The Student Room Group

The "I'm scared I'm going to miss my offer" thread 2014

The 2015 thread is [url="[url"]here.

At this time of year many people worry a lot about whether they are going to make their offers. For some it's simply a loss of confidence, while others are panicking about that exam that they are sure went really badly and can’t imagine how they will get the grades they need. This thread is for you :smile:

Extenuating Circumstances
If you have been ill or there have been other things going on in your life (eg bereavement) which may have significantly affected either your revision or the exam itself, you should make sure that your school/college informs both the Exam Board and your firm/insurance unis well before Results are published. There is no guarantee that this information will be taken into account, but on the other hand it can’t be if the Exam Board/unis don’t have it in the first place. Bear in mind, however, that you are very likely to be expected to provide some documentary evidence of the issue, whatever it was.

If you have had a teaching disaster - wrong syllabus, absent/incompetent teachers - the school/college should be prepared to write to the unis concerned to inform them about it. Again, there's no guarantee the uni will take any notice, but it can be helpful.

I’m panicking I don’t know enough/the work is going really badly/I don’t understand a key topic
Easy to say, but really important: stay calm. Freaking out is not a good strategy for exam preparation. However bad things may seem, unless you’ve been bone idle you certainly know more than you think you do, and you’ll be surprised how much surfaces when you need it in the exam.

Try and be organised in your approach to revision, but don’t beat yourself up if the timetable doesn’t work out quite like that. Most revision timetables are works of fiction worthy of the Nobel Prize for Literature. If you are too distracted at home, go into school/college or a library and work there instead.

If there’s a topic you absolutely have to understand and you don’t, contact your teacher and ask for help. It is not a good idea to rely on your friends unless you are absolutely certain they know what they’re about.

Keeping well...
Looking after your health is really important. Don’t stay up all night on TSR; try not to sleep late in the mornings (yeah, yeah, I know) and make sure you get out for some fresh air and exercise every day; a brisk walk beforehand is excellent preparation for an exam. Seriously.

Try not to eat too much random rubbish; keeping the fruit and veg and plenty of water going in will improve your ability to fend off the bugs, and generally help you to cope with the stress more positively. Remember to take some plain water into the exam with you as your brain works better if you have enough fluid on board!

I’m sure I failed/won’t have got the grade I need
Whatever happened in yesterday’s exam, however disastrous you thought it was, don’t be distracted from the exams you still have to do. You are likely to have done better than you thought, and there will be very little more annoying than to find out in August that it was the exams after the ‘disaster’ that actually let you down.

If I do miss my offer, what are the chances that my firm/insurance uni will let me in anyway?
No-one can say what your chances are. The higher ranked the university, and the more competitive the course, the more likely it will be that they won’t take you if you don’t meet your offer. HOWEVER this is not definite, by any means. In previous years, many unis have accepted people who’ve missed their offers, even for competitive courses, so do not assume that all is lost. The only time when you will know for sure either way is on Results Day, so there is little to be gained by worrying about it now, and it is a terrible waste of energy - as well as a needless distraction - if you still have exams to do.

More info and advice on Results day and university Clearing 2014
Find help and support on Clearing 2014 and Adjustment 2014 in our results hub.
(edited 8 years ago)

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Frightened! How are King's for missed offers?
This thread just made me more anxious about results day! :redface: I just really don't want to go to my insurance anymore and my firm is the university I really want to go to, but the more exams I do the more distant it seems.
Totally understand how you guys feel. We need to start a conditional-offer support group.
I'm also terrified of missing my offer :frown: I just had my last exam today and I think it went well, but the ones before I'm not so sure about ugh. To make matters worse, I don't find out my results until July 7th :/ I hate waiting so long.
Anyway, since the course I have an offer for (Comparative Literature and Classics) isn't too competitive, I'm basically praying they still accept me if I miss by a small margin. What do you guys have offers for? And when do you get your results?
Imperial, JMC. A*A*AA.
fml

Posted from TSR Mobile
Does anyone know if unis get sent marks/ums?
So they can see how close you were if you missed the grade?
if anyone knows for sure can you quote me please :smile:
Thanks
Reply 6
Original post by PKMN TRN JAM
Does anyone know if unis get sent marks/ums?
So they can see how close you were if you missed the grade?
if anyone knows for sure can you quote me please :smile:
Thanks


No they do not. From here:


UMS marks and remarks: Universities only receive module and overall grades, not UMS marks. So if you are only a couple of marks away from fulfilling your offer, then it may be worth letting the University know to see if they will reconsider. However, remember that they don't have to.


But you can always ring them up and tell them
Original post by adi19956
No they do not. From here:



But you can always ring them up and tell them


Thanks, repped
I know I can get AAA and should at least get A*AA (firm offer) but it's just the pressure now because for once, the results are actually ridiculously important!! Plus my firm is Cambridge and I'd be the first from my school to go to Oxbridge ever so the pressure is intense :/
Reply 9
I need AAB to get into Birmingham to do English lit and drama, I'm so scared I'm going to get abb however !!:frown: I don't know what to do!:/
Reply 10
Feeling very negative at the moment, my exams aren't going as well as I would have hoped by this point and I'm scared of missing my offer for Bath. I don't really want to go to my insurance any more. :\
Reply 11
I belong in this group!

Posted from TSR Mobile
I failed my english exam :frown: as in 'had a panic attack at the start of the second hour and hardly wrote anything'. the exams person in my college has emailed the exam board about Extenuating Circumstances but we haven't heard back yet.I'm gutted cause I know I've majorly screwed up, plus english was my strongest/favourite subject and now I'm worried I won't have the UCAS points to get into uni. The lowest grades I could possibly get is
D* in my Btec and a D and C grade in my A levels or an B and E grade in A levels.
Don't get me wrong those are low entry requirements- as long as I actually get my cw sorted out for btec.I'm just freaked cause I'm so sure that my exam is a U or at the very least an E, I'm already on a C/B overall but I'm terrified at how much my grade will drop because of that exam. I have had one panic attack and that was at GCSE- which I failed and got a U in. Now I've had another major panic attack I'm freaked out and even more worried about failing my sociology exams.
I don't feel confident about my results thanks to the m1 exam... I don't think im going to get into uni, so scary
Original post by HeatherC19
I failed my english exam :frown: as in 'had a panic attack at the start of the second hour and hardly wrote anything'. the exams person in my college has emailed the exam board about Extenuating Circumstances but we haven't heard back yet.I'm gutted cause I know I've majorly screwed up, plus english was my strongest/favourite subject and now I'm worried I won't have the UCAS points to get into uni. The lowest grades I could possibly get is
D* in my Btec and a D and C grade in my A levels or an B and E grade in A levels.
Don't get me wrong those are low entry requirements- as long as I actually get my cw sorted out for btec.I'm just freaked cause I'm so sure that my exam is a U or at the very least an E, I'm already on a C/B overall but I'm terrified at how much my grade will drop because of that exam. I have had one panic attack and that was at GCSE- which I failed and got a U in. Now I've had another major panic attack I'm freaked out and even more worried about failing my sociology exams.


I feel for you :/ I almost had a panic attack during one of my exams, during the essay, and it was just so scary, I barely managed to calm down. Just wanted to say I feel awful about what happened to you, and I know this might not mean a whole lot because I'm just a stranger on the Internet, but as a fellow conditional-offer-worrier, I sincerely hope it all works out for you <3 Stay strong and try to focus on the coming exams, I'm sure you can do it :smile:
Original post by PKMN TRN JAM
Does anyone know if unis get sent marks/ums?
So they can see how close you were if you missed the grade?
if anyone knows for sure can you quote me please :smile:
Thanks


As it's always good to have confirmation - you can phone them up and tell them. You can also ask for a priority remark and they may hold the place to see if your grade improves. You have to pay for remarks and you may find when you log into track that the university have accepted you anyway if it's just a grade that you missed.

Anyone who gets panic attacks should consider getting a magnesium oil spray or taking magnesium sulphate (epsom salts) baths, magnesium is very good for stress. Or chew pumpkin seeds or cashew nuts.
Any university that is picky over 20 UCAS points is not worth going to. It's unrealistic to be that picky, especially since an extra student means an extra £9k a year.
Wow....this thread is basically my life at the moment! :frown: so scared I'm gonna fail my exams :s-smilie:

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 18
Same here with the panic attack thing. I have a history of this and it gravely affected my mock exam results. I had one in my History retake and my English exam on Friday so I'm almost convinced I'll get D-E in both. So I don't think I'll get into my firm at all let alone my insurance :frown: I'd rather take a gap year and try to improve.
Original post by LJStudent
Any university that is picky over 20 UCAS points is not worth going to. It's unrealistic to be that picky, especially since an extra student means an extra £9k a year.


That would include most of the top universities, then. :l (Well, they don't care about UCAS points but the grades.) I doubt my firm will let me in with one grade lower.

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