Gap year to get better grades.

Well as the title suggests my A-level grades were rather poor.

So I was wondering is it any disadvantage if I was to take a gap-year and do a private A-level or maybe 2 private A-levels while maintaining a part-time job in the UK.

Reply 1

daniel_williams

i worked in a school for a year as a performing arts technician, and took further AS-levels, but by all means its not a bad thing, as long as you keep focused on the end goal of reaching uni its great, and you can apply with your actual grades as they stand and target grades for the subjects you are going to be taking, also if you can get part time work within the industry most related to what you want to study at uni it will help boost your uni application.

Reply 2

Maverick_James

Yes definately! I got ACU in my Alevels. A and C grades weren't going to get me very far and neither was the U!! I went back for a year and resat the C and the U and in the end I achieved AAB. I have now applied to Cardiff Uni which I could have never dreamed of doing before and everything worked out great. Whats 8 months of your life to make such a difference?

Reply 3

jh_1988_england

im doing it atm, retakin english lang and another a-level in business...its not frowned upon at all dont worry, some uni's will see it as your eagerness to do well so it could go in your favour

Reply 4

YouAreWhatYouEat

^^^^ Seriously is this not frowned upon by even top uni's (eg. Oxford, Warwick, LSE, Imperial etc) as i was wondering the same thing
as the OP??? :s-smilie:

thanks for any help :smile:

Reply 5

jh_1988_england

ahhh yeah, oxford cambridge etc will no doubt frown upon it, in my eyes there to strict for things like that, but most unis might well see it as your eager, sheffield, nottingham, manchester etc, i here medicine is strict about gap years but i dont know anyone who does it so cant say for deffo if that is true, i suppose it all depends on the course you want to apply for and the university you want to go to, if you take out the main 5 or so (oxford cam, ucl)even possible durham may question you, but i personally doubt the majority of them will frown

Reply 6

YouAreWhatYouEat

^^^^ bad news for people who won't to go to those uni's though :frown:

...........

Reply 7

jh_1988_england

yeah but you never know you might get lucky, either of you applyin to them?

Reply 8

YouAreWhatYouEat

yea i was thinking too, but just wanna get an idea of if people actually get in, even an interview would be alright as i am reasonably good at them, but just getting my foot through the door would be good.........

anyone on TSR done a-levels in 3 years and got into a top 6 uni??

Reply 9

dominiclmorris

At the end of the day, if you're really determined to do well, work hard and get the grades, love your subject and write a good personal statement, you have a chance anywhere.
Undoubtably some top unis will question why you had to take a year out, which makes sense to me! If there were personal sircumstances that made doing well in A-levels difficult for you during a course, then most unis will have some lenience. If it was just laziness, then they may be less understandaing, though perhaps good grades taken in a gap year would prove you've had a change of heart.

Basicly, if you think you can do better than you did, and you want to go to a decent uni, then it's worth a shot.

Reply 10

YouAreWhatYouEat

^^^ but what if you planned to work for a city law firm (as i am) to raise some money as well as doing re-sits, would that make any difference??

Reply 11

icapturethecastle

actually, some unis specify in their prospectuses that they do not want retakes to be done outside the 2 years (yr 12+13/uppersixth+lower sixth)
might as well be that oxbridge don't want it

i know that this is true for med courses at ucl and imperial...
(this is why i'm doing my retakes all in year 13-my gap year's just due to bad predicted grades)

good luck whatever u choose to do :smile:

Reply 12

Prince Rhyus

You don't need to cram everything into one year.

It might be an advantage to spend a couple of years working and apply once your over 21 years old as a "mature student" in which case the entrance requirements tend to be a little more relaxed to take into account of the extra life experience you have.

However, you will need to make sure that whatever you do, it's constructive. It's useful to take time out to find out what you want to do/be before heading to uni rather than going head first because uni is seen as "the next thing to go onto."