Law firms/chambers look down on A Level resits

I am resitting some A Level modules in my gap year to go to a reputable university to study Law.

If I achieve a high 2:1/1st and have relevant EC and work experience then will the fact that I am resitting hold me back from practising law in London.

I know that firms/chambers have an A Level filtering system. I know that usually you need a minimum AAB. What I don't know is that does the system also look at if you have achieved your grades in the first sitting or not?


Please provide a source/evidence to support your answer.

Hi I'm in the exact same position as yourself. From what I've heard if the law firm dosent explicitly say the grades it wants alongside the phrase "acheived in one sitting" then assume it dosent matter and if you have the grades you should be able to make a competitive application. What I'm planning to do is ultimately aim for a first/ high 2:1 and do extra curriculars I enjoy in addition to becoming commercially aware

Thank you.

Yeah I'm aiming for a first as well to try and stand a chance against all these Oxbridge, LSE, Durham... graduates.

Anyways, best of luck

Exactly! Where are you hoping to go this year and what do you need? I need AAA and want to go to the university of birmingham and need to improve from BCC

I also need AAA to go to Manchester/QMUL

Are you on a gap year too? Also, have you gotten any work experience?

Yup I'm on a gap year which one is your first choice and how much do you need to improve by? Do you need to get a reference of your old sixth form? And yes I have however it was only a weeks worth of shadowing my mums friend in a criminal law firm- I went to court and such like- not really relevent to commercial law but it's something I guess

I am resitting some A Level modules in my gap year to go to a reputable university to study Law.

If I achieve a high 2:1/1st and have relevant EC and work experience then will the fact that I am resitting hold me back from practising law in London.

I know that firms/chambers have an A Level filtering system. I know that usually you need a minimum AAB. What I don't know is that does the system also look at if you have achieved your grades in the first sitting or not?


Please provide a source/evidence to support your answer.

I guess it comes down to the semantics of the question. There is a difference in being asked 'Have you ever resat an exam?' and 'Have you ever had to resit an exam?'. The 'had' in the second question implies it was mandatory to resit the exam in order for your studies to progress to the next level. I would say such a question is geared more towards someone failing a university module and being asked to resit the module (in whatever its guise is) to be accepted into the next year of study. Whereas I think students have only ever voluntarily re-taken an AS exam or two to boost their initial grade to make the task easier at A2.

The main difference between resitting an AS module and a university module is that (unless because of a mitigating circumstance) someone only ever resits a university module because of poor performance. It's wrong to assume someone resits an AS module because of a poor performance. For example, I retook an AS module which I got an A in (a low one) simply because I felt a) I could do better and b) it would make the A2 exams less stressful. No one can turn round and say I performed objectively badly in that exam. My point is that you can cogently form an argument, if questioned on your answer to the resitting question, why you felt resitting an AS exam did not fall under the question of whether you have ever had to resit an exam before. I would therefore not include it under the question of 'Have you ever had to resit an exam?'

If the question is simply 'Have you ever resat an exam?', then I guess it's much harder to argue against not ticking the box for your AS exam. You're correct in thinking that honesty is the best policy, but it's ultimately down to you. AS and A-level certificates simply give your final grades for the subjects you've taken; they provide no indication of whether the grade in question was obtained after the first attempt or, say, four more.

Briefly perused a mix of City firms to see their policy re. their A-level filter and I didn't find any specifying that they had to be in 'one sitting'. Your best bet is to email a mixture of firms' graduate recruitment teams asking for their exact policy.

You might find my post from another thread interesting to read: