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Worried…

I didn’t really know where to post this. I was going to go for Reddit but thought maybe this site would be more useful.

I’m very stuck at the moment and have been re-sitting my maths GCSE for two years since I left school (my mental health was bad) and went to college late 2021. I’m revising like hell so hopefully I’ll come out with a strong pass.

I went to apply for A-Levels the other day, and the teachers aren’t sure if they want to give me a space. I explained to them that the reason I didn’t get super grades, (I got a 6 in lan, 5 literature and 4 in history but was predicted a lot higher) was due to my mental health and the pandemic and remote learning did not work for me and made most of my exams suffer. But they still only cared about what was on the piece of paper.

I have the grades to do English Language and Law at A-Level and I am more than capable. But I thought after the pandemic my year group would get some dispensation with our predicted grades no matter when we applied? This seems absolutely unfair the way they just disregarded everything I told them.

They say they don’t want to set me up for a failure? But I have evidence that I am more than capable with my predicted grades that they don’t want to go off? And I already have the grades to do 2 of the A-Levels of my choice?

I’m already in quite a sticky situation. And this just hurts my head thinking about. I’ve contacted admissions and they said I could get a conditional offer by writing an essay for history to prove my level. And I’m more than happy to do that, but the teacher hasn’t said anything yet.

The last resort would be to do two of the A-Levels at college sixth form, and then have to do History online. But that just seems a hassle.

I guess what I’m asking if your opinions on this situation?

Reply 1

Evil Homer

TSR Community Staff

Original post by anonymousblingo

Hey

First off just to say the things you should be most proud of in life are when you overcome adversity and it sounds like you are doing that, you should be really proud of the work you've put in and where you've got to, I'm sure you are going to get what you need in that Maths GCSE :smile:

I suppose it's really difficult to advise you on your schools specific policy and admission process, but I would say that usually schools are being genuine when they say they don't want to put students in classes or courses that they aren't capable of completing. That can be quite a difficult situation for students and one that they try and avoid. I think it is worth remembering that when you are speaking to them, they aren't being difficult for the sake of it!

However, in this case it does sound like they are giving you an option with writing this essay for History! What did the admission person say specifically? Is it a suggestion at this stage or something more official than that?

It sounds to me like there is avenues here to get into the course you want, and personally I would keep pushing to write that essay. You sound more than capable.

I'm sure others will be in here soon to help support and give much better advice than me, but please do keep us in the loop on how you get on. It sounds like you know what you want and I'm sure you will find a way to get there regardless of the exact path you need to take.