What can I do with these grades?

Hi there Squamber!

Don't worry too much about your grades just yet. I was in a similar situation with my AS results a couple of years ago where I was holding a B grade in English, however, I just worked even harder in Year 13 and ended up boosting that B up to an A, with no resits at A2 needed. Hopefully, your remarks, even if they stay at B grade, may go up by even a couple of UMS points which can really help, especially if you need an A for the courses you are looking at. I would not even worry or plan resitting anything just yet, speak to your teachers and see what they suggest, maybe even ring a couple of the institutions you are looking at applying to?

Whilst I do not study Law myself, my best friend does and we both attend New College of the Humanities in London. I would definitely consider you looking into NCH for Law as it is a fantastic course and the course is taught through a mixture of one-to-one tutorials, seminars and lectures. Another great thing about NCH is that whilst the university does consider your grades, NCH also asks you to attend an interview and so the university looks at more than just your grades but how you are to teach, etc.

Regardless, I would not worry too much just yet about your results. You are clearly a smart individual with the predicted grades you have at the moment and you should not be disappointed with your B, like I said, you can easily turn this into an A like I did, and even if you do not, there are plenty of doors open to you, and there are many cases of success stories where people have still got into their desired courses even if one grade is slightly lower than expected.

My advice would be to breath, relax, consider your options, look into further courses looking at universities both with high grades (A*A*A, A*AA) and some lower than AAA (it is always good to have a back-up!), speak to your teachers, and push yourself in Year 13. You can get this A in English!

I think you might have misread my original post. I've just completed English Literature at A2: there is no next year for it, and thus no chance to boost the grade to an A as I have already completed the entire course.

Looking at a university that doesn't only take grades into account is okay, but for me to even get to interview for a university, I need to meet the entry requirements.

I will be looking into universities with lower grade requirements, but I wanted any other alternatives to this as I'm not willing to do so just yet if there is another option for me.

What I wanted to know was about the idea I suggested, which was to do with resitting my exam and adjustment. Maybe you could advise me on that? Thanks.

Hi Squamber.

Sorry, my mistake! In that case, if the remark is still possible and if you feel like the exam went better than the grade you received, I would go for the remark. If the result comes back as a B or you decide not to remark, I think you should ring some universities which require slightly higher grades still because some universities (depending on where you are looking to apply) can be lenient on their grade boundaries. B is a good and solid grade, if you had received a D grade for example then it would have been a whole different story.

In regards to my suggestion about applying to New College of the Humanities, I would suggest ringing the university as well because when you apply to NCH, you can do so through the website and whilst grades are looked at in determining whether you would be invited to interview or not, they also look at an essay they ask you to submit and references from teachers, etc. and so you would not be ruled out from interview purely based on grades. If you ring NCH or any of the universities they will be more than willing to help.

My apologies for my confusion in my earlier reply, I hope that this one has been more beneficial.

That's alright!

I do feel like my A2 exam went better than the grade I got for it (it came back as a C grade for that individual paper; I was hoping for an A as I felt the most confident in that paper out of all 4). But I don't know if remarking will result in gaining enough UMS points to bring my overall grade up to an A especially with all of the apparent changes Ofqal is trying to make to remarks.

The universities I'm looking at and want to apply for aren't the sort to be rather lenient; they're the "higher" league of universities. Maybe it's time to start being realistic if I'm not going to get into any of those, but again, I wonder if what I said about entering through adjustment having resat my English A2 exam - and subsequently bumped my grade up from this B to an A - would be worth a go.

I just looked up on NCH's website and their only requirements are that I've studied 3 A Levels, and that only one of my grades is above a D. So I could simply get CEE in my A levels overall and theoretically gain a place. I feel like that would be underselling myself as my other grades aren't bad; I've just missed an A in the English, unfortunately :/ I will possibly look into an application there, though.

And I will ring some universities, but most of the ones ranked highly in the league tables for Law are definitely not going to be lenient over a grade with such high competition it's worth a shot though I suppose.

Thank you for your help anyway

I wanted to apply to do a law degree, but I don't know if my grades are going to cut it. I got an A in AS French today, and my English A2 came back as a B.

I'm going to get some of my English modules remarked but I don't know if it will make any difference as I'm quite solidly in the middle of the grade

I also study Physics, and I can probably get predicted an A for that come September (it's the new linear course so I didn't do any external exams this year). And my French teachers said that I'm capable of getting an A* in French next year. So assuming the English remark has no effect on my overall grade, that would leave me with predicted grades A*A and an actual grade of B. A*AB

I thought about if the remark didn't change anything favourably, then I could always resit the A2 exam next summer, hopefully get an A, and look for law courses through adjustment with my new hypothetical A*AA. Is that a silly idea with too much stress involved, and what universities would be likely to offer me a place for Law through adjustment like that?

Most high ranking universities for Law want AAA at least. I could consider looking at universities with lower entry requirements but I don't really want to consider that just yet.

What options do I have regarding university? Are there good universities for studying law that would take me with those grades (assuming I get them)?

Is it better for me to find another route into becoming a lawyer rather than going to a "bad" university just because it's the only one that will accept me?

I'm in a bit of a tizz at the moment so thank you in advance!

To remark or not is a tough one. Some of my friends have been in a similar position to yourself and whilst some have stayed the same, others have gone slightly down and others have actually gone up a grade or in one case even two! Have your teachers given you any advice on what to do?

If you are determined to go to one of the higher universities then maybe it is worth retaking the English because that way at least you will be in a more comfortable position to be able to apply to a range of universities both above and below your expectations. However, like I said earlier, it is definitely worth ringing the universities. This year of A Levels has actually been the worst for a few years due to new marking regulations etc. and because of this, universities have had to change and become more lenient in places. My friend who studies Law was speaking to me earlier and she was saying that Leeds, for example, actually changed their grades from AAA to AAB - ABB recently due to such issues.

NCH usually look for students with grades ranging from A* to B mostly so I wouldn't worry that you might be underselling yourself or anything like that

I seriously think that you can still get into a fantastic university with your grades as they currently stand, but it may still be worth the remark or retake for the reasons I explained above, but ringing the universities you are most interested in should be the first step

Be careful with relying on adjustment - there will hardly be any spaces for Law at the top universities, and likely none at all. I know because this year I exceeded my York Law offer (which was AAA), as I got A*A*A; I planned to use adjustment as I exceeded the entry requirements of the top unis, but Durham had no spaces, and neither did Nottingham, and I knew that other unis such as UCL didn't do adjustment at all.

The top unis are competitive to the extent that they're long since full by the time adjustment is considered, regardless of how good your grades are, so while it's worth researching it on results day, don't rely on it.

That's what I was afraid of, to be honest. But it was worth considering, I guess.

Are you going to York this year then?