A levels over 3 years?- what unis accept?
Hello,if i didnt do so well at AS,is it possible that I retake the AS year?...
I want to do civil engineering/architecture, and with my current Grades BBCC i dont think i will be able to get an offer from the top unis...
however, i have heard some unis discriminate against 3 year candidates
any advice?
I want to do civil engineering/architecture, and with my current Grades BBCC i dont think i will be able to get an offer from the top unis...
however, i have heard some unis discriminate against 3 year candidates
any advice?
Scroll to see replies
Very top universities may not want A-levels sat over three years, and may not be so keen on retake students. The best place to find out if this matters to them is on their websites- I think Imperial is one who makes a specific statement about wanting A-levels to be taken over two years.
However, you still stand a better chance of getting into a course with higher grade requirements by retaking. It would probably be best to discuss with your teachers what your options for retaking are. It may be better to carry on with your A2 courses for now, and consider taking a gap year the year after and doing some retakes then.
However, you still stand a better chance of getting into a course with higher grade requirements by retaking. It would probably be best to discuss with your teachers what your options for retaking are. It may be better to carry on with your A2 courses for now, and consider taking a gap year the year after and doing some retakes then.
Original post by Jkizer
Depends on the course mainly.
But a rule of thumb would probably state 'top 10's' will discourage it.
But a rule of thumb would probably state 'top 10's' will discourage it.
hi, thanks for the advice...
the courses i was interested in are civil engineering and or architecture...
i wanted to apply to UCL, Imperial etc but my AS grades put this slightly out of reach, hence i wanted to know if they would consider me if i retook AS level's and applied next october?
Original post by zakibilaly
hi, thanks for the advice...
the courses i was interested in are civil engineering and or architecture...
i wanted to apply to UCL, Imperial etc but my AS grades put this slightly out of reach, hence i wanted to know if they would consider me if i retook AS level's and applied next october?
the courses i was interested in are civil engineering and or architecture...
i wanted to apply to UCL, Imperial etc but my AS grades put this slightly out of reach, hence i wanted to know if they would consider me if i retook AS level's and applied next october?
UCL said a couple of years asgo that an application taken over 3 years would be a very uncompetitive one i.e. you'd be unlikely to get an offer. Before you decide to retake make sure you email again to check you aren't wasting your time.
Original post by zakibilaly
hi, thanks for the advice...
the courses i was interested in are civil engineering and or architecture...
i wanted to apply to UCL, Imperial etc but my AS grades put this slightly out of reach, hence i wanted to know if they would consider me if i retook AS level's and applied next october?
the courses i was interested in are civil engineering and or architecture...
i wanted to apply to UCL, Imperial etc but my AS grades put this slightly out of reach, hence i wanted to know if they would consider me if i retook AS level's and applied next october?
UCL / Imperial i wouldnt put any money on it. Mainly as they get tonnes of applicants with A*AA/A*A*A grades... Basically outstanding students, for limit places at the one of the best institutes in the world.
You best is probably to drop an AS completely, and focus on your 3 A2s. Then take a 3rd year, if no good spots occur in clearing / adjustment.
If you retake AS this year and A2s next year then it counts as sitting over 2 years. It won't make any difference to most unis but if you're looking at Oxbridge/Warwick/LSE etc then you may want to email their admissions team 
I went from CCDE at AS in 2012 to AAAC this year, predicted A*AA. If you think you could've done a lot better it's definitely worth it
I went from CCDE at AS in 2012 to AAAC this year, predicted A*AA. If you think you could've done a lot better it's definitely worth it
Original post by ross95
If you retake AS this year and A2s next year then it counts as sitting over 2 years. It won't make any difference to most unis but if you're looking at Oxbridge/Warwick/LSE etc then you may want to email their admissions team
I went from CCDE at AS in 2012 to AAAC this year, predicted A*AA. If you think you could've done a lot better it's definitely worth it
I went from CCDE at AS in 2012 to AAAC this year, predicted A*AA. If you think you could've done a lot better it's definitely worth it
Assuming you mean that if the OP resits their AS exams in summer 2014 and then sits their A2 exams in summer 2015 having sat the original AS exams in summer 2013, that counts as doing the A Levels over 3 years.
