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Advice for current grade configuration

Hey, so I was wondering if anyone had some ideas on how my current situation could work out.

I'm coming to the end of A2 now. I ended up without the grades I needed to get onto the A2 course in Religious Studies and so ended up resitting it this year while I carried English Literature and Psychology through to A2. I'm set to finish the full RS A level next year plus pick up a creative writing AS (I got a D in my drama AS last year which I why I chose to drop it.)

However I feel like I won't come out with the psychology grade I need to make my three A levels a viable three grades for Uni application. Hopefully I'll come out with 2 B's in RS and English, plus the D in Drama and I'm predicted an A from the work I submitted for the creative writing AS I'm doing next year.

Do you think I'll do okay applying with two full with B's, and the two AS's? I'm still hoping to at least pass psychology, but I don't think I'll do overly well (I've resat a number of times but I've just accepted that it's not the type of subject I'm good at.) I want to study English and Creative writing at University, and I'm not aiming for mega uni's.

Thank You!
Original post by iyatiku
Hey, so I was wondering if anyone had some ideas on how my current situation could work out.

I'm coming to the end of A2 now. I ended up without the grades I needed to get onto the A2 course in Religious Studies and so ended up resitting it this year while I carried English Literature and Psychology through to A2. I'm set to finish the full RS A level next year plus pick up a creative writing AS (I got a D in my drama AS last year which I why I chose to drop it.)

However I feel like I won't come out with the psychology grade I need to make my three A levels a viable three grades for Uni application. Hopefully I'll come out with 2 B's in RS and English, plus the D in Drama and I'm predicted an A from the work I submitted for the creative writing AS I'm doing next year.

Do you think I'll do okay applying with two full with B's, and the two AS's? I'm still hoping to at least pass psychology, but I don't think I'll do overly well (I've resat a number of times but I've just accepted that it's not the type of subject I'm good at.) I want to study English and Creative writing at University, and I'm not aiming for mega uni's.

Thank You!


A friend of mine got similar grades at AS but didn't want to stay on for 3 years by retaking Year 12, so just stuck with the two subjects she'd done reasonably well in and dropped the other two, replacing them with 2 AS Levels.

It was a huge gamble, but I'd seen on here that you could to go university with two A Levels, so she managed to convince the school to let her do it that way. She got all 5 university offers, I think her offer is BBBB for English and Politics at Aston but I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, it's definitely possible so don't give up on it. It might be worth picking up an extra AS alongside creative writing, just because the drama grade is quite low and would only carry 30 UCAS points.

Have a look around the UCAS website, and if there's any courses you particularly like but you're not sure you'll meet the entry requirements of, pop an email over to them. They're currently in 'open day' season so will be on the lookout for questions like that.

Good luck with it all!
Reply 2
Guys can i Ask a question? If you fail an A-level so say u get CDU

Can u still get into uni through clearing? and will you be able to retake the grade D and U?
Original post by Trilo9y
Guys can i Ask a question? If you fail an A-level so say u get CDU

Can u still get into uni through clearing? and will you be able to retake the grade D and U?


You might find something somewhere that's asking for very few UCAS points and would let you in with CD + anything else you have at AS-level, but you're almost certainly not going to have your pick of courses. It would probably be taking whatever was left.

You can retake if you can find a school or college to let you do the course again.
Reply 4
Original post by TheWorldEndsWithMe
You might find something somewhere that's asking for very few UCAS points and would let you in with CD + anything else you have at AS-level, but you're almost certainly not going to have your pick of courses. It would probably be taking whatever was left.

You can retake if you can find a school or college to let you do the course again.


Oh okay thanks, cus in AS i got diagnosed with an illness so i was only allowed to do 3 AS subjects, i then carried them on to A2. but im afraid ill fail one of them :/
Original post by Trilo9y
Oh okay thanks, cus in AS i got diagnosed with an illness so i was only allowed to do 3 AS subjects, i then carried them on to A2. but im afraid ill fail one of them :/


Ahh, I see. Keep your head up, it'll probably be alright. And if you do fail a subject and want to repeat it really isn't the end of the world to repeat a year - I did the same thing (not because I failed, because I just didn't meet the requirements when it got to results day) and I can honestly say it's probably one of the best things I've ever done. Don't worry about resitting a year if you're trying to get into a course you really want to do.
Reply 6
Original post by TheWorldEndsWithMe
Ahh, I see. Keep your head up, it'll probably be alright. And if you do fail a subject and want to repeat it really isn't the end of the world to repeat a year - I did the same thing (not because I failed, because I just didn't meet the requirements when it got to results day) and I can honestly say it's probably one of the best things I've ever done. Don't worry about resitting a year if you're trying to get into a course you really want to do.



Thank you :smile:-- but if i do a gap year and retake in there, i would also have to do other things so the uni knows i havent wasted a year. But what if i cant do things due to trying to get better healthwise.
Original post by Trilo9y
Thank you :smile:-- but if i do a gap year and retake in there, i would also have to do other things so the uni knows i havent wasted a year. But what if i cant do things due to trying to get better healthwise.


You don't. I spent the year resitting and still got my offers. I didn't do anything particularly special outside of 'I did an extra week of work experience'
if you fail an exam first time round, and then you retake it, do you have to declare that on any admission forms?
Original post by iyatiku

Do you think I'll do okay applying with two full with B's, and the two AS's? I'm still hoping to at least pass psychology, but I don't think I'll do overly well (I've resat a number of times but I've just accepted that it's not the type of subject I'm good at.) I want to study English and Creative writing at University, and I'm not aiming for mega uni's.

Thank You!

Some universities accept two AS in lieu of a third A2, but that's something you'll have to look up on each university website that you're interested in.
Original post by GCSEmoron
if you fail an exam first time round, and then you retake it, do you have to declare that on any admission forms?



Assuming you mean at AS, from what I remember, what's going to happen is eg:

Subject X at AS- grade
Subject X at AS - pending
Subject X at A2 - pending (assuming you keep it on to A2 level).

So it will be declared that you're doing a resit, yes.

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