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is it worth retaking english lit gcse next year to try and bump up an A to an A*?

because i'm predicted an A* in eng lit and it's my strongest subject but i mucked up my exam totally today so i'm pretty sure i'm going to get an A. i really want to do english at a university level so say i get an A, would you say it's worth re-taking it next year to try and bump it to an A*? Would an A in GCSE let me down when applying to a good uni?

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Reply 1
nope seriously don't bother - an A is still brilliant. Uni's aren't going to look too closely at whether it's an A or A*, AS levels override it and then A2 overrides them. The thing to really worry about it your A level predictions this time next year - not whether you got an A* or A - anyway eng lang isn't that hard to get an A* in if you're a budding english undergrad! :biggrin:
My God, there are people who are stiving to get a B for god's sake - unless you have your sight set on being the most qualified person ever I personally woundn't care. Jeez, reading this forum you'd think not getting an A* is failing. It isn't. Even getting an A is brilliant.
I would wait and see the grade, anyway. I know I came out of the exam convinced I would get a B/C, and come results day, it was an A*.

Besides, as everybody says, an A is not a fail in any way or form.
Reply 4
My teacher keeps on telling us that while we can retake English, we can't retake English Lit. I don't know if that's true though.
I think you'll probably have enough to worry about with AS Levels next year without the added stress of a GCSE that you've already got an A in. I want to get A*A* in art and do that at uni, but if I got AA I wouldn't be disappointed.
As LouisaG said, wait for results day because you've probably done better than you think. I was sure I'd get a B/C after the exam and ended up with an A, which was my predicted grade. Also, as everyone else has said, you need to get some perspective. An A is a fantastic grade, and although lots of people on here seem to think A*s are everything, they're really not. A-levels are far more important, and if you get an A at AS and a predicted A for A-level, no uni is going to reject you just because you got an A instead of an A* at GCSE.
Reply 7
thanks for the advice people:smile: i didn't really have much knowledge about what unis look for, i thought they'd be really particular when looking at the difference between an A and A*... but i guess thats not the case! cheers :d
a_man_1066
My God, there are people who are stiving to get a B for god's sake - unless you have your sight set on being the most qualified person ever I personally woundn't care. Jeez, reading this forum you'd think not getting an A* is failing. It isn't. Even getting an A is brilliant.

Yes, there are people striving to ascertain a B grade, but there are also people striving to ascertain an A* grade too, and whilst the difference between an A and A* often doesnt appear to be so drastic, the general way which you are perceived completely changed from having an excellent knowledge of a subject, to having a certain flair and A-Level knowledge knowledge of the subject in question.

I got an B in my English Literature examination, even though i was predicted an A*, of course this wasnt what i expected, but in no way did it hinder my performance during my English A-Level course. As others having mentioned, (well those not too emotionally enthralled in the idea of getting an A is a bad thing) you are better of waiting for your results, you can never really predict all the results you are going to get at GCSE, for example, you could end up with a really lenient marker (which for English based subjects can really sway the general result you acheive). If you end up with an A grade, and still want to resit the examination then by all means there is no harm in doing so - but by this time you will be already focusing on your AS-Levels, and you really want to have to be dedicting more time away from your studies to learn a whole new set of novels all over again.

chriztina27
thanks for the advice people i didn't really have much knowledge about what unis look for, i thought they'd be really particular when looking at the difference between an A and A*... but i guess thats not the case! cheers :d

I guess it all depends on the type of university you are planning to attend. Places such as LSE and Oxbridge well of course be making a serious note of the number of A*'s you are attaining, but as previously mentioned again your AS and A2 results will grately overshadow these results.
Reply 9
dont bother, in the grand scheme of things gcse's mean nothing, u only use them to get into a-level courses. once ur in who relly gives a damn, a or a* it's still within the A*-C buondary u need to get into most a level subjects.
Yes, but while a B is an achievement for some people, because that was their full potential and it matched/was better than their expectations, it doesn't mean that it is for everyone. For some people, they will be disappointed with an A* because that is not their potential or expectations. It can be very demotivating not to get an A*, when you know that you could have got it but was let down by a bad day or whatever, especially if it's in your favourite subject and you were planning to carry it on for further study. A grade can mean a different thing for everyone, so while it's definitely not fair to belittle a B, it is also not fair to chastise someone because they were disappointed with an A. Plus, GCSE grades do seem to come in to university applications more than it appears to - the top universities like Oxbridge, LSE etc seem to use GCSEs as one of their discriminators. So don't put it down so much.