OP, I'd advise resitting the AS modules you feel would boost your grades the most in the summer alongisde your A2 exams IF you think you could cope with the workload. For example, if you have 6 exams for your A2 subjects, perhaps you could resit one module from the C grade subject you're taking to A2 in order to boost that grade, in addition to aiming for high As in the other exams.
Were your Bs and Cs high Bs and Cs? If your Bs were high Bs, I'd imagine that performing well at A2 (i.e. getting mid to high As) in the B grade subjects at A2 would pull the overall grade up to an A (or even an A* if you managed to get over 90%, which is what you should probably be aiming for to be sure those Bs move up to As/A*s).
If you managed to pull your grades up to, for example, A*AA, you could take a gap year and apply during that year. Having said all that, only you know whether or not you are capable of pulling those grades up. It's important to be realistic about whether you could manage AS exams alongside A2 exams.
Applicants are discouraged to apply if they are doing 3 years at college.
However, I know a few people who have taken their A-Levels in 3 years, and still got into the top universities and courses.
1. A close friend of mine messed up his AS Levels, he got CEE or something similar. So he retook his AS Levels and got AAA in Chemistry, Biology and ICT. He applied to 3 Medical Schools and 2 universities for Pharmacy. He applied to King's EMDP course in London, Uni of East Anglia and somewhere else. He got offered an interview for the EMDP course at King's, and he smacked his interview, and got a conditional offer of BBB. He achieved A*AAb in the end. (A* in Biology, b in AS Maths) and is now doing Medicine.
(He also got conditional offers from UCL and Medway for Pharmacy)
2. I know a guy who went to my college, he had a conditional offer of A*AA from Imperial for Mechanical Engineering. He got AABa at the end of the year, he got rejected. It was brutal. But he retook the year, applied to Imperial again, got interviewed again, the interviewer liked him, and he got the same offer of A*AA. At the end of the year, he got AAAa but still got into Imperial because he was only 2UMS away from getting an A* for Mathematics. I've heard his GCSE's were not THAT great, he got 1 or 2 A*'s, majority A's and B's.
3. A girl from my college got a conditional offer of AAA from Cambridge University, at the end of the year, she got AAB, and she didn't get her place. It was so harsh because her B was like 5 or 4UMS away from an A. She retook the year, and applied to LSE and Manchester to read Law. She got offered a place at LSE if she gets A*A*A. But the thing is, apparently she didn't want to retake one of her English exams, so she didn't accept the offer. At the end of the year, she did get the 2A*'s, but not entirely sure if she got A*A*B or A*A*A. But nevertheless, her situation was again very harsh, she made a really bad mistake of not retaking just one of her English exams. In the end, she got her place at Uni of Manchester.
Good luck!
However, I know a few people who have taken their A-Levels in 3 years, and still got into the top universities and courses.
1. A close friend of mine messed up his AS Levels, he got CEE or something similar. So he retook his AS Levels and got AAA in Chemistry, Biology and ICT. He applied to 3 Medical Schools and 2 universities for Pharmacy. He applied to King's EMDP course in London, Uni of East Anglia and somewhere else. He got offered an interview for the EMDP course at King's, and he smacked his interview, and got a conditional offer of BBB. He achieved A*AAb in the end. (A* in Biology, b in AS Maths) and is now doing Medicine.
(He also got conditional offers from UCL and Medway for Pharmacy) 2. I know a guy who went to my college, he had a conditional offer of A*AA from Imperial for Mechanical Engineering. He got AABa at the end of the year, he got rejected. It was brutal. But he retook the year, applied to Imperial again, got interviewed again, the interviewer liked him, and he got the same offer of A*AA. At the end of the year, he got AAAa but still got into Imperial because he was only 2UMS away from getting an A* for Mathematics. I've heard his GCSE's were not THAT great, he got 1 or 2 A*'s, majority A's and B's.
