Universities that accept A-Level resits for the LLB
I’ve just finished resitting my A-Levels this year after getting BBD the first time round to achieving A*AB this year and am off to Exeter to study the LLB.
For anyone considering resits, I emailed many universities back in September to ask for their stance on A-Level resits to study the LLB and whether they’re considered. I’ve put the correspondence below for each uni.
I can’t find the Bristol email, but they don’t accept them. Same goes for Cambridge.
Oxford:
Thank you for your enquiry. Please be aware that competition for places at Oxford is very strong, with over 22,000 applications for around 3,200 places for 2018 entry. As a result, even achieving our academic entrance requirements does not guarantee the offer of a place.
On the whole, candidates who need retakes in order to achieve the required grades have a lower chance of being offered a place. Nevertheless, we recognise that students sometimes fail to achieve their potential on their first attempt at school or college because of circumstances beyond their control. Examples would include disruption caused by change of school or college or system, severe discontinuity of teachers, bereavement and one-off debilitating illness.
We take care to treat each application individually and would always take such mitigating circumstances into account if they are brought to our attention: a clear note should be made of these circumstances in the UCAS personal statement or school reference. However, while difficult personal circumstances will be taken into account, they do not guarantee shortlisting for interview or lead to a lower conditional offer. Conditional offers are almost always between A*A*A and AAA at A-level, or 38-40 points (including core points) and between 776-666 in Higher level subjects, depending on the course. See ox.ac.uk/courses for specific details.
If you are holding an offer of a place at another university, we would advise you to take it and concentrate on your studies there.
Liverpool:
Thank you for your interest in studying at University of Liverpool.
We are very happy to consider applications from students who have retaken their A levels for our Law LLB programme.
Your application would be considered in the exact same way as one from a student who was applying for the first time.
Good luck with resitting your A levels.
Sheffield:
Thank you for your enquiry and interest in studying at Sheffield.
We would not look at when you took your A Levels, just the grades so if you achieved the entry requirements of AAA we would be able to offer you a place.
York:
We would be happy to consider your retakes and this would not hold you at a disadvantage.
Manchester:
Thank you for your e-mail and for your interest in studying Law at the University of Manchester.
If you are planning to re-sit the final Year 13 examinations, the University will consider your application, but we may require further information in order to make an informed judgment on your application. For the LLB programme, we will be looking for predicted grades of AAB in your A-Level re-sits and a good GCSE profile with minimum grades across all subjects of A*/8 to C/4. Our entry requirements are AAA in A-Levels (or the equivalent) in any subjects except General Studies and Critical Thinking.
If you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to let us know. We look forward to reviewing your UCAS application form.
UCL:
Thank you for your enquiry and for your interest in studying at UCL.
We do not accept resits for Law LLB. If there were extreme extenuating circumstances affecting the original sitting, such as illness, family trauma or school staffing difficulties, your school should provide information relating to your circumstances in the academic reference for the Faculty Tutor to consider.
UEA:
Thanks for your email and interest in the LLB Law M100 course.
We would welcome an application from you and encourage you to re-take your GCE A-Level.
I hope this helps and that you do decide to apply to study with us.
Newcastle:
Applicants are expected to achieve AAA excluding General Studies and we do accept applications from those who have done resits. As such, we would welcome an application.
Sussex:
Typically we do encourage students to retake examinations if they feel that they did not perform to the best of their ability, and we do not view applications where this is the case in a negative light.
That said, we would be happy to receive an application from you for entry in September 2019. UCAS is now open for applications for entry in 2019; the deadline for applications is 15 January 2019. Please note that we advise all potential applicants that we cannot guarantee that we would be able to make an offer, prior to receiving an application, but if we were to offer it would be conditional on the results from your retakes.
Southampton:
Thank you for your email and interest in the Law School, University of Southampton
We would be happy to consider an application from you for 2019 if you are retaking all three of your levels.
Nottingham:
The School of Law do accept resits, but they require applicants to be taking 3 A Level resists in one academic year in order to demostrate a full academic workload. As this sounds like what you are planning to do, then we would be able to process your application.
