A* at A level question thread

Discussion for A-Level students and for those choosing their A-Level subjects.

This thread is sponsored by:
Announcements Posted on
Important: please read these guidelines before posting about exams on The Student Room 28-04-2013
Sign in to Reply
  1. goldsilvy's Avatar
    • Overlord in Training
    • Location: London
    Re: can you get A*s with a retake?
    (Original post by Noble.)
    Same at my college, it seems that the teachers are the last group of people to ask about things pertaining to their subject. Half of my teachers were under the impression that you couldn't achieve an A* if you retook.
    :yes:
  2. Noble.'s Avatar
    • Vengeful, Imperial Overlord of The Student Room
    • Location: Oxford
    • Posts: 4,476
    Re: can you get A*s with a retake?
    (Original post by goldsilvy)
    :yes:
    Rereading that, it was a bad choice of words.

    I was referring to specific exam board criteria etc.
  3. goldsilvy's Avatar
    • Overlord in Training
    • Location: London
    Re: can you get A*s with a retake?
    (Original post by Noble.)
    Rereading that, it was a bad choice of words.

    I was referring to specific exam board criteria etc.
    Nah, nah, nah - I do agree with you. As much as they are in love to their subjects, they somewhat seem to ignore these small details regarding grades, qualifications etc. In my college, I failed to find a definite answer for:

    1) AEAs - U grade - declare or not

    2) A*s - how do they work

    3) A*s- retakes - yes or no

    4) UCAS - can Oxbridge applicants add their choices later (after 15th Oct, but before 15th Jan)

    These are just on top of my head. The list shouldn't be much longer though
  4. n_251's Avatar
    • Overlord in Training
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 2,374
    Re: can you get A*s with a retake?
    (Original post by goldsilvy)
    Nah, nah, nah - I do agree with you. As much as they are in love to their subjects, they somewhat seem to ignore these small details regarding grades, qualifications etc. In my college, I failed to find a definite answer for:

    1) AEAs - U grade - declare or not

    2) A*s - how do they work

    3) A*s- retakes - yes or no

    4) UCAS - can Oxbridge applicants add their choices later (after 15th Oct, but before 15th Jan)

    These are just on top of my head. The list shouldn't be much longer though
    1) Don't need to - a U means that the qualification is unclassified (ie u do not have it)

    2) You need 80% UMS average over AS and A2 with an average of 90%+ at A2

    3) Yes you can retake and still get the A*

    4) Yes you can add choices up till the deadline of the 15th January
  5. n_251's Avatar
    • Overlord in Training
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 2,374
    Re: can you get A*s with a retake?
    ^ there you go. Who needs to rely on colleges when you have TSR?
  6. w_ceo's Avatar
    • Junior Member
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 58
    A* grade for AS subjects
    Hi,
    I was wandering whether or not its possible to get an A* in AS subjects you're taking this year?
    The thing is I've been predicted an A* for AS further maths and I'm not sure whether or not they're allowed to do that..
  7. someperson's Avatar
    • Overlord in Training
    Re: A* grade for AS subjects
    You can't get A* at AS...tell them to change it.
  8. trollman's Avatar
    • Overlord in Training
    • Posts: 2,343
    Re: A* grade for AS subjects
    u cant get A* but u can always aim for over 90% which u can mention on UCAS if u do!
  9. deathmaster3000's Avatar
    • Junior Member
    • Posts: 57
    Re: A* grade for AS subjects
    do u get predicted a grade for an AS level?
  10. w_ceo's Avatar
    • Junior Member
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 58
    Re: A* grade for AS subjects
    Yea i thought as much, cheers
  11. w_ceo's Avatar
    • Junior Member
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 58
    Re: A* grade for AS subjects
    (Original post by deathmaster3000)
    do u get predicted a grade for an AS level?
    Yea, my college is giving predicted grades for all subject taken in yr 13
  12. Ben F's Avatar
    • Exalted and Worshipped Member
    • Location: England
    • Posts: 1,180
    Re: A* grade for AS subjects
    For AS levels you can only get up to an A, for A levels you can get A*.
  13. Going_To_California's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 548
    Re: A* grade for AS subjects
    You can only get A* as the overall grade, not AS grade. Maybe they think you'll get an A* overall.
  14. letsdothetimewarpagain's Avatar
    • I don't break things, I test limitations
    Re: A* at A level question thread.
    I've made this into a general question thread before someone wonders what happened to their thread. Hopefully it'll cut down on new threads being made =)
  15. thetopnotch's Avatar
    • TSR Demigod
    • Posts: 7,345
    Re: A* at A level question thread.
    (Original post by letsdothetimewarpagain)
    I've made this into a general question thread before someone wonders what happened to their thread. Hopefully it'll cut down on new threads being made =)
    yay :hugs: Nice one

    One thing you could put in is that for Maths you need to get 90% avaerage in C3 and C4 and not 3 A2 units like the others. The 80% overall still stands.

