Can I achieve grade A in A-Level Maths with a C in AS?

I can't find anything super specific online about this, so if anyone could help?
So, I just got my AS maths results (AQA), and my grades and UMS marks for each module are:
C1 - b (UMS 70)
C2 - b (UMS 73)
D1 - d (UMS 53)

I am pretty sure I have the opportunity to resit one module, so that'll obviously be D1, and hopefully achieve a B or an A on the resit. In addition to the next three modules I'll do next year, is it at all possible to get an A overall?

(edited 6 years ago)

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Reply 1

ryandalton170

Chances are slim, but if you worked extremely hard and got 2 As and a B in next years modules (which for the sake of it i'll say are C3,C4, S1) and you get a B on your resit then i think you could.Last year at AS i got an A in C1 but then Ds in both C2 and S1, meaning that i would have to do very well in my resit and my three upcoming modules to get my predicted grade of an A. As such, i ended up not doing all three A2 modules this year and will probably result C3 at the same time as doing M1 next year.It can be tough, but you can do it :smile:

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 2

mathcon

Original post by JadeMac

Yes. You can do it..

Reply 3

Muttley79

Original post by JadeMac

You have 196 UMS so need 264/300 next year - very unlikely. In my experience you C1 mark would have need to be an A as C3 and C4 are harder.

Reply 4

MoreCowbell

Original post by Muttley79

You have 196 UMS so need 264/300 next year - very unlikely. In my experience you C1 mark would have need to be an A as C3 and C4 are harder.

What if I achieved an A in my D1 resit?

Reply 5

NotKidding

Are you not able to retake C1+C2?

They will seem so simple next year and you will probably get 85+ in both if you retake & work hard, giving you a good chance at an A.

Reply 6

C_Yap

Probably safer to resit them all. It only gets harder in year 13...

Reply 7

klm7

You can go from a C to an A! I got a C last year and brought that up to an A this year!

Like you, my applied module was my lowest score, but I actually decided to resit C1 and C2 instead which I don't regret because they feel a lot easier in second year when you've done C3 and C4. Also, you don't have to revise all of the topics for C1 and C2 because a lot of them are in C3 and C4 but more difficult, so your C1 and C2 exams just end up being easier versions of what you've done in your A2 classes!

Not sure if decision is similar to statistics, but with statistics the second module isn't very closely linked to the first so it would have required a lot of separate revision

Reply 8

MoreCowbell

Original post by NotKidding

Are you not able to retake C1+C2?

They will seem so simple next year and you will probably get 85+ in both if you retake & work hard, giving you a good chance at an A.

I hoped I would be able to, but I'm pretty sure you can only retake one. I'll have to check with my college, but I don;t think they let you resit the whole AS in second year.

Reply 9

Muttley79

Original post by JadeMac

What if I achieved an A in my D1 resit?

Let's say you get 80 for D1 ... so 70 + 73 + 80 = 223

You need 257/300 which is a strong A in each of them ...

Being realistic, I see a grade B at best and I couldn't justify predicting a grade A.

Reply 10

Paranoid_Glitch

Original post by JadeMac

Yes you can. Would be more difficult considering the grades, but definitely possible. I'm more familiar with Edexcel maths than i am with AQA, but if you can resit single modules i'll advise that you resit D1 at least.

Reply 11

RosieMedic

You need over 480 UMS to get an A(/A* if you get over 90 UMS in C3 AND C4).

I definitely would redo C1 and maybe even C2 as that's what I did with C1 and went from a 70 to getting 95 UMS in that exam, and I didn't revise for it that much. Something similar would occur with C2.

If you achieved an A (lets say 80 UMS) in D1, you would need 257 UMS to achieve an A grade. It's not impossible, but it will be very hard work without resitting the other exams.

I would strongly recommend for you to reconsider resitting (just) D1 as this exam is hard to do just because of the time it takes to answer the questions (+ having to remind yourself of the content after not doing it for a while), whereas improving C1 and C2 will be a lot easier as you would be reusing some of that knowledge this year and the rest are pretty basic to learn.

Reply 12

Lukezyx

I've just done what you described this year by resitting C1 and C2, so yes it's definitely achievable but year 13 is a lot harder so be ready for it!

I had C1 at 58, C2 at 70 and S1 at 80, got 90 in my C1 resit and 84 in my C2 resit so it's definitely worth doing in addition to your D1.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 13

MoreCowbell

Original post by Muttley79

Let's say you get 80 for D1 ... so 70 + 73 + 80 = 223

You need 257/300 which is a strong A in each of them ...

Being realistic, I see a grade B at best and I couldn't justify predicting a grade A.

Damn. Well, that makes sense, I guess the most I can do now is revise hard. Thank you very much!

Reply 14

Muttley79

Original post by JadeMac

Damn. Well, that makes sense, I guess the most I can do now is revise hard. Thank you very much!

You could resit more papers but I wouldn't recommend it. Have you started C3?

Reply 15

MoreCowbell

Original post by Lukezyx

I've just done what you described this year by resitting C1 and C2, so yes it's definitely achievable but year 13 is a lot harder so be ready for it!

You resat both C1 and C2? Are you doing AQA or another board?

Reply 16

MoreCowbell

Original post by Muttley79

You could resit more papers but I wouldn't recommend it. Have you started C3?

I've started looking at C3 in my own time, like over the holidays, but not at college yet. Why wouldn't you recommend more resits? Is it just super difficult to revise and study new stuff at the same time or..?

Reply 17

Lukezyx

Original post by JadeMac

You resat both C1 and C2? Are you doing AQA or another board?

Yeah I did resit both and it's much easier because you need all the skills for C3 and C4 (I did OCR).

Reply 18

RosieMedic

Original post by JadeMac

For me it was difficult resitting M1 because i wasnt doing any more mechanics in year 13 so all the knowledge just left me as soon as i did the first exam. I didnt really bother to revise it much either because I was super focussed on C3 and C4 - which is what you should be (so maybe dont resit D1?)

Reply 19

Muttley79

Original post by JadeMac

So didn't you have lessons after the exams? We have already covered a fair bit ...

The problem is doing enough work on C3 and C4 - many students find too many resits lowers their marks in the A2 modules.