3. A girl from my college got a conditional offer of AAA from Cambridge University, at the end of the year, she got AAB, and she didn't get her place. It was so harsh because her B was like 5 or 4UMS away from an A. She retook the year, and applied to LSE and Manchester to read Law. She got offered a place at LSE if she gets A*A*A. But the thing is, apparently she didn't want to retake one of her English exams, so she didn't accept the offer. At the end of the year, she did get the 2A*'s, but not entirely sure if she got A*A*B or A*A*A. But nevertheless, her situation was again very harsh, she made a really bad mistake of not retaking just one of her English exams. In the end, she got her place at Uni of Manchester.
Good luck!
Original post by la95
Assuming you mean that if the OP resits their AS exams in summer 2014 and then sits their A2 exams in summer 2015 having sat the original AS exams in summer 2013, that counts as doing the A Levels over 3 years.
OP, I'd advise resitting the AS modules you feel would boost your grades the most in the summer alongisde your A2 exams IF you think you could cope with the workload. For example, if you have 6 exams for your A2 subjects, perhaps you could resit one module from the C grade subject you're taking to A2 in order to boost that grade, in addition to aiming for high As in the other exams.
Were your Bs and Cs high Bs and Cs? If your Bs were high Bs, I'd imagine that performing well at A2 (i.e. getting mid to high As) in the B grade subjects at A2 would pull the overall grade up to an A (or even an A* if you managed to get over 90%, which is what you should probably be aiming for to be sure those Bs move up to As/A*s).
If you managed to pull your grades up to, for example, A*AA, you could take a gap year and apply during that year. Having said all that, only you know whether or not you are capable of pulling those grades up. It's important to be realistic about whether you could manage AS exams alongside A2 exams.
OP, I'd advise resitting the AS modules you feel would boost your grades the most in the summer alongisde your A2 exams IF you think you could cope with the workload. For example, if you have 6 exams for your A2 subjects, perhaps you could resit one module from the C grade subject you're taking to A2 in order to boost that grade, in addition to aiming for high As in the other exams.
Were your Bs and Cs high Bs and Cs? If your Bs were high Bs, I'd imagine that performing well at A2 (i.e. getting mid to high As) in the B grade subjects at A2 would pull the overall grade up to an A (or even an A* if you managed to get over 90%, which is what you should probably be aiming for to be sure those Bs move up to As/A*s).
If you managed to pull your grades up to, for example, A*AA, you could take a gap year and apply during that year. Having said all that, only you know whether or not you are capable of pulling those grades up. It's important to be realistic about whether you could manage AS exams alongside A2 exams.
If you don't use any modules from the AS grades of 2013, your final results are from 2 years of exams.
Original post by ross95
If you don't use any modules from the AS grades of 2013, your final results are from 2 years of exams.
Surely that still counts as sitting the exams over a three-year period? If not then it's good news for the OP, but I'd advise them to email universities to ensure that this is actually acceptable before committing to resitting their AS Levels. I'd have thought this would need to be declared on UCAS though, in which case universities would see the OP's first attempt. Where did you get this information?
My head of sixth form. He is the referee for everyone's applications at our school and there's 6-7 students every year who resit AS so I guess he knows his stuff. Mind you, he said it may be different for top 5 unis. I've emailed UCL and Nottingham personally, and both said that it should be ok as long as it is stressed in your reference that you didn't perform to your potential the first time.
To quote my teacher:
1. Many universities want A-Level exams to be gained over two years. You will be fine for this, as your final results will be built only of elements from the last two years, without any contribution from the previous year.
2. I have heard a university admissions tutor say explicitly “We are only interested in where they get to (the grades), not the route by which they got there”, but of course this varies.
To quote my teacher:
1. Many universities want A-Level exams to be gained over two years. You will be fine for this, as your final results will be built only of elements from the last two years, without any contribution from the previous year.
2. I have heard a university admissions tutor say explicitly “We are only interested in where they get to (the grades), not the route by which they got there”, but of course this varies.
Original post by ross95
My head of sixth form. He is the referee for everyone's applications at our school and there's 6-7 students every year who resit AS so I guess he knows his stuff. Mind you, he said it may be different for top 5 unis. I've emailed UCL and Nottingham personally, and both said that it should be ok as long as it is stressed in your reference that you didn't perform to your potential the first time.
