The Student Room Group

Bad GCSES and good A-Levels, will I be able to get into university?

I know that I already made a thread about this, but for some reason I cannot access it so I thought that I would re-post it and perhaps get some new responses.


Fun fact: I did twelve GCSES in high school; I only passed six of them though. Why you are asking? Well, I would d sum it up to low self-esteem leading to poor revision ethic. To be honest, I hated my three years in high school. I did not get on with a lot of people, this of course lead to me being picked on quite a bit and not having a lot of friends. Unfortunately, I took what all of these people were saying to heart, which lead to me not being very happy a lot of the time and having low self-esteem and confidence. Come GCSE revision time, I was quite frankly down in the ditches. Once I had got my results, which was one of the worst days of my life, I applied at another college to do GCSE re-sits. I remember wanting to do AS Art, AS English Language and AS Media Studies or AS photography. Of course, with my grades, that wasn’t going to happen, so thus I wasn’t allowed to stay.

By the time I was doing GCSE re-sits, I felt so depressed and useless as all of my friends were moving onto higher education and I was basically repeating year eleven. I just didn’t care about it all and I didn’t put a whole lot of effort in. Sure, I did decent during tests in classes and what-not, I am not a total idiot. I just did not do a lot of revision ultimately, nor did I properly understand Spanish to do a higher tier paper. So, GCSE re-sits results day and I had gotten all Ds. No shocker really, I knew that I had not done well. To be completely honest, high school is not hard; I just didn’t apply myself as much as I wish that I could have looking back at it now. I wasn’t on good terms with a lot of people so I didn’t have the best experiences being in classes full of people who I either did not like or they just seemed adamant on tormenting me non-stop. I do not think that I showed my full potential in high school, nor was I emotionally stable enough to show my proper potential with my re-sits.

Thankfully, with my six GCSES between grades A and C, I managed to get onto a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma course in Health and Social Care. In my first year doing the course, I got 120 UCAS points. I’m predicted to finish the course next year with 200 UCAS points, so that altogether I will have 320 UCAS points (A2 grades AAC). I would love to go to university and study Social Work so that I can pursue a career in Youth Work. I would genuinely love to spend my life having such a rewarding and challenging job when I am older. My question is though, will my good A-Level grades cover up my poor GCSE grades, or should, I just pursue another career which doesn’t involve higher education at the risk of being rejected by every university that I apply to?

Also, my GCSE grades are as follows:

Grade B English Literature

Grade C English Language
Grade C Core Science
Grade C - Maths (Had to re-do the bloody thing three times)
Grade C Art and Design
Grade C Half Course Classics

Grade D Media Studies
Grade D Additional Science
Grade D - Spanish
Grade D Religious Studies
Grade D Design and Technology

Grade F - History
Seeing as you've secured the pass grades in English and Maths, as well as 6 GCSE passes, this should be sufficient.

The improvements you've made between GCSE and your BTEC Level 3 Diploma show that your work ethic has greatly improved and that you're a committed, hard-working student. I presume Social Work degrees would have entry requirements up to around 320-340, so you're most likely at the top of that scale.

Good luck with your application!
Original post by joeknow
Thankfully, with my six GCSES between grades A and C, I managed to get onto a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma course in Health and Social Care. In my first year doing the course, I got 120 UCAS points. I’m predicted to finish the course next year with 200 UCAS points, so that altogether I will have 320 UCAS points (A2 grades AAC). I would love to go to university and study Social Work so that I can pursue a career in Youth Work. I would genuinely love to spend my life having such a rewarding and challenging job when I am older. My question is though, will my good A-Level grades cover up my poor GCSE grades, or should, I just pursue another career which doesn’t involve higher education at the risk of being rejected by every university that I apply to?


Have you ever used the website whatuni? (www.whatuni.com) It lets you choose a course, and then filter the results by enty requirements.

For you, I put in Social Work and 320 tariff points, and came up with a whopping 59 results! That's 59 universities in the UK that offer a BA or BSc in Social Work and whose entry requirements are 320 OR LOWER!!!

Many of them are quite a bit lower in fact. Anglia Ruskin, where the son of a friend of mine is having an absolutely wonderful time, offers a BA with a mininum grade requirement of 240 points!

As to your general nervousness about your "poor" GCSEs, I think you really shouldn't worry about it. First of all, it is what it is. You can't change them at this point (or you could, by resitting, but obviously you're beyond the stage where that makes sense).