Durham:
We do not have a policy which discriminates against applicants who have retaken their examinations or components of their coursework. Our primary consideration would be their achieved and/or predicted grades, and then their personal statement and their academic reference. We consider all applications holistically, reading each part of the application to identify merit and potential, meaning we consider applications to the programme in competition with each other.
We would advise that if a re-sit is as a direct result of mitigating circumstances that the circumstances are outlined in your academic reference.
Lancaster:
Thank you for your e-mail and for your interest in Lancaster University.
We would be happy to consider an application from you based on your resits if your predicted grades meet the entry requirements for the LLB Law course. Whilst we cannot guarantee anything at this stage, if you were to be made an offer, it would be conditional on you achieving the entry requirements of AAB in your resits.
Warwick:
Our Law Department consider retakes on an individual case by case basis. If you had any extenuating circumstances as to why you did not achieve the grades that you were expected to achieve, you should inform us once you have submitted your application.
Exeter:
Thank you for writing to us about your interest in studying our LLB Law programme.
I would like to reassure you that we appreciate the merit of retaking qualifications and will not discriminate against results from a retake. In other words, we will treat a qualification equally regardless of whether it was obtained through a resit or from the first sitting.
We will equally not discriminate against students who take a gap year and again will give applications with or without a gap year with equal consideration.
This being the case, we will consider your application on the basis of your retakes, reference and personal statement as normal. Your grades will be of primary importance for us as this is the best indicator for success on the programme. We will be looking for your predicted grades to match the programme requirements, as you mention. If predictions are not available, we will assume you will achieve one grade higher in each original result.
Leeds:
Thank you for your email. I’m afraid the School of Law is only able to consider applications offering A level resits if there have been extenuating circumstances that have impacted on the original grades.
For reference I have attached a copy of our admissions policy – please see section 3.4 which outlines our policy on resits in more detail.
KCL:
Unfortunately, for Law we are unable to consider resits. We expect all applicants to complete their studies within the standard two year timeframe.
We are only able to consider resits where mitigating circumstances have meant that a resit is required. If this is the case, we would require evidence of mitigating circumstances.
Cardiff:
I can confirm that we do consider students who are re-sitting their A-Levels, so we would welcome an application from you.
Please note that our typical re-sit offer is grades AAA at A-Level.
So in effect:
Resits acceptable: Exeter, York, Nottingham, Newcastle, Durham, Manchester, Cardiff, Liverpool, Sheffield, UEA, Sussex, Lancaster
Don’t accept resits: Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Leeds, UCL, LSE, KCL, Warwick
I’d imagine you might be disadvantaged if you apply for Durham though; I received offers from Nottingham, Exeter, York and Newcastle this time round.
Hope this is helpful.
For anyone considering resits, I emailed many universities back in September to ask for their stance on A-Level resits to study the LLB and whether they’re considered. I’ve put the correspondence below for each uni.
I can’t find the Bristol email, but they don’t accept them. Same goes for Cambridge.
Oxford:
Thank you for your enquiry. Please be aware that competition for places at Oxford is very strong, with over 22,000 applications for around 3,200 places for 2018 entry. As a result, even achieving our academic entrance requirements does not guarantee the offer of a place.
On the whole, candidates who need retakes in order to achieve the required grades have a lower chance of being offered a place. Nevertheless, we recognise that students sometimes fail to achieve their potential on their first attempt at school or college because of circumstances beyond their control. Examples would include disruption caused by change of school or college or system, severe discontinuity of teachers, bereavement and one-off debilitating illness.
We take care to treat each application individually and would always take such mitigating circumstances into account if they are brought to our attention: a clear note should be made of these circumstances in the UCAS personal statement or school reference. However, while difficult personal circumstances will be taken into account, they do not guarantee shortlisting for interview or lead to a lower conditional offer. Conditional offers are almost always between A*A*A and AAA at A-level, or 38-40 points (including core points) and between 776-666 in Higher level subjects, depending on the course. See ox.ac.uk/courses for specific details.
If you are holding an offer of a place at another university, we would advise you to take it and concentrate on your studies there.
Liverpool:
Thank you for your interest in studying at University of Liverpool.
We are very happy to consider applications from students who have retaken their A levels for our Law LLB programme.
Your application would be considered in the exact same way as one from a student who was applying for the first time.
Good luck with resitting your A levels.
