Did I get full marks by accident?

I'm sorry to post this in H&R when I know I shouldn't, but I had to post anonymous as I don't want to discuss this with my friends who are regular board visitors.

Basically, at AS English I was really unconfident about how I'd done, and when I got an A, I was over the moon and so happy. I got full marks on one of the papers (the largest weighted one) and I was so shocked. In my other paper, I scraped an A, and in my coursework I got a firm/high B. Hence, I got a high A for that year. I was really happy, and ended up applying to a top university to study English.

My offer insisted that I got an A in English, and I was quite confident because even if I did not do as well at A2, I was so far into an A that it would be hard to bring me down to a B, and I thought that I couldn't really get below a B at A2 anyway. So my results this year were not what I expected. I got a low B in coursework, and scraped 2 Cs in the exams. Therefore I did not get my A in English and did not get into my firm uni.

Now I'm feeling so unconfident about being an A-grade English student. The only thing that really made me good at English was that full marks in one of the papers. Now I'm wondering if that could have been some sort of accident, as it doesn't fit with any of my other grades in my exams over the two years. Could that have been possible? Could I have got full marks in one paper through some sort of error?

I'm thinking about taking a gap year in order to re-do a few English exams in order to get into my uni next year, but now I'm feeling unconfident that I'll be able to raise my grade to an A and I don't want to waste a year ending up not getting into the uni again.

Comments appreciated please :frown:

Reply 1

Sazarina88

The thing I find with English is that it's so hard to predict how you've done. In subjects such as Maths, you know whether you've done the right method and even if you make a silly error somewhere, you still get method marks.

In Unit 6 [AQA anthology about journeys/roads etc.] I just babbled on endlessly, feeling I was just repeating myself and got 112/120.

I think it is highly unlikely that it was an "accident", it's much more likely that you got that mark because you deserved it.

Do you think that because you did so well at AS, you perhaps slacked off a bit at A2? Just because you got 2 C's and a low B does not mean that you are not brilliant at English.

Did you talk to your teachers at all about the situation? They might be able to give some useful insight into why you perhaps didn't do so well in your A2 exams - it might be something simple that you just weren't doing enough of in your essays.

I probably haven't made you feel too much better but have hopefully given you a few things to think about.

Sarah

Reply 2

HereFishyFishy

It's a real shame. It's unlikely your AS grades were a mess-up. Perhaps you were having a really good day when you got your 100%. Or alternatively, perhaps you were having a really bad day when you scraped your C's?

That's the thing about English - you get a paper that isn't quite for you and it can all go downhill very quickly. It doesn't mean you're bad at English.

In regards to re-sitting exams. Don't some top universities specify that you cannot resit your A-levels? With something as competitive as English, this might be the case.
Also consider that when you apply again you won't have your A-grade at hand - not until March, if even then - and this might disadvantage you. By all means, try again if it means that much to you but pick a range of universities, not just the top ones.
Might be worth having a look at Sheffield - they require an A for English, but I think they are willing to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to re-sits.

Sorry it all worked out that way - and good luck!

Reply 3

sunscreen

yea you should check with your uni as some dont allow resits or allow you to have a levels in different sittings

AS is MUCH easier than A level!
in my AS's I got an A and a B
and at A2 (where i worked harder) I ended up with 2 C's! this may have been due to the fact we had 4 teachers in a year for both subjects as the main teachers left!

Reply 4

thefin

I can relate to this.

At AS I got:

102/105 - A

101/105 - A

50-something in coursework (before I got into English...)

However at A2 I got:

86/90 - A

72/90 - A (thought Id done badly but needed only low C on each paper for an A)

and then...

57/120 - E (thought Id done really well, and I dont just mean C or something, I mean I thought Id got nearly full marks)

I think Im going to apply for a remark. Since I was 3 marks from an A.

I know how you feel with the sudden lack of confidence. I feel the same way.

A gap year may be useful to resolve any problems, but its a big step to take.

As the above poster said, turn to your school for advice - you do have many options and they will be able to advise.

Remember that the examiners do make mistakes. Good Luck. :smile:

Reply 5

cinder

See this worked in the oppisite direction for me...because I know I did bad at AS I had to work my arse off in the second year to get the A I wanted.

Is it possible that you were expecting an A so you didn't work as hard for it? This happened to alot of people I know this year.

I think you should check out which universitys do accept resits. You never know the university you want might do. Even if they dont I would resit in your position, you can still get into some really good universities.

What English are we actually talking about? Lit? Lang? Combined?

Reply 6

*titanium*

Firstly because o the raw marks and UMS thing, you dont actualy need full marks to get 100%

In As maths i got 100% in Core 1, 65% in Core 2 and 77% in Mechanics 1 so theres no reason to think it is a mistake, its very unlikely to be a mistake.

Reply 7

nettle7

My marks were all over the place, I felt.
For A2 Human geography I worked so hard and knew that what I wrote in the exam was well, very good- not to be immodest, and to get 67/90 was a little disheartening. For the Natural Geog one this June, I revised very little, knowing I needed only 7 points to get an A and that one cannot trust the examiners anyway. Considering the crap I wrote, that I was able to get 90/90 was unbelievable and made me a little angry.
The same happened with history this year, and with psychology marks last year, but I never asked for remarks because a) expensive!! b) I already had As and fussing over the technicalities isn't really worth it...
However, because yours is actually affecting your life in a very significant way, I think you should take action- remarks or whatever, tell the universities...and very very soon!
Good luck.

So I re-read and am remaining doubtful that anything I posted was of any relevance :-)

Reply 8

User69701

Its an Art. As weall as an A level. Its hard to predict how you done in these. Exam boards don't normally add marks. Mine took 116 off my physics (will be sorted) and 60 off my chem (they aint gonna do squat about that - my CW was full marks but because others in my class didn't get the first few marks but were marked highly by teahcer, I lose out).

If you got 100% - you got 100%.

Reply 9

*titanium*

JayB124

If you got 100% - you got 100%.

yes but because grade boundries are altered you can get less then 100% and it will still say 100% i have seen some papers where 85% gets you 100%

Reply 10

User69701

THe UMS mark and RAW mark are different. The UMs marks is standardised. A certaon number of people get 100%.

Reply 11

Helenia

Sorry, using H&R just for anonymous isn't what it's for.

Reply 12

*titanium*

JayB124

THe UMS mark and RAW mark are different. The UMs marks is standardised. A certaon number of people get 100%.

A lot of people seem to think that it is set such that there is a certian amount of A's each year, but this cant be the case because every year they anounce that this year students achived the highest results ever.