advice needed please

hi i just got my AS results back and i got
Art-A
fashion-A
maths- B (8 marks off an A)
French -E :frown:

Im quite shocked and anoyed about my french mark as I scored higher in my mock which I'd done no revision for. I knew Id ****ed up the listening, but i thought id done better in the reading and oral.

Its not the end of the world though as I want to do fashion or art at uni. However I really dont like having an E on my record. Also I feel like I wasted the last year on french.

I think im going to retake one of my maths modules to get it up to an A.

Im not sure whether to carry on french next year and retake listening and reading to higher my score. Or to drop the subject but retake two of the modules with the help of a private tutor. Or to just leave it with an E and give up.

Any advice would be helpful!

anyone?? please?

Well obviously the French decision will be different for everybody. But if I got an E for a subject in AS I'd drop it straight away. 1) Your school/college may not allow you to go onto A2 for that subject. 2) You'll have to do a lot of work to boost it to a high mark in order to do well, as A2 will no doubt be harder. 3) You'll be doing A2's as well, that'll be added pressure. 4) Your A2prediction for this subject will no doubt be low (unless your teacher is uber generous).

You could always decline the grade and universities wouldn't know about it. Also if you think you didn't do that badly, you could always order a copy of your script.

Yes, retaking a maths unit would be a good idea, or even a couple because you're borderline. Do NOT retake because you want to get your AS grade to an A, retake because you want to be able to get an A easier for A2, as the AS grade is pretty insignificant. The teacher will also take into consideration that you were close to an A, when predicting. I got a borderline A for AS, but I decided to retake C1 which I got 81 in. I managed to up it to 91, if I hadn't done this, I would of got a B for A-level Maths because I only skimmed an A by 8 marks :redface:

Reply 3

sexysax

You don't need French for uni, you've established that, so it's really up to you whether you really want to put the work in to get a higher mark. I would have thought that your A2 year should be about putting effort into the subjects that you need for uni, which will be Art, Fashion and Maths. You're already retaking Maths so unless you really think you can cope with retaking a few more French modules as well, I would just leave it.

Reply 4

Madprof

I would say don't take French on to A2 - as has already been said, it will be harder at A2 and you'll need a lot of work to get a higher grade. I'm sorry you didn't get what you wanted, but if you got better in your mock, that's a good case for a resit or two (be wary of doing too many: you don't want to jepodise your other subjects) with a private tutor. An E in an unrelated subject really doesn't matter that much at all, but if you can improve on it, then great.

Carry on your best three - that's always the most common thing to do, and for good reasons. If you want to, re-take C1 and/or C2 next summer, as C3 and C4 build so much on the AS pure stuff that they'll seem so easy and you'll pick up the extra marks to give you a bit of a cushion for an A next year.

Well done for your A in art by the way - from my friend doing art A-level, I know there's a fantastic amount of work you need to put in, as well as having to be very talented in the first place! I'm very impressed (and jealous!).

Reply 5

Mustard-man

I would just like to add that in June 06 I had 18 exam sessions. No doubt my A2 units suffered because even though I got AAAA at AS, this ended up as ABBC at A2 :redface:

Reply 6

kellywood_5

I'd drop French, but resit the AS if you want. A2 is quite a bit harder and it would be very difficult to get a good grade with an E at AS, especially with the workload of your A2s and your AS maths resits. My friend got a high E at AS and got it up to a high C after 2 resits, so it can be done :smile: