Ucas advice needed immediately pleasem

I wouldn't take out a loan to go to a university where I would not want to be. I would aim for a university where I would like to study.

im on a first gap year, i did my exams in 2022. I decided to do a level maths this year, to do a course at Warwick and I have an offer. However I’m pretty sure I’m gonna fail it, i spent all year trying to learn the content and gave up when it got too hard and left papers wayyyy to late.

im thinking if I withdraw now from ucas and exams , then i can still get a good enough predicted grade if I give it one more year . But if I fail, then they wont believe me if I have a high predicted? would this be the case? and would it be weird if i have a two year gap between my a levels in 2022 and maths that ill sit next year?

I don’t think it’s worth taking out huge loans to go to a university I don’t want to go to, and i dont want to settle. please someone give me advice. thank you

so what should I do a level wise?

Have you sat the exams yet? If you do sit the exams then you will need to declare that, including whatever results you get. You can of course retake in the following year, but that may or may not be an issue for some courses.

The matter of doing the A-level over 2 years vs 1 is going to be uni specific. I imagine most would not have an issue with it, although some may observe that by doing it over 2 years by itself, you might've had an easier chance of it with more time to focus on just 1 subject, instead of 3....although equally, you may well have been working simultaneously so they may not make any judgements due to not knowing the whole context.

Out of interest, what course did you apply to that you hold an offer for which requires A-level Maths? As most courses requiring A-level Maths do so because the course is necessarily mathematical, and normally will use the A-level Maths content from day 1 and build on that - often quite quickly. If you are struggling with A-level Maths as a single subject without any other courses alongside it, you may need to also take a moment to reflect on whether the course is actually a good option for you.

What grade do you need and where are you at the moment?

Don’t think I can get an A by Tuesday to be honest. I’ve done exam qs but never done a paper in actual conditions

Do a paper now and see how it goes.

Computer systems engineering. I also did do three a levels in one go with an AAB. I also sat cs a level this year on my own, and for that I know I did well. But for maths, I just didn’t contemplate how much work it would be, I spent most of the year trying to make the “most” out of my gap year by working.

CSE is a very mathematical course so I think if you are struggling with A-level Maths now, that might be a red flag you need to take note of and sit down and think carefully about exactly what it is you are struggling with why. As in that kind of course you'd be covering a similar range of material as A-level Maths, but at a higher level, in a shorter amount of time. So if you are struggling with balancing your time with A-level Maths, I think there is a real chance you would struggle with the course in balancing your other modules with the mathematical methods content (not to mention the actual mathematical material across all your modules).

If you aren't confident for the A-level exam then I think withdrawing from them now would be a prudent choice - although do actually see how you handle a practice paper in timed conditions (although, that you haven't done that yet makes me believe you may be underprepared...). I think it would also be prudent to really think about why you want to do CSE at degree level and whether that really is playing to your strengths and aptitudes or not. It's very well to think "I want to do X as a job so I need to do Y degree" but if you aren't well suited to the degree, then a) you may not be well suited to the job and b) even if you are, you may end up doing so poorly in the degree that the job in question isn't going to be a viable option anyway.

What would happen if I get 0 or something, should I not do the exams? If I do badly, would I be able to scrounge enough marks for the next two papers?

CSE is a very mathematical course so I think if you are struggling with A-level Maths now, that might be a red flag you need to take note of and sit down and think carefully about exactly what it is you are struggling with why. As in that kind of course you'd be covering a similar range of material as A-level Maths, but at a higher level, in a shorter amount of time. So if you are struggling with balancing your time with A-level Maths, I think there is a real chance you would struggle with the course in balancing your other modules with the mathematical methods content (not to mention the actual mathematical material across all your modules).

If you aren't confident for the A-level exam then I think withdrawing from them now would be a prudent choice - although do actually see how you handle a practice paper in timed conditions (although, that you haven't done that yet makes me believe you may be underprepared...). I think it would also be prudent to really think about why you want to do CSE at degree level and whether that really is playing to your strengths and aptitudes or not. It's very well to think "I want to do X as a job so I need to do Y degree" but if you aren't well suited to the degree, then a) you may not be well suited to the job and b) even if you are, you may end up doing so poorly in the degree that the job in question isn't going to be a viable option anyway.

What would happen if I get 0 or something, should I not do the exams? If I do badly, would I be able to scrounge enough marks for the next two papers?

but I know I am capable, I just left things too late and didn’t really realize how a level maths was or how it was assessed. My view was just textbook questions, didn’t realize papers would be such beasts and that was completely on my behalf for lack of practice, given I wasn’t in a school setting. Please don’t tell me to give up, I can’t mentally take that in right now. Thank you

i dont think its really fair to tell them to give up mainly because you cant really excel at any subject if you don't study for it.

Advising someone to critically reflect on their strengths, reasons for choosing a particular course, and considering whether there are alternatives they hadn't considered is not "telling them to give up".

Sit a paper now to timed conditions - if you mess it up then withdraw.

I just spoke to someone and they said it would look worse to withdraw than to resit an exam? in your opinion, is that the case?