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Should I retake the year or retake 7 AS exams and do A2 exams in year 13?

Hey, I did really badly for my AS level and got a C in biology, D in chemistry, D in maths statistics and a D in economics... With these results, my predicted grades are not going to be high and I geneuinely think there is no point applying this year. I'm aiming for UCL but with these crappy grades, I don't think they will take me.
So I'm considering these 2 options:

option 1: retake the year (I really don't want to do that, the humiliation of being held back a year in my school.. And starting the year all over again feels like a complete waste of a year.)

option 2: retake all my AS levels and do my a2 levels in year 13 and then apply to uni next year and then take a gap year before going uni.
(I am considering this but it's going to be so stressful and I'm not sure if its even possible, I'm aiming for A*AAA or AAAA, but I know that if I work hard, i might be able to do it and the idea of a gap year seems appealing to me)

so with my crappy AS grades, either way, I don't think I'm gonna even apply to university this year... But I'm not really sure what to do now, it's either option one or two... I'm seriously considering option 2, what do you guys think?
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 1
Hi! Sorry you didn't get the results you wanted:/ I got a D in chemistry and a D in maths (predicted B and A!) so i'm a bit sad about those too! The only thing with you resitting your exams is can you handle the stress of resitting these AND all of the exams next summer? Since we don't have jan exams anymore -.-

Also, are some of your grades for units different? I got a B, D, U for maths stats and so i'm resitting both the d and the u, and i've dropped chemistry so i have 3 a-levels (i think thats pretty common) so i don't have to worry about resitting chemistry. That's only my experience, theres quite a few people at my sixth form resitting the year, but then again i've seen on a couple of uni websites that they may give higher grades for people who've resat the year etc.

Also you've got isa's, in biology and chemistry are your isa results getting you down? Or is it purely the exam units, and you've got to think about the fact that subjects like maths will get easier once you resit them, because core 3 & 4 are much harder core 1 & 2 (or so i'm told), so resitting maths after youve done next year might seem like a breeze.

All in all it's your choice, are you going to drop an as level so you have 3 a-levels (might make resitting a tad easier), i havn't looked at grades for UCL but for most uni's i;m pretty sure they only ask for 3 a-levels.

Sorry if this didn't help much, and good luck in the future! :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by Abbey1995
Hi! Sorry you didn't get the results you wanted:/ I got a D in chemistry and a D in maths (predicted B and A!) so i'm a bit sad about those too! The only thing with you resitting your exams is can you handle the stress of resitting these AND all of the exams next summer? Since we don't have jan exams anymore -.-

Also, are some of your grades for units different? I got a B, D, U for maths stats and so i'm resitting both the d and the u, and i've dropped chemistry so i have 3 a-levels (i think thats pretty common) so i don't have to worry about resitting chemistry. That's only my experience, theres quite a few people at my sixth form resitting the year, but then again i've seen on a couple of uni websites that they may give higher grades for people who've resat the year etc.

Also you've got isa's, in biology and chemistry are your isa results getting you down? Or is it purely the exam units, and you've got to think about the fact that subjects like maths will get easier once you resit them, because core 3 & 4 are much harder core 1 & 2 (or so i'm told), so resitting maths after youve done next year might seem like a breeze.

All in all it's your choice, are you going to drop an as level so you have 3 a-levels (might make resitting a tad easier), i havn't looked at grades for UCL but for most uni's i;m pretty sure they only ask for 3 a-levels.

Sorry if this didn't help much, and good luck in the future! :smile:


i think I'm dropping economics, and I'm gonna do bio, chem and maths in A2, but some unis also care about the AS grade of the subject that you dropped...so I'm going to retake economics AS. And for biology and chemistry, I did empa and not ISA, the biology empa let me down completely... I got a U in the empa and I really don't understand how I got that?for bio, I got B and a C for the exam and for chemistry I got a C and then a E for the unit 2 exam...
i really don't understand how I did so bad... And I really don't know what to do.. :frown:
Reply 3
I did poorly in my AS aswell, got B in econ, DD in chem and maths and also E in physics which im dropping.

I am probably going to get a photocopy of the exam paper, i suggest you do the so aswell so you can know where you have gone wrong, but i don't know if that is possible for an empa.