To quote my teacher:
1.Many universities want A-Level exams to be gained over two years. You will be fine for this, as your final results will be built only of elements from the last two years, without any contribution from the previous year.
2.I have heard a university admissions tutor say explicitly “We are only interested in where they get to (the grades), not the route by which they got there”, but of course this varies.
To quote my teacher:
1.Many universities want A-Level exams to be gained over two years. You will be fine for this, as your final results will be built only of elements from the last two years, without any contribution from the previous year.
2.I have heard a university admissions tutor say explicitly “We are only interested in where they get to (the grades), not the route by which they got there”, but of course this varies.
Read this thread: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2496666. The consensus certainly seems to be that if you sit AS Levels, resit them the next year, and sit the A2 exams the year after, this counts as three years. Whether the universities to which the OP is applying care about the third year is another matter entirely. I'd advise the OP to contact the universities they are interested in, because the admissions tutors at those universities are obviously in a better position to give advice about their particular admissions process than anyone on TSR.
It just seems illogical that person X, who achieved AAAA in their first attempt at AS Levels, would be considered equal to person Y, who achieved CCCC in their first attempt at AS Levels and then managed to achieve AAAA upon resitting (given that they are already familiar with the course content, the style of the exams, etc.)
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by la95
Read this thread: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2496666. The consensus certainly seems to be that if you sit AS Levels, resit them the next year, and sit the A2 exams the year after, this counts as three years. Whether the universities to which the OP is applying care about the third year is another matter entirely. I'd advise the OP to contact the universities they are interested in, because the admissions tutors at those universities are obviously in a better position to give advice about their particular admissions process than anyone on TSR.
It just seems illogical that person X, who achieved AAAA in their first attempt at AS Levels, would be considered equal to person Y, who achieved CCCC in their first attempt at AS Levels and then managed to achieve AAAA upon resitting (given that they are already familiar with the course content, the style of the exams, etc.)
It just seems illogical that person X, who achieved AAAA in their first attempt at AS Levels, would be considered equal to person Y, who achieved CCCC in their first attempt at AS Levels and then managed to achieve AAAA upon resitting (given that they are already familiar with the course content, the style of the exams, etc.)
Thing is though at most universities they are.
Original post by jelly1000
Thing is though at most universities they are.
That wasn't the point I was making. The person to whom I was responding claimed that if you sit AS Levels (year 1), resit the AS year (year 2) and then continue to A2 (year 3), universities would count that as sitting the A Levels over a two-year period. That's what I was disagreeing with.
Original post by Cashmee
Quick question, do universities such as manchester, nottingham, cardiff and liverpool mind if a person took 3 years of A level?
If it isn't explicitly stated that they do or don't on the university/departmental website, I'd advise contacting the university directly.
Original post by Cashmee
Quick question, do universities such as manchester, nottingham, cardiff and liverpool mind if a person took 3 years of A level?
I can only comment on Manchester but their policy is it's fine but to expect a higher offer, AAA instead of AAB for example.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by la95
That wasn't the point I was making. The person to whom I was responding claimed that if you sit AS Levels (year 1), resit the AS year (year 2) and then continue to A2 (year 3), universities would count that as sitting the A Levels over a two-year period. That's what I was disagreeing with.
ah yes thats true it would be over a 3 year period, you can't just ignore a year.
I emailed Liverpool uni recently as I am currently resitting year 13 and the admission tutor's response was:
"The fact that you are re-sitting A Levels would not count against you. We understand that A Level exams don’t always go according to plan and that re-sits are sometimes necessary."
I am applying to Liverpool,Manchester,Loughborough,Newcastle,Sheffield and the only thing I found was that Manchester want me to show how I have benefitted from resitting and the difference it will make.
"The fact that you are re-sitting A Levels would not count against you. We understand that A Level exams don’t always go according to plan and that re-sits are sometimes necessary."
I am applying to Liverpool,Manchester,Loughborough,Newcastle,Sheffield and the only thing I found was that Manchester want me to show how I have benefitted from resitting and the difference it will make.
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