Your guide to A-level retakes and resits

Before you make the decision to resit any of your A-levels, think carefully about what you want to get out of it.

Perhaps you have grades that are lower than what you need for the university, course or career you have in mind. If the path you've set your heart on demands specific grades, you may need to resit in order to get there.

But then again, maybe not. You could find an alternative route to where you want to be.

If you're looking to retake in order to get into a particular university or course, you might find suitable options elsewhere.

Ucas runs its Clearing service from July until October every year, where it lists university courses that still have spaces. If you missed your uni offers, you'll be automatically placed in Clearing - so you can check what else is out there. You can read all about Clearing in our guide.

Among the available courses, you might see foundation years. This is an extra year of university study - it's there to bring you up to the level that's needed to start the full course at that uni.

Outside of university, there are apprenticeships (including degree-level apprenticeships) or you could of course go straight into work.

You might choose to take a gap year and apply again for different university courses with the grades you've got. Or, if you only just missed out on the grades you needed this time around, you might consider a review of marking.

A-level exams take place once a year during May and June, so you'll be sitting your exams at the same time of year as you did this time around.

You'll then get your results on the August A-level results day.

If you decide you're going to retake, you can start by contacting your current school or college. Many (but not all) will provide the option to resit your A-levels exams.

You'll work through year 13 again and take your exams at the end of it. "It's usually free to retake your exams the year after you get your results," says the government's National Careers Service, but you may need to pay if you go to an independent or private school or college.

If you can't retake at your current school or college - or perhaps don't want to - you could instead look at other local colleges. There may be a fee that you'll need to take into account.

You might consider an online course. This will come at a cost (which will vary depending on the company) but it could provide more free time to take on paid work to go alongside your studies.

There are also a large number of independent colleges that specialise in A-level retakes. Again, these courses will come at a cost, which will vary depending on the provider.

Instead of enrolling on a course, you could choose to simply retake the exams next summer. In this case, you'd be doing your revision independently, which could make this an interesting option if you're confident you have plenty of willpower and motivation.

You would need to register with an examination centre as a private candidate and then pay the relevant costs to take the exams. Those costs vary by exam board, qualification and subject. As an example, the fee to take the A-level Physics exam with AQA in summer 2024 is £110.70.

If you're planning to resit in order to get into a particular university course, check first that your chosen university accepts resit.

Almost all universities do accept A-level resits. Taking another year to study and complete your A-levels shows commitment and an ability for independent study which many universities respect.

However, for some universities and very competitive courses, there may be a different policy around resits. For example, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) says on the admissions page of its website: "Given the competition for places and the nature of assessment at LSE, we prefer students who have achieved high grades in their first attempt (and in one sitting) at relevant examinations. If extenuating circumstances have impacted your exam performance, you should include details of these in your application."