For Those Who Might Not Of Done Well In Jan/A-levels As a Whole

where can i do a science/economics/finance foundation degree

thanks

They dont really do they for economics/Finance at top universities. What grades are you expecting in what subjects?

I already have my grades, they are quite bad...i am in clearing and i am looking at doing foundation course next year

my a-levels include two sciences.

Some people might of not done as well as they expected this January or are not coping with A-levels very well therefore might see continuing onwards a bit of a lost cause. Just because you dont get A's and B's in exams Is not the end of the world.

This Is how my A-levels have panned out, hopefully some of you can take this in and realise that you are not stuckif you dont perform well at A-level and can still to go to a good university.

My Background

I go to a normal public school nothing special and my GCSE's were not amazing - enough to get me into sixth form. I was in a mixed ability class for maths mostly comprised of foundation borderline students, and top set science (Just).

I originally picked AS Physics, Maths, Geography, Business.

Maths/Physics I found very hard, the jump from GCSE was absolutely crazy and I quickly learn that the time I spent in the classroom at GCSE was useless and I had not covered any basic topics, I didnt know what a quadratic was, what lines were (like y=x) how to factorise ect and spent the first two months confused not understanding anything. Physics was just as bad and we were on a new syllabus to the teachers were learning at the same rate as the students were. Geography was not as bad considering I did not study it at GCSE I found this quite a nice break from my other subjects. Finally Business I did not get on with as it was long essay writing something I'm weak at and did not enjoy.

Ultimately I did very badly on my exams especially the January ones. The second term exams I did better on but still no way near enough to progress onto A2 and salvage a decent grade so I had a dilemma decided resit the year or drop out. Honestly I could of dropped out at any time but my parents persuaded me to stay on.

I found the lack of people in my year beneficial and allowed me to concentrate and understand my subjects. I rearranged what I was studying and did more A-levels over the 3 years but kept a manageable amount.

Now part way through my A2 year I'm coming on increasingly stronger at both subjects (maths and physics) though still not at a high grade like A, but that was not expected of me.

Now I have made my university choices with my grades looking to be CCDBc I have opted to go for a foundation year in engineering at Loughborough university which i would of never dreamed about before though I could of gone for the main degree at Nottingham Trent if I didnt want to do a foundation year, there are plenty of decent universities to pick from.

UPDATE:
Having now completed my A-levels and my resit year I myself and my teachers agree that I have greatly benefited from it, maybe the extra time allowed me to be less overwhelmed by the change from GCSE to A-level. Towards the end of the year I was working at a very high standard in both maths and physics exceeding expectations in both subjects by pulling out very highly scoring mock papers. My quality of work and ability to answer challenging questions is so much stronger, this is purely down to pulling in lots of effort and time into these subjects.

JUNE 2011 RESULTS DAY UPDATE:

Having worked really hard after christmas I managed to improve my physics enough to get a B grade in the last exam which is a real hard one and an A in a physics resit.
Overall I left with BCCCc having gone from UUU.



Before I get shot down for
A) Doing a foundation year
B) Resitting a year
C) Not having A grades
D) Not going to a top 10 university


The point of this post was to emphasis that you dont need do well in your first set of exams to get where you want, if you put effort it you can get there it might just take a little longer.

Love your current sig but I miss her 7
Btw. congrats on your grades!

Thank you

I seem to have a feminist mod that goes around removing them for 'being to big' and racking up a load of warning points in the process.

I'm in a similar position to you. Failed my AS's last year, got DDUU in History, Business, Biology, PE - although I did have time out of 6th form due to an operation.
This year, resitting year 12 (history, sociology and media) predicted AAB. I found not really knowing many people in my year has helped me to concentrate better in lessons.
Going on to study History at Uni... hopefully

I've found that aswell! I'm not very distracted or anything plus it's motivated me so much. I got CCD last year, but I HATED my subjects, they were so wrong for me so i started in september with completely new ones and enjoyed them more and came out with AAB

Yeah worked for me!
I got DDUU last year and walked out with BBB this year; missing A's by a few UMS

I love threads like this. It shows you that grades are only a part of the journey to uni, it's determination that takes you to what you want to. Well done and I hope you get to the career you want to do

Thanks, its a long way off. I hope to do a degree in physics after my physics foundation year possibly leading into a masters. I'm starting to become very organised and aware of what I need grade wise to get where I want.

