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I need some advice for my A levels please and applying to Uni.

Hello I need some advice about my future. I am 19 years old and have just finished my third year at college doing A levels in th UK. For GCSE's I achieved 2A*'s and 7A's and 2 B's. For A levels I chose Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics.

In my first and second year I did not do too well because I had some issues. In my second year I decided to retake everything and do 15 exams which did not end up too well, I got DCC. I decided to retake in my third year which was this year and I had 11 exams because I did not retake some of the maths exams that I achieved an A grade in.

This year I felt like I had my first proper attempt and achieved BBB and was rejected from Warwick and Southampton for Computer Science which I expected because my exams did not go to well despite doing well at home past papers. I feel this was because I had 11 exams as oppose to 6 (which most people would have at A2) and my terrible sleeping problem - but I can't be sure.

I have decided to retake a few exams again this year because I want to do Computer Science at a top Russel Group uni. However I am thinking of dropping Biology and only doing 3 Maths and Chemistry exams. The issue is that my Uni requires AAA so does that mean I will need A*A in these subjects to get into uni? This is too risky and the reason why I want to drop Biology is because I don't like the exam board for it which is meant to be notoriously weird/hard and the exams have low grade boundaries. Also If I do all three subjects again then I will have 9 exams in total this year which again is a lot.

I do feel however though if I have 9 exams, the preparation for them will be straight forward and easy because I have everything prepared from last year and I do mean everything including past papers, notes and old spec paper questions.

Also I will spend this year being productive in other ways e.g. staying fit, preparing for my degree next year and getting a decent job - I would hate to just spend another year revising and I'm glad that I won't need to do much.

Please advise what I should do, thank you.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Kira Yagami
Hello I need some advice about my future. I am 19 years old and have just finished my third year at college doing A levels in th UK. For GCSE's I achieved 2A*'s and 7A's and 2 B's. For A levels I chose Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics.

In my first and second year I did not do too well because I had some issues. In my second year I decided to retake everything and do 15 exams which did not end up too well, I got DCC. I decided to retake in my third year which was this year and I had 11 exams because I did not retake some of the maths exams that I achieved an A grade in.

This year I felt like I had my first proper attempt and achieved BBB and was rejected from Warwick and Southampton for Computer Science which I expected because my exams did not go to well despite doing well at home past papers. I feel this was because I had 11 exams as oppose to 6 (which most people would have at A2) and my terrible sleeping problem - but I can't be sure.

I have decided to retake a few exams again this year because I want to do Computer Science at a top Russel Group uni. However I am thinking of dropping Biology and only doing 3 Maths and Chemistry exams. The issue is that my Uni requires AAA so does that mean I will need A*A in these subjects to get into uni? This is too risky and the reason why I want to drop Biology is because I don't like the exam board for it which is meant to be notoriously weird/hard and the exams have low grade boundaries. Also If I do all three subjects again then I will have 9 exams in total this year which again is a lot.

I do feel however though if I have 9 exams, the preparation for them will be straight forward and easy because I have everything prepared from last year and I do mean everything including past papers, notes and old spec paper questions.

Also I will spend this year being productive in other ways e.g. staying fit, preparing for my degree next year and getting a decent job - I would hate to just spend another year revising and I'm glad that I won't need to do much.

Please advise what I should do, thank you.


Very few unis will accept you with 2 a levels, so I would strongly advice you to take all 3. Or drop biology and replace it win another subject (but that would mean you would have to do AS and A2 in a year)
Original post by Pinkberry_y
Very few unis will accept you with 2 a levels, so I would strongly advice you to take all 3. Or drop biology and replace it win another subject (but that would mean you would have to do AS and A2 in a year)


Yeah exactly. But I cannot risk messing up. Do you think 9 exams is a decent amount? I did 11 and I felt exhausted towards the end, hence doing worse in my latest exams. One thing is, I won't have to work much in terms of revision though.
Original post by Kira Yagami
Yeah exactly. But I cannot risk messing up. Do you think 9 exams is a decent amount? I did 11 and I felt exhausted towards the end, hence doing worse in my latest exams. One thing is, I won't have to work much in terms of revision though.

It has been done in the past and people have gotten good marks. Tbh you've already been over the content several times now so you're not going to be relearning anything, it's all revision nown
Original post by Pinkberry_y
It has been done in the past and people have gotten good marks. Tbh you've already been over the content several times now so you're not going to be relearning anything, it's all revision nown


Thanks a lot. How did you do at a level? And what are you doing now?
Original post by Kira Yagami
Thanks a lot. How did you do at a level? And what are you doing now?


3A*, Medicine

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