I retook my whole AS year. Ask me anything!:)

einnap101

Seriously. It's not as bad as you'd think!

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Reply 1

Summer Rose

Wow, you retook? Why?? :eek:

I hope you didn't fail :frown:

Reply 2

einnap101

Original post by Summer Rose

Wow, you retook? Why?? :eek:

I hope you didn't fail :frown:

I failed partly because I didn't like my subjects, so halfway through the year I just gave up and knew that I was going to retake the year. I was doing ICT, Psychology & History. I also partly retook because I didn't realise how hard A Levels were compared to GCSEs. No one told us that there was a massive jump!

Reply 3

Summer Rose

Aawh bless :h:

I've just finished GCSE's, and hopefully I'll be choosing A-Levels: Psychology (I did this at GCSE and LOVED!), English Lang and Lit, Health and Social Care, and Biology :smile:

Reply 4

Summer Rose

Also do you have any advice for me as I am starting Sixth Form 2nd September, I'm terrified of the idea of failing A-Levels, it must be horrible :eek:

.. But thats my motivation soo... :biggrin:

Reply 5

Qari

Original post by Summer Rose

Wow, you retook? Why?? :eek:

I hope you didn't fail :frown:

you should really put your head down and try. Also in A levels they're so nit picky over key wording. I failed 2 of my AS subjects due to my exam skills. content wise i was okay but exam skills i flopped mostly because i didn't put the terminology they wanted.

Reply 6

einnap101

Original post by Summer Rose

Also do you have any advice for me as I am starting Sixth Form 2nd September, I'm terrified of the idea of failing A-Levels, it must be horrible :eek:

.. But thats my motivation soo... :biggrin:

It's honestly, not that bad! All I can say, is that you HAVE to work. You can't just wing it like with GCSEs. That's where I went wrong. And also pick subjects that you know you'll enjoy, because it makes it easier to do well. I did Sociology when I retook and really enjoyed it, which made me find it easy, which made me get an A for AS (no idea what I got for A2 yet) but because of that I did well.

Don't let it stress you out too much, one thing that really helped for me was organisation, if you're organised, it's easier to remember things and understand things.

Something I didn't do that I wish I had, was actually like make sure I understood what was going on in lesson, or go over it after lesson. When it came to revision, I literally had to re-learn everything. Understanding it from early on, will help you remember it better.

This advice also depends on the subjects you take, I can only speak for subjects like Sociology, Psychology, Business, Law, Economics - those kinds of subjects! :smile:

Reply 7

08boothc

What grades did people get for psychology, and what did you get? :smile:

Reply 8

einnap101

Original post by 08boothc

What grades did people get for psychology, and what did you get? :smile:

I got a C the first time and a B the second time for AS! Psychology just really isn't my cup of tea!

Reply 9

Qari

Original post by 08boothc

What grades did people get for psychology, and what did you get? :smile:

I got a U. didn't do it the 2nd time

Reply 10

Qari

Original post by einnap101

It's honestly, not that bad! All I can say, is that you HAVE to work. You can't just wing it like with GCSEs. That's where I went wrong.

bit in bold i did that as well

Reply 11

Alexithymia

What subjects are you taking this time?

Reply 12

einnap101

Original post by cassicles

What subjects are you taking this time?

I took Business, Psychology and Sociology

Reply 13

Katie97

I'm so annoyed at myself that I'll have to resit the year as I tried so hard yet bombed the exams because of rushing and time management. Completely my fault because I thought practicing timed exam questions was a waste of time but I've learnt that it's so important to practice time management.

Reply 14

Petrue

Have you found that there's a stigma towards those who retake a year?

A few of my friends failed their AS year (I almost did) and since then a lot of people have looked down at them, which I find utterly pathetic.

Reply 15

einnap101

Original post by Petrue

I haven't noticed anything. I mean, I changed schools and redid the year with subjects I enjoyed more. I ended up getting AAB in AS and have applied to do Law at university. Retaking the year hasn't hindered my opportunities at all. If anything I would probably have had lower predictions and applied to 'worse' unis than I did now if I continued doing subjects I found difficult and didn't enjoy for one reason or another.

You're given a second chance, if you have to, take it & you're back on course.

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Reply 16

einnap101

Original post by Katie97

Well now you know where you went wrong and won't make the same mistakes twice. I know it's a hassle retaking a whole year but if that means you're going to do better then it's worth it. Do you already have your results or are you assuming you've done badly?

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Reply 17

Petrue

Original post by einnap101

In case there was any confusion I was calling the people who looked down on those who retook pathetic, not the people who retook. I think I must just be surrounded by petty people then!

I was going to retake the year but thought I could claw things back through exam retakes.. which caused me quite a lot of pain this year -.- Well done on the results and good luck this August! :smile:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 18

einnap101

Original post by Petrue

In case there was any confusion I was calling the people who looked down on those who retook pathetic, not the people who retook. I think I must just be surrounded by petty people then! I was going to retake the year but thought I could claw things back through exam retakes and I'm on track to get AAB so it's worked out for me. Well done on the results and good luck this August! :smile:

No confusion, I got it! It just depends on the circumstances I guess, but all that really matters are the grades (in my opinion- I wasn't planning on applying to top unis anyway!). Well done for getting back on track, that must have been hard! Thanks & good luck to you too :smile:

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Reply 19

Katie97

I'm assuming. I'm just really scared that maybe A-levels and exams aren't for me and what if I resit and still do badly? With you, it was the subjects and not your ability first time around. If I fail this year, my best (excluding time management) would not have been good enough. :'(

& your tip about learning everything the first time round and going over what you learnt in class is so true. People told me that when going into sixth form and I did it for one of my subjects all the time which meant I didn't even revise that much the night before yet that's the only exam I thought was okay.