    Can this be stickied too?
    Last edited by thetopnotch; 12-10-2009 at 22:47.
  16. Jeneewenz's Avatar
    • Full Member
    • Posts: 118
    Is an A* at a level practically impossible?
    Hey
    Me & a friend were discussing this today, and i'm quite confused.
    I'm in yr12 and i got 7A* 3A 1B at Gcse. So obviously i'm aiming for all A's at AS and ideally i would love to have an A* grade at A level but i can see how hard it is to get an A, so i'm not getting my hopes up, although i will work really hard.

    But what i don't get is, if you get an A at AS , even a really high A, don't you have to get practically full marks at A2 to get the A*? I've seen lots of threads with people saying that your predicted grade at A2 is one higher (or should be) than your AS grade. How does this work? I've been given the impression that A2 is harder .... so why is your grade 1 higher?

    If it helps, I'm taking Maths, Drama, English Lit & Psychology this year.

    Thanks. Apologies if i sound really dumb, nobodies really explained this to me though.
  17. thetopnotch's Avatar
    • TSR Demigod
    • Posts: 7,345
    Re: Is an A* at a level practically impossible?
    (Original post by Jeneewenz)
    Hey
    Me & a friend were discussing this today, and i'm quite confused.
    I'm in yr12 and i got 7A* 3A 1B at Gcse. So obviously i'm aiming for all A's at AS and ideally i would love to have an A* grade at A level but i can see how hard it is to get an A, so i'm not getting my hopes up, although i will work really hard.

    But what i don't get is, if you get an A at AS , even a really high A, don't you have to get practically full marks at A2 to get the A*? I've seen lots of threads with people saying that your predicted grade at A2 is one higher (or should be) than your AS grade. How does this work? I've been given the impression that A2 is harder .... so why is your grade 1 higher?

    If it helps, I'm taking Maths, Drama, English Lit & Psychology this year.

    Thanks. Apologies if i sound really dumb, nobodies really explained this to me though.
    To get the A* you need to get at least 80% in average overall and an average of 90% over the A2 units. For Maths the 80% average across all units stillstands but where Maths differs is that you need to get an average of 90% on C3 and C4 only.

    Predicted grades really depend on your performance and it's best to talk to your school and school teachers about that since policy can vary.
  18. Nashy19's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Location: Wales
    • Posts: 1,638
    Re: Is an A* at a level practically impossible?
    I think it requires an A grade in AS and over 90% in A2.

    If you learn the whole course you should be able to get them.
  19. xmarilynx's Avatar
    • TSR Demigod
    • Location: Paris, France
    • Posts: 6,073
    Re: Is an A* at a level practically impossible?
    What thetopnotch said, and A2 predictions are often higher because you can retake AS modules, boosting your grade, and schools like to help you get into uni
  20. Noble.'s Avatar
    • Vengeful, Imperial Overlord of The Student Room
    • Location: Oxford
    • Posts: 4,476
    Re: Is an A* at a level practically impossible?
    (Original post by Nashy19)
    I think it requires an A grade in AS and over 90% in A2.

    If you learn the whole course you should be able to get them.
    It doesn't require an A grade at AS, you actually need a minimum of 60% in AS to still be 'eligible' for an A*.

    Assuming AS is three modules, and A2 is three modules. If you got 60% in all three AS modules, then 100% in all A2 modules, the overall average would be 80% (minimum required for an A), and because the A2 modules are >90% the overall grade becomes an A*.
Sign in to Reply
Share this discussion:  
Article updates
Moderators

We have a brilliant team of more than 60 volunteers looking after discussions on The Student Room, helping to make it a fun, safe and useful place to hang out.

Reputation gems:
The Reputation gems seen here indicate how well reputed the user is, red gem indicate negative reputation and green indicates a good rep.
Post rating score:
These scores show if a post has been positively or negatively rated by our members.