But most importantly, remember - a university admissions officer has no interest in what you *used* to be like. They're interested in you NOW, your work ethic and your passion for the subject now. These people know perfectly well that lots of young people have a tricky or winding path to academia - and they will have seen that some of the best students are those who got their act together a little bit later than others, because those are people like you, who come to their degree with a much higher level of determination and grit, because it was a bit harder to get there.

If you are still feeling anxious about your past performance, you could always ask your referee to mention it in a reference, obviously in a positive "overcoming obstacles" way.

In other words: go for it!
Reply 3
I am kind of in the same situation and need some help here.

I got 7 GCESs, A*A*ACCCC, (Maths, Electronics, Core Science, Science, Citizenship Studies, Human Health and Physiology and English Lang) respectively. Not very bad but I think my results are below average.

However I got quite good A level results. A2 Maths(A*), A2 F.Maths(A*), A2 Physics (A), AS Chemistry(A), passed Welsh Bacc and now I am studying A2 Chem which is predicted A*/A, Fast-track Biology(AS and A2 in one year), A3 Extended Project and thinking of resitting Physics to get A*.

Just looking at A level results, I think I can apply to any university but because of my bad GCSE results I do not know where to apply.

Any one has any suggestions???
Reply 4
Hi Young-Ah! :smile: I would love to have your GCSES! You should be super proud of those! I’m not too well versed in which universities place a certain amount of precedence over GCSES, but with those grades I wouldn’t be afraid to apply nearly anyway. Maybe not Cambridge or Oxford since I’m pretty sure that they are after only A and B grades, but I would imagine that the majority of universities including those in the Russell group would be happy to have you.
Reply 5
You're in a better position than me and I'm still 100% confident of getting into uni.

Due to circumstances out of my control I didn't even sit 1 GCSE in school.

I went to college, I am in my final year of my level 3 extended diploma predicted DDD which I believe is around 360 Ucas points (may be wrong).

During my first year @ College I also did GCSE maths and english language didn't do amazing in them but not badly at all in my opinion got B's.

I've been to open days @ multiple unis and they all say I should be fine so you alongside a good PS and reference you should be fine my friend.

Best of luck BTW, I hope you get where you want to go.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 6
Hey guys! I don’t know if this means much now, but I’m going to university this year! :biggrin: I’m going to be doing a BA (Hons) Youth and Community Work (JNC Professional Youth Work Qualified) degree. (I switched from social work at the last minute.) At the interview prior to being offered a place, they only asked if I have my English and maths GCSES, the other ones they didn't care about. I know that this doesn't necessarily help other people’s problems if their GCSES aren't good, but it just goes to show that they clearly aren't the be-all and end-all if I've gotten this far. (Hope that didn't sound silly.) :colondollar:
Reply 7
No uni really looks at GCSE grades. Except some require a pass in the two major subjects english and maths (: Should be fine mate!
I've applied for youth and community development too.. where have you applied?
I have interview to attend and an question response to do by next week.
I have applied too:
Universty of Dundee
Glyndwr University
Edinbrugh University
University of Glasgow.

good luck!
Reply 9
Hi Jess12051995!
I applied to study Social Work at Chester,Teesside and Derby, and then Youth and Community Development at Derby. I got offers from Teesside and Derby and got rejected by Chester and Anglia Ruskin. I'm starting BA (Hons) Youth and Community Work (JNC Professional Youth Work Qualified) this September at Derby. I'm sure you'll get offers! At the risk of sounding kind of annoying and clique, just be calm and be yourself at your interview and you'll be fine! :smile:
Reply 10
I think you've done amazingly well !! Don't be down on yourself... 6 passes is better than alot of others did. As for people tormenting you, I had the same experience. I hated school as the bullying just continued with no one to help and no one to turn to. I tried my best to do well and I also passed 6 but I know I could of done so much better. I was in top maths set and played the piano, I was a really happy girl then the bullies started and they wiped my smile and self esteem was dented. But...... life goes on 😄 and we will make it. By time I was 18 I was a financial adviser for a bank where I worked 6 years. And then I joined the Police. So if I was SO thick..... I wouldn't of been able to do the jobs I've done. I also believe some of my GCSES were marked lower than they should of been, again something from moment I got the results I was suspicious of. I got D in maths and E in English when both teachers had put me in top set and told my mum I was a perfect candidate for university. So the exam results did not reflect. I strongly believe someone who ever marked them had been influenced negatively. Anyway you be strong your not alone with your experience, I wish you all the luck in the world. Catherine 👍😄
I got AAAAAABBBCC at GCSE and A*A*A*a*a at A-level (AAAA at AS) with offers from UCL, Durham, RHUL + interview at Oxford.

As long as you AS (not sure if you guys even do this anymore? I feel old) + PS you should be ok

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