong, as all my mocks have been A or B grades. I would like a minimum of a B grade. . What about you?
. What about you?i got an E overall but i compared the wrong sources oops!
i got a D in my tudors when getting B's in my mocks so im confused
I would love a B too!
Do you think your teacher will predict you a B?
Original post by Keelo
Depends how many A2's you will take in January!
Well i would have to retake like 6 exams, 2 for each A2, im gonna do 3 A2's.
And the thing is that i am taking hard subjects as well, im doin maths, physics and chemistry, these are killer subjects man, and i struggled with them first time at AS, so thats what im tryna say, in my position I think its better to retake the AS year, start fresh and get good grades and get into a good uni, instead of getting into a mediocre uni and commit suicide by studying too much in A2, that would be so depressing.
Original post by HelloGoodbye
I was hoping no one would tell me to repeat the year lol but you're right, I think I might have to retake year 12. The thing is that I'm worried about if I can get into good unis if I retake the year.
I think Im in a kinda similar aituation to you, I did my A Levels spread over 3 years because of a pesky GCSE Maths (grade D), had to retake. Are you applying for uni for Sept 2013?
I did AS and A2 in one year. It's a lot of work and is inadvisable - if you have some sort of mitigating circumstances that explain why you did badly, it would be much better to do it across 2 years than one.
If you're intent on doing it, realise that you're going to have to do a lot of work each day, and that the volume of information you're taking in won't stick unless you find ways of making it do so.
Here was what I did: I needed to do the first module of A2 and both modules of AS (where possible) in the winter, so I finished the AS modules as quickly as possible so that the A2 information made sense (i.e, you need the foundation). Once I felt I knew all of the information for the modules (took about a month to do Chemistry, Biology, Maths and English AS working about 8-10 hours a day), I would do a past paper a week in order to retain the knowledge in my head. I also made a book for each subject with about 200-250 questions on them for the subjects where it was important to know facts rather than be able to just work them out (i.e, Maths). To do these questions, I used the syllabus from the appropriate website. This was especially useful for Biology and surprisingly useful for Chemistry, where you often need to know lots of little formulas etc. Leading up to the exams, I would have my Dad test me on about 50 random questions a day and I would also do a past paper each day as well.
About a week or 2 before the exam, I went back and made crib notes on all of the notes I had made before, essentially re-learning. Combined with doing past papers and the questions I had made, it created triggers in my mind that allowed for me to draw on the larger volume of information locked up in my head somewhere. All the while, I would be doing the A2 module "as normal", as though I were in the second year of college. It was kind of useful doing the ASs at the time as synoptic elements of the course jumped out when I was doing the papers, and even when it wasn't synoptic, you could use logical thinking to progress using both AS and A2 knowledge.
I think I did roughly 10-12 exams in the winter and 10-12 in the summer. It's been a while.
There's no denying it's a lot of work, but if you're determined, it's very doable.
EDIT: Also, I dunno what level of coursework you might have to do, but I arranged to do my AS EMPAs and Chemistry practicals in November along with resit students. Another reason it's essential to get the AS stuff out of the way as soon as possible.
If you're intent on doing it, realise that you're going to have to do a lot of work each day, and that the volume of information you're taking in won't stick unless you find ways of making it do so.
Here was what I did: I needed to do the first module of A2 and both modules of AS (where possible) in the winter, so I finished the AS modules as quickly as possible so that the A2 information made sense (i.e, you need the foundation). Once I felt I knew all of the information for the modules (took about a month to do Chemistry, Biology, Maths and English AS working about 8-10 hours a day), I would do a past paper a week in order to retain the knowledge in my head. I also made a book for each subject with about 200-250 questions on them for the subjects where it was important to know facts rather than be able to just work them out (i.e, Maths). To do these questions, I used the syllabus from the appropriate website. This was especially useful for Biology and surprisingly useful for Chemistry, where you often need to know lots of little formulas etc. Leading up to the exams, I would have my Dad test me on about 50 random questions a day and I would also do a past paper each day as well.
About a week or 2 before the exam, I went back and made crib notes on all of the notes I had made before, essentially re-learning. Combined with doing past papers and the questions I had made, it created triggers in my mind that allowed for me to draw on the larger volume of information locked up in my head somewhere. All the while, I would be doing the A2 module "as normal", as though I were in the second year of college. It was kind of useful doing the ASs at the time as synoptic elements of the course jumped out when I was doing the papers, and even when it wasn't synoptic, you could use logical thinking to progress using both AS and A2 knowledge.
I think I did roughly 10-12 exams in the winter and 10-12 in the summer. It's been a while.
There's no denying it's a lot of work, but if you're determined, it's very doable.
EDIT: Also, I dunno what level of coursework you might have to do, but I arranged to do my AS EMPAs and Chemistry practicals in November along with resit students. Another reason it's essential to get the AS stuff out of the way as soon as possible.
(edited 11 years ago)
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