EDIT


For more info, i am very close to a A just 1 and 3 raw marks off on economics(probably will get the first one remarked), and maths i got 50/100(D) in C1 and 70/100(B) in C2 also 40/100(E) in decision. Probably will retake C1 and decision. For chemistry i have to retake both papers cause i got D and E(but i think they are pretty close to the next grade).

If i have to retake 4 exams do i still have to resit the year?

Say if i'm retaking a physics paper that i got a U in, is that worth it or the universities don't care?
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 4
By retaking all your AS's the same summer you're doing your A2 exams will compromise your results because of the workload. You'd be much better off retaking the year, with a fresh start etc. you could change college or school if you wanted.


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Retake the year, no matter how hard you work you will not be able to achieve A grades on possibly 13 different exams. A2 is so much harder than AS so you need to be able to put all your effort in which won't be possible if your worrying about doing resits as well.



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Reply 6
Original post by Bustamove
Hey, I did really badly for my AS level and got a C in biology, D in chemistry, D in maths statistics and a D in economics... With these results, my predicted grades are not going to be high and I geneuinely think there is no point applying this year. I'm aiming for UCL but with these crappy grades, I don't think they will take me.
So I'm considering these 2 options:

option 1: retake the year (I really don't want to do that, the humiliation of being held back a year in my school.. And starting the year all over again feels like a complete waste of a year.)

option 2: retake all my AS levels and do my a2 levels in year 13 and then apply to uni next year and then take a gap year before going uni.
(I am considering this but it's going to be so stressful and I'm not sure if its even possible, I'm aiming for A*AAA or AAAA, but I know that if I work hard, i might be able to do it and the idea of a gap year seems appealing to me)

so with my crappy AS grades, either way, I don't think I'm gonna even apply to university this year... But I'm not really sure what to do now, it's either option one or two... I'm seriously considering option 2, what do you guys think?


You need to do Option 1. Option 2 could have been attempted if January exams still existed but even then you would be stretching yourself too far. If you're worried about the embarrassment then start again at a new sixth form.
Reply 7
Original post by Alex360
You need to do Option 1. Option 2 could have been attempted if January exams still existed but even then you would be stretching yourself too far. If you're worried about the embarrassment then start again at a new sixth form.


would I still be able to retake some exams in my gap year?
Reply 8
Original post by Bustamove
would I still be able to retake some exams in my gap year?


Yes you can retake exams in a gap year. You can even retake a-level exams during your first year at university.
Reply 9
Original post by Alex360
Yes you can retake exams in a gap year. You can even retake a-level exams during your first year at university.


So then, should I just carry on doing A2 in year 13 and then apply to uni next year and retake the AS modules in my gap year before my uni? Would that work?

and sorry for the late reply
Reply 10
Original post by Bustamove
So then, should I just carry on doing A2 in year 13 and then apply to uni next year and retake the AS modules in my gap year before my uni? Would that work?

and sorry for the late reply


No, I think you should Redo AS levels from September 2013 onwards. See what you get. Then in September 2014 start A2. Then in October 2014-December 2014 apply to your universities.
Reply 11
Do you think the subjects are right for you, looking at the grades and possibly efforts you put in?
Reply 12
Original post by iii520
I did poorly in my AS aswell, got B in econ, DD in chem and maths and also E in physics which im dropping.

I am probably going to get a photocopy of the exam paper, i suggest you do the so aswell so you can know where you have gone wrong, but i don't know if that is possible for an empa.

EDIT


For more info, i am very close to a A just 1 and 3 raw marks off on economics(probably will get the first one remarked), and maths i got 50/100(D) in C1 and 70/100(B) in C2 also 40/100(E) in decision. Probably will retake C1 and decision. For chemistry i have to retake both papers cause i got D and E(but i think they are pretty close to the next grade).

If i have to retake 4 exams do i still have to resit the year?

Say if i'm retaking a physics paper that i got a U in, is that worth it or the universities don't care?


Retaking a couple of modules would be fine if they had January exams still (UK), if you're international you'll be able to retake in January. It wouldn't be very wise to retake these on top of your A2's in the summer because it's a lot of work to have to do.


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