That said, an A is still an A; it's not as if it would be a C or anything. If you feel that you want to retake it next year, by all means do so, but remember that you will be doing AS levels next year. If you neglect AS levels for the sake of an A* at GCSE that would be a bad move.

Just my 2 pennies.
Reply 11
Sigh. 90% of the people in my school would be VERY happy with a C in all their subjects. Please, if your going to create a topic, at least make it worthwhile. We would understand if you got a D in MATHS OR ENGLISH and wanted to improve it to a C; but A > A*, simply put, what the hell? Even if you was predicted A*, as you said you THINK you will get an A, does it mean you will not get A*; no.

If you're pretty damn sure your good at English, and you will obtain A at AS/A level, it will totally override it. EVEN if you apply for Oxford/Cambridge and they ask you why you didnt achieve A*, tell them to shut up (well no, you could tell them it wasnt your day).

Sorry if i'm being a bit grumpy, just these type of topics piss me off
Some of you people are being totally ridiculous. An A might be a "very good" grade, but it's not an "excellent" grade, and if you can't get an A* at GCSE, especially in such a subjective subject, what are your chances of pursuing it to university level? Of course the OP knows she can do it and her teachers seem to too. But the university interviewers might not know that, and especially with AS exams having no equivalent A* grade, and very few universities seeing your individual module scores, they might think she was only a "mediocre A" candidate. Now this for many people might be bloody good, but for university level, it really doesn't cut it.

I know people who couldn't get GCSEs if they tried. But their ambitions are to get jobs, not to go to university. Right now I couldn't do "manual" jobs if I tried, because I'm not that sort of person and have little experience. If you have big plans to go to uni and this late on those plans are in any way jeapordised or threatened because you or someone else thinks you're not quite the appropriate student for the course they thought you were, it can be quite distressing. Try being considerate, please.

MisterE, you talk crap. How does an A at AS level override the exact same grade at GCSE? That doesn't show improvement or excellence at all, just an accumulation of knowledge and a bit of experience. There's no way you can tell between a low and a high A grade at AS, although there is at GCSE with the introduction of A* a few years back now. If someone gets an A at AS and an A* at GCSE, it's fair to assume they're a better candidate than someone who gets A at AS and A at GCSE, because the latter looks like they may only have a low A at AS and the former may well have a higher one, based entirely on the GCSE grades. Don't be so dismissive.


Chriztina27: despite the advice I've given above, I would recommend you didn't retake. If nothing else, the texts won't all be the same, which would just be a huge accumulation of work... and then you'd have all the coursework to retake, since, unlike A-level modules, you can't carry your coursework marks forward and just retake the exams. Leave it and explain it during the interview, but don't let it concern you too much. What's done is done, and unless you really did do badly and got a C or something, I wouldn't bother with the huge extra workload.

On the other hand, I'm sure you could resubmit your coursework as fresh pieces (assuming you saved them on the computer or something) and study the same texts... that might, after all, not be so bad. I wouldn't recommend it but if you have the time and it really means that much to you, go for it. Your call. It's not a terrible idea.
generalebriety
Some of you people are being totally ridiculous. An A might be a "very good" grade, but it's not an "excellent" grade, and if you can't get an A* at GCSE, especially in such a subjective subject, what are your chances of pursuing it to university level? Of course the OP knows she can do it and her teachers seem to too. But the university interviewers might not know that, and especially with AS exams having no equivalent A* grade, and very few universities seeing your individual module scores, they might think she was only a "mediocre A" candidate. Now this for many people might be bloody good, but for university level, it really doesn't cut it.

I know people who couldn't get GCSEs if they tried. But their ambitions are to get jobs, not to go to university. Right now I couldn't do "manual" jobs if I tried, because I'm not that sort of person and have little experience. If you have big plans to go to uni and this late on those plans are in any way jeapordised or threatened because you or someone else thinks you're not quite the appropriate student for the course they thought you were, it can be quite distressing. Try being considerate, please.

MisterE, you talk crap. How does an A at AS level override the exact same grade at GCSE? That doesn't show improvement or excellence at all, just an accumulation of knowledge and a bit of experience. There's no way you can tell between a low and a high A grade at AS, although there is at GCSE with the introduction of A* a few years back now. If someone gets an A at AS and an A* at GCSE, it's fair to assume they're a better candidate than someone who gets A at AS and A at GCSE, because the latter looks like they may only have a low A at AS and the former may well have a higher one, based entirely on the GCSE grades. Don't be so dismissive.


