Poor AS Results

I did pretty bad at AS getting CDEU in Geography, Economics, Classical Civilisation and Biology. I'm unsure what to do right now because I don't know whether I should do a 3rd year or retake the exams I'm not happy with (which would be 5 exam retakes) which I think would make A2 really stressful in reality.

I am definitely dropping biology because I never liked it much anyway and I got a U ofc, so I'd be going into A2 with CDE.

I was hoping to do geography at uni, but now I feel like it's going to be difficult to apply to uni with these three grades and I am especially disappointed because I was expecting an A in geography.

Can anyone offer any guidance as to what I should do? Is it manageable doing 5 retakes on top of A2 exams idk

Hey! Sorry to hear that your exam results weren't what you expected, I was in a similar position to you this time last year. I got BCDE and dropped the subject I got a B in (English Lit Lang, I hated it!) so going into A2 with CDE, just like you. I spoke to my teachers and we arranged for me to resit four AS exams (two chem, one bio and one psych), and that I would attend as many AS Chemistry classes as I could alongside my A2 timetable. I worked really hard and sat ten exams this summer and managed to come out with ABB overall and am off to Cardiff to study biochemistry this September!

If I were you, I would talk to your teachers ASAP about possibly resitting modules and attending AS classes again where possible. It may seem stressful and unnecessary to add more classes to your timetable, but a lot of A2 work is based on AS knowledge and will really help your understanding of the AS spec. Universities will still consider you with low AS grades, as long as you make it clear you are resitting and are confident you can improve - I applied to five Russell Group universities and still got three offers even with my E grade!

Good luck and I hope next year goes well for you!

hey I got bbcc and I want To study chem next year, the degree usually requirs AAA-BBB, if I retook a couple units is it possible to still get these kind of grades?

Definitely! BBCC are strong AS grades and if you resit modules you'll improve them further! When making my UCAS application, I found that universities who wanted high grades were giving students offers even if they didn't do so well at AS. Everyone at my sixth form did way better at A2 than at AS, so I definitely think you can do it. Plus, I found AS chem way easier when I had the A2 knowledge as well - I got a U in my unit two exam at AS, and when I resat I got an A. What exam board are you on for chemistry?

Good luck and I hope next year goes well for you!


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really? I'd like to think I will do better at a2 but I I felt like I worked so hard this year and in disappointed with my results, idk what more I could have done to raise them. I feel like that will be the same for a2. I'll definitely retake some modules! I'm on OCR A for chemistry, wbu? I did well on my unit 2 and coursework, but I got a C in unit 1 so I'll definitely retake that! however overall I'm happy with my chem grade I got a B overall and I was honestly expecting to fail haha. and thank you, good luck at uni! do people generally do better at a2 than AS?

I did OCR chemistry A too! You'll definitely find AS easier when you've started A2. Unit 1 of A2 is a lot of organic chemistry, so if you did well with unit 2 at AS then you'll do well in that. Unit 2 of A2 is more enthalpy and kinetics, it's very maths/physics heavy. I really loved OCR chemistry.

Nearly everyone I know did much better at AS than A2. In my A2 chemistry class, at least four of us had D's or E's - we were very lucky to be let on the course to be honest! But everyone I spoke to in my class either got an A or B at A2, so we all did much better!


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oh that's cool I loved organic chemistry! and I'm really scared I want to do well at a2 in all my subjects but i don't think I can considering I'm not happy with my grades now