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can russian a level be used for my UCAS??

I am currently doing maths economics government & politics psychology and russian. next year i plan on dropping either psychology or politics. my question is would i be able to claim my russian a level as part of my UCAS application and it being part of the three grades (AAA)? or would i not be allowed to use that as i can speak it fluently?
help would be appreciated :smile:

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Reply 1

Montarnna

Are you from Russia originally?
You could always put it down, as some unis may accept it, and some may not
Good Luck :smile:

Reply 2

Treben

The way I see it is, a qualification is a qualification.

They can't not accept a qualification just because you're really good at it!

Reply 3

vads92

im not from there originally but i've bin brought up speaking that language at home with my parents. so technically it can b seen as my mother tongue which i went to the trouble of doing an A level on. im just not sure if a uni would consider it in the same way as an someone learning german or french in skl

Reply 4

Treben

It seems really unfair that they would even consider that. Like the point I said before, someone could be born with outstanding writing skills and yet they can sit English Literature.

Anyway, if on paper you're a British Citizen they aren't going to know any different. They never actually meet you between you applying and your offer being made.

Run it by your school to see what they think.

Reply 5

vads92

Treben

okay cheers for the help :smile:

Reply 6

Treben

vads92

okay cheers for the help :smile:

No problem!

I envy your ability to speak Russian, I want to learn one day but the cyrillic alphabet scares me.

Reply 7

epic_scale

vads92

It will count as an A level, no matter whether you speak it basic or fluent, an A level is an A level. I hope this helps. thank u.. kak dela??? :smile:

Reply 8

hamzramz

Yeah its an A level. It generally depends on the course you want to apply for... But I would keep psychology. I think its mainly general studies that gets hated by many unis...

Reply 9

Juno

If it is obvious that it is your first language then some unis won't accept it. They may write to you to clarify this if they're unsure, and if they do then you cannot lie.

It doesn't seem fair, because although Russian will be easier for you, your other exams will be harder since they're all in your 2nd language - and the questions on the Russian paper are in English too. But it is up to the individual unis how they wish to view it. Since you're unsure, you'd be best having a look at uni websites or prospectuses before applying, to see if they state any rules on this.

Reply 10

kcustom

You can put it down but not all the universities will accept it.

Reply 11

Akkuz

Depends completely on the University & the course.

Reply 12

goodmen

There was a french kid at my college who did french and got an A. Uni's had no issue with it what so ever

Reply 13

vads92

i'll defiantly put it down saying im doing it but say i get AAAB at A2 and 1 of the As being for russian, would i be able to use that A towards my 3 or would it just be seen as another good thing to put on my personal statement?
and if it helps im looking at unis with AAB or better to do economics

Reply 14

dontlookhere

It depends, they will probably specify what they want you to acheive in what subject, ie A in Maths, A in economics etc and they may just completly disregard the Russian A level, and you might aswell drop it. Or they might want you to get an A in it. I was in a different situtation because I had already finished my german A level when I applyed.
I dont know what you mean by 'another good thing to put in my personal statement' seeing as you produce your personal statement for university before you finish your A levels therefore it cant be in there can it?

If your doing 4 A levels including Russian you will be fine.

Reply 15

vads92

dontlookhere

thing is im taking my russian A2 this year so by time my UCAS goes off i would already have 1 A level (pretty sure to an A grade level) so more then likely i'll just be doing 3 A2s next year (haven't decided whether to drop politics or psychology yet). so i was just thinking would i be able to use the russian as like a backup for the requirements if i dnt manage to get the A in politics/psychology

Reply 16

dontlookhere

vads92

Oh I see, this is pretty much exactly what I did then. No in which case, you more than likely wont be able to use it as a back up. Instead you may not have to do an extra AS at most, because your offer most likely will require you to get A in X A in Y and B in Z for example and therefore you cant use russian as a back up because its not part of the offer.
Hope that helps.

Reply 17

vads92

dontlookhere

oh okay cheers
just out of intrest is it possible for them to put the A in russian in my my 3 subjects and for it not to be a back up?

Reply 18

Torak

Treben

Yes but English is the designated language of this country and arguably they go to much greater difficulties in terms of subject content than A-Level Russian does, which is likely still largely simplistic (if A-Level Spanish/Japanese is anything to go by). I'm sure the OP would not have have found it as easy sitting "Russian Literature" back in his home country.

Anyway I believe that if you were brought up speaking the language then you do not gain any credit for it per se (I know this is definitely the case with GCSE/A-Level Urdu). But there's no harm in putting it on your UCAS (it's another qualification after all) and it would probably be helpful if you decided to take Russian or somethng later.

Reply 19

dontlookhere

vads92

oh okay cheers
just out of intrest is it possible for them to put the A in russian in my my 3 subjects and for it not to be a back up?

No they wont. Simply because economics requires you to do 3 A2 subjects in 1 year (to prove you can cope with the workload). If they put russian in your offer, which you will already have completed, you will be free to drop another subject and do 2 A2's for the year. So no this wont happen for certain.