Chriztina27: despite the advice I've given above, I would recommend you didn't retake. If nothing else, the texts won't all be the same, which would just be a huge accumulation of work... and then you'd have all the coursework to retake, since, unlike A-level modules, you can't carry your coursework marks forward and just retake the exams. Leave it and explain it during the interview, but don't let it concern you too much. What's done is done, and unless you really did do badly and got a C or something, I wouldn't bother with the huge extra workload.

On the other hand, I'm sure you could resubmit your coursework as fresh pieces (assuming you saved them on the computer or something) and study the same texts... that might, after all, not be so bad. I wouldn't recommend it but if you have the time and it really means that much to you, go for it. Your call. It's not a terrible idea.


I'll let you in on a secret.. it's very obvious really - all universities know that GCSE's are a waste of space, much like A levels. They may want nice grades, but an A genuinely has no difference than an A*.

People sit different exam boards with different grade boundaries, universities know this, so a one grade difference will have no impact.

Generalebriety, you come from a working class poor family, you of all people know there's no shame in manual labour. I suggest you get your head out of your arse, you talk rubbish ALL the time and give bad advice on every thread. You are in no way cambridge matierial!
That depends where the OP was applying. As you may have guessed from my interest, I know Cambridge would be much less inclined to consider you if you didn't get A* at the subject at GCSE, especially if there are plenty of people applying for the subject (and English isn't really a minority subject as such) with A*s. Whoever said "a one grade difference will have no impact" (I'm guessing that was you) should prove me wrong by getting an offer from a university and falling a grade below it and telling them they met the grades. Sure, people get in that way, but very few; who'd want to risk it?

Also, who said I was ashamed of manual labour? I'm 17 and have had a week's work experience in my life where the most stressful thing I had to do was carry brochures around. It's not that I'm ashamed of it, just that I'd be crap at it until I'd had a lot more experience.

Where are you considering applying to, out of interest? I'm sure the interviewers would love you if they said anything against your strong views and you started slagging them off like you're doing to me now. I don't pretend to share any of your views but at least I tolerate them.

Edit: and why was A* introduced if it wasn't to help universities distinguish between a high and a low mark in the previously very wide A boundary?
Reply 15
I agree with generalebriety here. If you are aiming for a top university then there is a good chance that you will be disadvantaged due to not getting an A* a GCSE level in the subject you wish to study. I'm not saying it would lead to a rejection, but if they had to pick between you and an applicant with an A* - it's clear who they would pick (assuming A-level grades were the same).

soulsussed
GET A LIFE you havent even got your result yet. GCSE are barely noticed where uni is concerned - try and find me a uni that'd reject you on a course with an A at GCSE. Getting a B/C at A level might be more of a concern,

Get real, please.

GCSEs are not "barely noticed" by the top universities. In a day and age when so many candidates attain four or more A grades at A-Level, GCSEs are becoming more and more important in distinguishing yourself from the crowd.

Wait and see how you get on. I also thought I had got an A grade for my GCSE English Literature but I just got an A*. You might be pleasantly surprised. In fact, I did much better in most of my GCSEs than I would have guessed. Don't worry about until results day. If you find you did get an A, and you do want to apply to Oxbridge, it might be worth retaking it during your first year of sixth form. You will find it will be possible with a lot of hard work, but it will show real dedication to English Literature and will certainly help improve your chances.
Reply 16
Yes, top unis are increasingly using GCSEs to discriminate between candidates. My father is an admissions tutor and will sort UCAS forms by GCSE grades before looking at them, as generally GCSEs are a good starting point for looking at candidates - most have AAAA+ as AS level so this is not much of an indicator.
I was just thinking though- you have to put down the dates of all your qualifications as well as the grades, so they'd know you resat because the date would be a year later than all your other GCSEs, and that could actually disadvantage you because they might assume you got a C or something the first time.
Then write what you got originally on your personal statement, and bring the certificate along? I think if anything it'd show dedication. I would've resat a GCSE I got an A in if it was something I wanted to study at university. As it happens I got A* in everything I was considering studying at university and I wouldn't have cared if I'd got an F in anything else. :smile:
I'm nearly finished my first year of A level and no one was really asking to show my GCSE grades on paper no one cared, and i dont think uni will. Just u have to be good enough to not to be kicked out in Jan.

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