What was your most unexpected A level result?

I managed to get a C (B,C and U- damn coursework) at AS Biology which was pretty good considering I hated the teachers so I didn't go to most lessons for 3-4 months before the exam and skipped the last lesson before both my exams...not recommended btw!

I thought they did too that's why I was like what's happened here? Lmao

I was over the moon when I left my local comprehensive (Poynton High) in 2008 with 1A*, 8A's, and 2B's at GCSE level.*I stayed at the same school for sixth form, but in 2010 was absolutely gutted when I only achieved A-Level results of D E U and U (iicr correctly) in Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Maths respectively. In my A2 year at Poynton Sixth Form I was advised (by both the head and deputy-head of the sixth form) to forget about applying to university, because they just wouldn't take my application seriously based on my very poor grades. I went against their advice and applied to university anyway but didn't manage to get onto the degree programme I applied for (BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science) due to getting only DEUU at A2. One university however, Manchester Met, offered me a lifeline in the form of a foundation year on the strength of my GCSE grades. I accepted their offer and this turned out to be a truly life changing decision, for the better. At the start of my foundation year, I talked through my career goals with a great academic support tutor at uni, and he helped me arrange to resit my A-Levels in one year at a different FE college (Stockport College) as an external candidate (undertaking my foundation year concurrently). He also instigated 1-on-1 peer-mentoring with 3rd year undergrad students to help me improve my exam technique. This helped me a lot. I finished the year with 88% in my uni foundation year, and grades A* A* A* A* in my A-Level resits (in the same subjects as last time; Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Maths, with some quite tasty UMS scores too :P). I graduated from MMU in 2014 with a 2:1 in my degree, unfortunately missing a 1st by less than *1%! Still, I'm happy with my 2:1. I worked in retail for a bit before recently securing my first graduate job in a laboratory, which I'm loving so far, and am currently in the process of applying for an employer-sponsored PhD opportunity from 2018.

I was over the moon when I left my local comprehensive (Poynton High) in 2008 with 1A*, 8A's, and 2B's at GCSE level.*I stayed at the same school for sixth form, but in 2010 was absolutely gutted when I only achieved A-Level results of D E U and U (iicr correctly) in Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Maths respectively. In my A2 year at Poynton Sixth Form I was advised (by both the head and deputy-head of the sixth form) to forget about applying to university, because they just wouldn't take my application seriously based on my very poor grades. I went against their advice and applied to university anyway but didn't manage to get onto the degree programme I applied for (BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science) due to getting only DEUU at A2. One university however, Manchester Met, offered me a lifeline in the form of a foundation year on the strength of my GCSE grades. I accepted their offer and this turned out to be a truly life changing decision, for the better. At the start of my foundation year, I talked through my career goals with a great academic support tutor at uni, and he helped me arrange to resit my A-Levels in one year at a different FE college (Stockport College) as an external candidate (undertaking my foundation year concurrently). He also instigated 1-on-1 peer-mentoring with 3rd year undergrad students to help me improve my exam technique. This helped me a lot. I finished the year with 88% in my uni foundation year, and grades A* A* A* A* in my A-Level resits (in the same subjects as last time; Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Maths, with some quite tasty UMS scores too :P). I graduated from MMU in 2014 with a 2:1 in my degree, unfortunately missing a 1st by less than *1%! Still, I'm happy with my 2:1. I worked in retail for a bit before recently securing my first graduate job in a laboratory, which I'm loving so far, and am currently in the process of applying for an employer-sponsored PhD opportunity from 2018.

Wow, that's amazing! What do you think caused the poor results the first go around?