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Language Uni offers vs AS results :(

Hey there I was just wondering if i can get some reassurance. Last week I recieved my AS level results and was like most at my school disappointed. It has always been a dream of mine to study French and German at uni since I started learning them in y6/y7. Ive always seemed to have a flair for learning languages. But results day shocked me in that my dream or even reality is slipping thru my fingers :frown:

I got A -German which i was really pleased about but then when I saw the rest I came crashing back down to earth .. C - French - I was always predicted an A i worked really hard on my own mostly with the support of only one of my two teachers and I really feel I have let her down :frown:

The module results were high B mid B and D nearly C for the oral... but this was taken wioth the teacher who didnt like me :frown:

Im getting it remarked but I know remarks wnt b back in time for uni applications and im very worried :frown:

I got 2ds in the sciences but it seemed to b a general trend in Biology and Chemistry in my classes . The teachers both said the papers were very difficult. So i currently have ACDD but will the sciences count against me with offers for languages ? Do I still have a chance of getting offers for French and German ? Please reply Thank u Love Carole :smile:

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Reply 1

deutschsweetie

Can anyone please offer advice?

Reply 2

*soph*

Does your college certificate your AS level results or just put predicted grades on your statement? My college just put predicted A2 grades on, and then it's up to you to bargain with teachers. Where are you planning to apply? With the exception of Oxbridge, it seems like a lot of top Unis (Bristol, Birmingham, Newcastle, Durham, Nottingham, London Unis, Warwick, Exeter in no particular order) make language offers in the region of ABB-BBC. If you can get your AS French up to a B or an A with resits then pull out all the stops this year and keep up the good work with German, I'm sure the Unis would be impressed with AA in your languages. Are you keeping on both your sciences? Again, it might be worth a few resits, but to be honest, I think it's more important to concentrate on your languages and I'd be tempted to drop one. See if you can resit units in both maybe? If you can get A level results of AAB or ABB then a B or C in AS level Chem or Bio, then you'd be in a really strong position. If you get good predictions, take a few resits and write a really strong personal statement, then I see no reason why you won't get into the top unis. Don't let AS level get you down!

Reply 3

NotEntirelyNormal

I think thats some very good advice actually :smile:

I'm starting a language this year, however it's one that I've never done before and I didnt even do a language at AS or A level so my own contribution here may be a bit lacking. lol.

Like what has already been said it does depend on how your school or college presents you to the various universities. I found at my 6th Form, the school send out predicted grades to the universities, and if you said most of your school did poorly (as most tend to do at AS levels it seems) then they'll take that into account when giving out predicted grades.

French and German seem to be very oversubscribed at uni so you may be playing a completely different ball game to me here, but I agree with *soph* in that if you work your ass off at the beinning of your A2's then theres no reason why your predicted grades wont be higher than your actual AS's.

I wish you good luck in your exams next year and hope it all works out for you! :smile:

Reply 4

*soph*

NotEntirelyNormal

French and German seem to be very oversubscribed at uni

That's true to some extent, but don't let it put you off. In comparison to other language combinations, French and German, as well as French and Spanish and French and Italian, is one of the most popular combinations, but keep that in context before panicking about it. There are probably more applications per place for French and German than Italian and Japanese for example (I have no facts to back that up, it's just the impression I get from these boards) but in the same way, there are far far more applications for English Lit or Law or Economics than there are for any language degree. If you write a damn good personal statement and really sell yourself, that's just as powerful as straight A predictions. I can PM you mine if you want to have a look, or you can PM me your drafts and I'll try to help :smile:

Reply 5

t-meister

Your AS are soooo much better than what mine were! I wasnt interested in languages until start of yr 12 but I took German. Now I love it and want to do it forever. Im not a natural linguist and tbh, I dont work as hard as I should. I got an overal D in AS German and so that was CDDU for my AS results. I applied for German at Edin, Leeds, Bristol, Liverpool, UCLAN (as a back up) and I had firm offer at Edin for BBB and Leeds was my insurance at BCC. I knew I wasnt goin to get to into Ed, but I didnt want to anyway, so Leeds was what I hoped for!

Anyway, A2 results day came round I got BDD.

But anyway, I got CEE for my modules in German AS and i got BDB in the end after resitting! I was only 5 marks from getting an overall C! See, you dont need to worry...if i can do then, ok its cliched but ANYONE really can!

Reply 6

dani_88

In french i got B D E at AS! And i resit the D and the E and got Bs in both papers. Your teachers will probably just put down your predicted grade on your ucas form rather than the grade you've got already..plus your french will be loads better this time next year once you've done your A2s so it'll make the AS seem so much easier when you re-sit! :smile:

Reply 7

deutschsweetie

Wow thanks everybody.. In the french modules i got
Unit 1 List/writ - 68/90 4 marks frm an A - Remarking
Unit 2 - B straight
Unit 3- 49/90 D - Theres something wrong.. im having it remarked but I hope it goes up the 9 ums needed .. then overall i will have 210 a B grade.. but atm im on 201 C :frown:

If i have to i will resit the oral .. but i really dnt wnt to go thru all that again.. because im sure sumfinks wrng with the D!
I was predicted an A all year...
Yes im going to drop Chemistry probably and getting Biology remarked.. it should go up to a C
Then with just remarking i should get ABCD and with resits then can bring the B in French up to an A and the C in Biology up to an B
end up with ABB. Im applying to Kings ,RHUL,Aston,Reading,Warwick , York.. my teachers should give me predictions of AA for languages and B for Biology... are these unis i have applied for reachable ??

Reply 8

*soph*

prinzessin1988

Im applying to Kings ,RHUL,Aston,Reading,Warwick , York.. my teachers should give me predictions of AA for languages and B for Biology... are these unis i have applied for reachable ??

Definitely. Kings and RHUL make standard offers of BBB so those two will be fine and I don't think any of the others will be much higher.

EDIT: Just be careful with what AS grade you end up with in Chemistry... sometimes Warwick specify B in a fourth AS, but that might only be for the most competitive courses. Don't let it put you off applying.

Reply 9

leannemarie

I think that your A in German clearly shows that you are a good linguist. Regardless of the outcome of your French remarks, I would seriously consider retaking all of your AS modules. I'm not trying to suggest that you are bad at French but you may as well retake all of the modules to ease the burden of A2 a little. Our Spanish class had some strange results last year, out of those remaining for A2, we had grades of AA (one was mine, one was someone who was fluent in Italian so had an easier life), BB, C, DD (one was genuinally bad at languages). We complained about our teacher several times because he was bad. Our A2 grades came out as AAAAA B (the Italian person) and D (the person who wasn't good at Spanish). One person who got an C at AS and one who got a D both pulled them up with resits to obtain an A overall. They worked very hard for it though.

If you would like to see my personal statement then PM me, equally if you'd like me to look over yours then I'd be happy to :smile:

.

Think carefully about which subject you are going to drop, perhap talk to your teachers about which would be easiest to retake during your A2 year. I know someone who got an offer from Bristol for German with BBB at AS and a D in Biology, they evidently thought that the D in Biology was irrelevant. If you check out the grade requirements of universities you like, then it might not be necessary to retake whichever subject you drop (Chemistry) to improve your AS grade, it might be better to concentrate on your A2 subjects. You could also consider taking an AEA in German.

German as a sole subject is also far less competitive than French and German, so you could consider applying for that, or German with a new language if you want to start afresh (I nearly did this.)

You could also consider applying post A Level and spending your gap year abroad improving your languages and getting experience in a job or something else. This would mean that you wouldn't have to distract yourself with applying this year. You could also apply this year, and then if your grades are better than expected, you can withdraw from your offers and apply to better universities after a gap year.

All in all, you have many options, but as Soph said, don't let your AS get you down. I always feel that AS oral exams in particular are very stupid because often you are not marked for your language skills but how much you know (I screwed up my AS Spanish oral (a low B or C), apparently for sounding like I'd learnt it by heart when I hadn't but did not retake it and still came out with over 90% at A2.)

Just keep working hard and keep your aims in sight, ignore your bad teacher and just trust your own ability :smile:

Reply 10

kellywood_5

Some very good advice on this thread :smile:

but I'll add my 2 cents anyway. If your school doesn't do so automatically, decline your AS grades and get your teachers to predict you AAB for A2. Drop chemistry. If you want to, you could resit an exam or two to try and get your grade up to a C or a B, but consider how much work you'll have next year and check whether the unis you're applying to require a 4th AS at a good grade. Resit a unit or two of biology and at least the oral for French, although as Leanne said, you might as well resit them all to make it easier next year because your language skills will have developed anyway, so it won't be much extra work. Write a really good personal statement (I'd also be happy to PM you mine/give you some help with yours if you want) and hope for a good reference. Your passion for languages should show through, it's not the most popular of courses anyway and I'm sure you'll improve with resits, so you should get offers. I also think taking AEA German would be a good idea because it shows dedication and a willingness to be challenged. I know how much you want to study languages and you shouldn't let this setback depress you.

