THE THING IS if you are TRYING HARD and cant get good GCSEs then f u c k you will die in a ball in a puddle of your own tears when A levels come around. HOWEVER yes like the majority of people, not much effort is put into GCSEs due to being ignorant and immature at that stage of adolescence BUT people still pull their fingers out their arses for A levels, work hard and do well.
So i ask you this, are you tricking yourself into thinking you have put the effort in. If not there are many options elsewhere and just try to get the English maths and science. If you are then you only have yourself to blame, especially if you are retaking and continue to be lazy about work. Think about it...