This thread is a breathe of fresh air

Some people might of not done as well as they expected this January or are not coping with A-levels very well therefore might see continuing onwards a bit of a lost cause. Just because you dont get A's and B's in exams Is not the end of the world.

This Is how my A-levels have panned out, hopefully some of you can take this in and realise that you are not stuckif you dont perform well at A-level and can still to go to a good university.

My Background
I go to a normal public school nothing special and my GCSE's were not amazing - enough to get me into sixth form. I was in a mixed ability class for maths mostly comprised of foundation borderline students, and top set science (Just).

I originally picked AS Physics, Maths, Geography, Business.

Maths/Physics I found very hard, the jump from GCSE was absolutely crazy and I quickly learn that the time I spent in the classroom at GCSE was useless and I had not covered any basic topics, I didnt know what a quadratic was, what lines were (like y=x) how to factorise ect and spent the first two months confused not understanding anything. Physics was just as bad and we were on a new syllabus to the teachers were learning at the same rate as the students were. Geography was not as bad considering I did not study it at GCSE I found this quite a nice break from my other subjects. Finally Business I did not get on with as it was long essay writing something I'm weak at and did not enjoy.

Ultimately I did very badly on my exams especially the January ones. The second term exams I did better on but still no way near enough to progress onto A2 and salvage a decent grade so I had a dilemma decided resit the year or drop out. Honestly I could of dropped out at any time but my parents persuaded me to stay on.

I found the lack of people in my year beneficial and allowed me to concentrate and understand my subjects. I rearranged what I was studying and did more A-levels over the 3 years but kept a manageable amount.

Now part way through my A2 year I'm coming on increasingly stronger at both subjects (maths and physics) though still not at a high grade like A, but that was not expected of me.

Now I have made my university choices with my grades looking to be CCDBc I have opted to go for a foundation year in engineering at Loughborough university which i would of never dreamed about before though I could of gone for the main degree at Nottingham Trent if I didnt want to do a foundation year, there are plenty of decent universities to pick from.



UPDATE: My Thoughts After Completing My A-levels
Having now completed my A-levels and my resit year I myself and my teachers agree that I have greatly benefited from it, maybe the extra time allowed me to be less overwhelmed by the change from GCSE to A-level. Towards the end of the year I was working at a very high standard in both maths and physics exceeding expectations in both subjects by pulling out very highly scoring mock papers. My quality of work and ability to answer challenging questions is so much stronger, this is purely down to pulling in lots of effort and time into these subjects.




JUNE 2011 RESULTS DAY UPDATE: Did It pay off?
Having worked really hard after christmas I managed to improve my physics enough to get a B grade in the last exam which is a really hard one and an A in a physics resit many good students got U's in the mocks in this. I even managed to get an A grade in one of my physics exams.
Overall I left with BCCCc having gone from UUU.



Afterword + The future:
Having changed my course I will be studying Physics with a Foundation Year at the University of Loughborough. For some people this might not be much of an achievement. However, for me this is an absolute dream come true without even considering my past.

I may continue to write my experiences through the foundation year and on to the main degree in a blog if there is a small amount of request for it.



Read This Before You Critisise My Choices:
Before I get shot down for
A) Doing a foundation year
B) Resitting a year
C) Not having A grades
D) Not going to a top 10 university


The point of this post was to emphasis that you dont need do well in your first set of exams to get where you want, if you put effort it you can get there it might just take a little longer.

Absolutely fantastic! I really enjoyed reading this and seeing how you got on, Physics is SUCH hard subject, I did it for AS and got a D and knew I'd never be able to increase on that. Loughborough is a fantastic University and I'm sure you'll have an amazing time, please continue with this thread

Thankyou

I found I did better at A2 then AS, shame about the E in unit 3 as I completely crumbled in the exam even though I did well in mocks.

where can i do a science/economics/finance foundation degree

thanks