What is wrong with resits?

I think that usually is talking about people who have personal issues going on. Irritates me how people assume that everyone has a cushy life, where getting 3 As is their only priority.

Maybe I'm inhumane, but no level of personal issue would make me magically forget the information I had engrained into my mind through preparing adequately

Yes, but some people may see themselves having to do things which means they can't dedicate enough time to their studies first time. I.e having to support their family, care for a relative, manage an illness. The list is endless. Obviously having a bad day is usually down to not being prepared enough, so I'm pretty much in agreement with you. Just saying that there is occassionaly a good reason for some students.

I do support resits to an extent.
During two of my 3 Maths exams for GCSE I was horribly ill and found myself paying more attention to the fact that my nose was leaking, than the actual questions. Fortunately I came out with a good grade for them both, but I know it cost me vital points that caused me to miss out on my desired grade, which shows that sometimes resits are needed due to those one off days of problems.

Also I appreciated resits for my AS levels, as I believe so many people walk through GCSE's, and not realise the amount of revision AS requires.

But I do believe you should be only able to resit once!

But surely in life you are given plenty of chances to improve, aren't you? It's not like if you don't do particularly well in your first job as, say, an accountant, you will never be allowed to become an accountant. It seems unfair to expect everyone to do their best on their first go.

Also, I wouldn't say it is particularly unfair - if you get your predicted grade, you are still allowed to resit to try and do better. I achieved my target grade in English, but was allowed to retake because my English teacher reckoned I could do better. I didn't have to pay for this resit, either.

So that makes it okay for A Levels to favour the rich???

I am not saying that it is a good thing that A levels favour the rich, I am simply stating that it is true. And I cannot think of any family which would suffer long-term consequences from having to pay £25 to resit an exam. .

I am not saying that it is a good thing that A levels favour the rich, I am simply stating that it is true. And I cannot think of any family which would suffer long-term consequences from having to pay £25 to resit an exam. The student bursary alone is around £30 per week - all it would take is saving a pound a week through your A levels, and you'd be able to afford it.

I think the bolded shows just how out of touch with reality you are. For many families £25 per week would be needed for food in the house. I could never comfortably go and ask my mother for £25. It would take her some scrimping to find it and probably mean she couldn't pay some of her bills that month.

How many resits are you taking? Because if it works out at £25 per week, you may just be too much of a perfectionist...

I said resits unfairly favour the rich, then you counter that by saying 'Further education as a whole favours the rich though anyway' as if that makes it okay. Wtf?

Surely you can see the difference between taking less than 1% out of your savings and taking 3% out of a much needed bursary for a year?

Ah no lol I have a part time job so I'm covered on that front! If I didn't though, my mum would struggle as she literally has no spare cash, I even give most of my wages to her every month! I'm sure some people won't be lucky enough to have jobs

True, but some people are given more than 1 chance to get their predicted grade. I know someone who sat AS English Language 3 times whilst at College just to try and improve their grade. That's when it's not fair on others.

And I understand that one failed chance doesn't mean you should never be allowed but there has to be a limit as to how many times you get it wrong.

I do get where you're coming from though.

The point I was trying to make was that our whole education system favours the rich, as do most things in our society. If you (or your parents) have lots of money, things will always be that little bit easier. However, with resits it really shouldn't be an issue regarding wealth.

If your family struggles that much with money (and I must admit that I have never met a family which did struggle with something like this), there are plenty of ways of earning a little extra money to help go towards it.

And as I said, a student bursary will easily cover taking a few resits, and if your situation is really bad, surely social services etc. could help. I know they offer to buy people from poor backgrounds laptops, so they aren't put at a disadvantage. And for all the resits I did (at GCSE) I never even had to pay anyway.

So, instead of allowing this unfair advantage to continue or even grow further, why not cut it back where possible?



Did you go to a private school or something? Each entrant costs money anyway, they have to pay the markers, and your school will likely have funds set aside for only one entry each unless they're getting quite a bit extra such as a private school. It doesn't make sense for a squeezed state school (typically in poorer areas they will be more squeezed) to set aside money from the budget for possible resits that would be more effectively spent on classes as a whole.

OK, since even I can see I'm struggling to say what I mean, I'll try again. The whole education system is biased towards people who are wealthier (as is our whole society), due to the fact that someone has to support students while they study, and money can help due to things like private schools and private tutors. There is little you can really do about this without simply banning these things, and making everyone equally as worse off, as opposed to trying to make everyone equally as well off.

However, there is already alot being done to help this, and arguably enough. Firstly, there is child benefit, which is given to all parents to help them pay for things for their children while they are students. At sixth form, students from worse off backgrounds can get a student bursary, and social services will also help in certan ways (including buying a laptop for a student). With all this extra help, I fail to see how anyone can suggest there are long term consequences for families having to spend just £25, a few times a year at most, to have a resit which could have been for free providied you tell your school before the deadline.

This is the system my school had at GCSE - I am assuming this is how it works in almost all over comprehensives/academies for GCSE, although I am not 100% certain about how it works at A level.

And no, I went to a comprehensive secondary school, which was turned into an academy last year. I have taken several resits - as have most of my friends - and none of us have had to pay any money. The school said the only reason you would have to pay for a resit is if you asked to do one past a certain deadline. My sixth form (which I started this September) is part of my secondary school.