Reply 11

deutschsweetie

I think my school wont let me do more than 3 resits though but i really want to do more.. they say its englecting my A2 grades.. but it wnt b coz i wnt have any january exams for A2s in any of my subjects o ican do all the resits in january i dnt understand but what can i do if the wnt let me :frown:

???

Reply 12

leannemarie

Well resitting French modules won't be any extra work apart from the oral exam where you'll just need to relearn your stuff. However, if you do the oral exam in December it shouldn't affect your A2 work much. Then take the other exams in June if they will let you. It depends how many Biology resits you think you need to do? What module grades did you get? If they won't let you then you can't really do a lot about it but you could at least try to reason with them first and explain when and why you want to resit and prove that you're willing to work hard at them. Your school needs reassurance that you will improve by doing the resits.

Reply 13

t-meister

EDIT I apologise to you, leannemarie! Read the comment wrong! Im sooo sorry!

Reply 14

leannemarie

t-meister

EDIT I apologise to you, leannemarie! Read the comment wrong! Im sooo sorry!

Didn't see what you wrote anyway!!

Reply 15

Trolley

The best thing to do is say alright, decline your grades entirely, and plan to redo it all. Now you must get a solid french grammar book, preferably with some English-> French exercises, and complete it. This is your most pressing concern, since you will certainly gain an A if you do it properly, given the climate of language exams these days. Ignore me if you want, but it's not going to be nice, but the greatest benefits come with hard work if you really want it. No one is stopping you getting an old book out and becoming brilliant.

Reply 16

Cunning Linguist

lol.. I might be you but one year ahead :biggrin:

- I got AAE in my A-Levels (French, German, Chemistry).. and my firm still accepted me (Manchester). I think especially for languages, unis don't really look at the other subjects (obviously it does matter), but concentrate on your languages. I hated Chemistry - horrible. Obviously this wouldn't be an excuse to give up on your Chemistry (or Biology? Physics?) :wink:

Reply 17

deutschsweetie

Wow yeah I guess you are! Would you advise me to dcline my AS grades cunning linguist.. and as to the other person.. THERES NO WAY IM REDOING ALL OF THEM! I got an A in German!! 2 marks off a B in French!!!! Im getting my french oral investigated into.. I didnt dislike Chemistry entirely but I saw the new head of chemistry man yesterday and he seemed happy with my exam modules.. it was just the open book and experimental skills and he didnt like what was going on and he was soo nice and said hell investigate for me :smile:

For once a helpful chemistry teacher to sort out the mess we made last yr!! Biology ugh i just got pulled in the corridor and asked ... What did u get ermmm a D ?? Well what did you want to get /need ? a B WELL WHY DIDNT U GET IT :frown:

- lol bloomin charming.. and im feeling french is gn b a repeat of last year.. i did well in 2 modules with my nice teacher got AB THEN A D IN ORAL :angry:

just coz da other 1 h8d me :frown:

but yday i was helping my german teacher move some books and coz my nice frecnh teacher is also my german teacher she was arranging books too and i saw her and saw the lk of disapointment at french whilst my german teacher was all happy i got an A :frown:

Reply 18

Saffie

you'll be fine, but you need to resit as much as possible. if you can't resit at your school, try to resit at another one locally?

what did you get in all of your modules? It sounds like you did better in chemistry than biology, you just screwed up the chem coursework? Do whichever you did better in and generally like better.

i wouldnt worry about french, but i'd suggest resitting ALL of the modules, even the ones you got As and Bs in, because you may find that your oral results always bring down your average a bit. Definitely redo the oral. My friend got a C in AS French, retook everything and got an A at A2. I wouldnt waste my money remarking the low grades when you can retake them to really increase them.
I think you can decline the grades so unis cant see, but that may have changed now.

Actually, If you got say- BBE in your chemistry modules (E in coursework) and- CCD in your biology modules, it might be better to continue biology (retake everything) and retake the chemistry coursework. Then you could get ABBb overall?

Reply 19

kellywood_5

Have you decided whether to take all your subjects on to A2 or to drop one? Since you need to focus on getting your grades up, it would probably be best to drop either biology or chemistry, whichever you don't enjoy as much and feel it would be harder to improve your grade in. Then it would probably be a good idea to resit all 3 French exams if you can. The great thing about languages is that you improve all the time without even realising it, so because you'll be at A2 standard by then, you should hopefully find the resits easy and go up to As. If you want a B in whichever science you carry on, you'll probably need to resit 2 modules for that as well, depending on what your results were like for each module. Try to convince your school to let you do all these resits because the French ones won't be much extra work anyway, apart from the oral.