Reapplying and Retaking -advice please

Hi everyone

I have fininshed doing my a levels this year, and my A2 results where not very good. I have decided to retake my a levels in;

Biology Chemistry and scoiology

My querie is mainly to do with applying through ucas.

1. I got good AS grades (a's, b's and c's) which I remember putting down along with my predicted grades which were
a,b,c
For the ucas 2009 what grades do I have to put down for predicted if any at all. If not how much will this affect my uni application.

2. I am retaking by self study as a privte candidate
Who can I ask to be a referee?

3. also in terms of certification declining etc. will I need to do anything to retake, is there any way to avoid uni's knowing about bad grades and retakes
What can I do to look better?

4. Lastly as I only took 3 a levels how much of an affect will this have, should I tell them that I will pick up an extra as level?
Do I stand a good chance of getting into a good university?

Thanks a lot!!

Reply 1

Areontas

None of us can be fully sure; we can only give some advice. You need to contact universities you're interested in, preferably your course's department as well, and ask them how they view retakes. Their stance on things is much more reliable. However;

1) Your grades will already be certificated. I'm guessing they'll have been cashed in by now as your overall A level grades and therefore cannot be separated into just AS grades. You'll still have them, but they have been added to become part of your full grade. Contact your exam office on whether or not this is the case. This year I'm pretty sure there's a new rule that grades cannot be declined, and whether you are resitting or not, your cashed in grades are your cashed in grades for this year. Are you resitting all three? Make sure you write on UCAS which units you are resitting; you don't want universities to think you're retaking everything when you're not. And you will have to put down predicted grades for the subjects you're resitting, yes; this goes on your reference as always. You need to be realistic here - universities only have your predicted and achieved grades to go on, so leaving them out would make the application a bit pointless. Grades can no longer be put down as 'pending', and it will particularly look odd in the end anyway, because you'll have taken your AS exams and A2 exams two years apart.

2) Will your school/college's head of higher education not be able to give you more information on this? You could ask them, or another subject teacher/form tutor for advice, and perhaps ask whether or not they would be comfortable being your referee.

3) Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, there's the new rule that certificated grades are certificated grades. Even if you plan on resitting some modules, your grades from last year (especially because they cannot be declined anymore) will have to be put on your UCAS form. Emphasise that you are resitting by all means, and the universities you have applied to that don't care about resits too much (for a number of courses, admissions tutors wouldn't mind a great deal) will overlook that. They need to be confident you can achieve the predicted grades though. You can't do much else to look better really, apart from a good PS.

4) Most people just take 3 A levels, so because it's standard, it shouldn't be a problem. You'll have already contacted unis you're interested in, and if they're OK with that, there's not much else you can do. Taking up an extra AS or even an A level will be beneficial; some people do this in a gap year alongside travelling/work experience/a job etc., but you're doing other exams as well. Be aware of the workload. And as for a 'good' university, it depends what you'd label as good, really - and for your course too. If your course isn't too oversubscribed, you may well have a shot. But pick a uni based on where you like best, and where you'd work best, because you need to spend a few years there. Also, the result you get in the end and the personal skills you'll have picked up are eventually what people will go on. Not to mention what you end up doing afterwards.

Reply 2

night_sky

Thanks areontas

Just to clarify I have completed my a levels and want to retake. Would I have to put all the grades that I have as well as predicted grades on ucas?
Who will decide the predicted grades.

In short how can I best make my bad A2 grades look better for uni application?
Will I be able to go to my old school for a referee as I am now a private candidate.
Anyone with any experience in this?

Much appreciated.

Blanked?

night_sky

I'm pretty sure you do, and your referee will decide them. I don't really know how you can make 'bad grades look better', but a suggestion would be to make sure your PS/reference are really good: universities need to be confident that you'll achieve the grades in order to accept you. You should be able to go to your old school for a referee if someone is willing to write one for you. Contact your head of higher education or an ex teacher or something. Even if you're applying individually, you still need a referee!

Reapplying and Retaking -advice please

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you