Sheffield:
Thank you for your enquiry and interest in studying at Sheffield.
We would not look at when you took your A Levels, just the grades so if you achieved the entry requirements of AAA we would be able to offer you a place.
York:
We would be happy to consider your retakes and this would not hold you at a disadvantage.
Manchester:
Thank you for your e-mail and for your interest in studying Law at the University of Manchester.
If you are planning to re-sit the final Year 13 examinations, the University will consider your application, but we may require further information in order to make an informed judgment on your application. For the LLB programme, we will be looking for predicted grades of AAB in your A-Level re-sits and a good GCSE profile with minimum grades across all subjects of A*/8 to C/4. Our entry requirements are AAA in A-Levels (or the equivalent) in any subjects except General Studies and Critical Thinking.
If you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to let us know. We look forward to reviewing your UCAS application form.
UCL:
Thank you for your enquiry and for your interest in studying at UCL.
We do not accept resits for Law LLB. If there were extreme extenuating circumstances affecting the original sitting, such as illness, family trauma or school staffing difficulties, your school should provide information relating to your circumstances in the academic reference for the Faculty Tutor to consider.
UEA:
Thanks for your email and interest in the LLB Law M100 course.
We would welcome an application from you and encourage you to re-take your GCE A-Level.
I hope this helps and that you do decide to apply to study with us.
Newcastle:
Applicants are expected to achieve AAA excluding General Studies and we do accept applications from those who have done resits. As such, we would welcome an application.
Sussex:
Typically we do encourage students to retake examinations if they feel that they did not perform to the best of their ability, and we do not view applications where this is the case in a negative light.
That said, we would be happy to receive an application from you for entry in September 2019. UCAS is now open for applications for entry in 2019; the deadline for applications is 15 January 2019. Please note that we advise all potential applicants that we cannot guarantee that we would be able to make an offer, prior to receiving an application, but if we were to offer it would be conditional on the results from your retakes.
Southampton:
Thank you for your email and interest in the Law School, University of Southampton
We would be happy to consider an application from you for 2019 if you are retaking all three of your levels.
Nottingham:
The School of Law do accept resits, but they require applicants to be taking 3 A Level resists in one academic year in order to demostrate a full academic workload. As this sounds like what you are planning to do, then we would be able to process your application.
Durham:
We do not have a policy which discriminates against applicants who have retaken their examinations or components of their coursework. Our primary consideration would be their achieved and/or predicted grades, and then their personal statement and their academic reference. We consider all applications holistically, reading each part of the application to identify merit and potential, meaning we consider applications to the programme in competition with each other.
We would advise that if a re-sit is as a direct result of mitigating circumstances that the circumstances are outlined in your academic reference.
Lancaster:
Thank you for your e-mail and for your interest in Lancaster University.
We would be happy to consider an application from you based on your resits if your predicted grades meet the entry requirements for the LLB Law course. Whilst we cannot guarantee anything at this stage, if you were to be made an offer, it would be conditional on you achieving the entry requirements of AAB in your resits.
Warwick:
Our Law Department consider retakes on an individual case by case basis. If you had any extenuating circumstances as to why you did not achieve the grades that you were expected to achieve, you should inform us once you have submitted your application.
Exeter:
Thank you for writing to us about your interest in studying our LLB Law programme.
I would like to reassure you that we appreciate the merit of retaking qualifications and will not discriminate against results from a retake. In other words, we will treat a qualification equally regardless of whether it was obtained through a resit or from the first sitting.
We will equally not discriminate against students who take a gap year and again will give applications with or without a gap year with equal consideration.
This being the case, we will consider your application on the basis of your retakes, reference and personal statement as normal. Your grades will be of primary importance for us as this is the best indicator for success on the programme. We will be looking for your predicted grades to match the programme requirements, as you mention. If predictions are not available, we will assume you will achieve one grade higher in each original result.
Leeds:
Thank you for your email. I’m afraid the School of Law is only able to consider applications offering A level resits if there have been extenuating circumstances that have impacted on the original grades.
For reference I have attached a copy of our admissions policy – please see section 3.4 which outlines our policy on resits in more detail.
KCL:
Unfortunately, for Law we are unable to consider resits. We expect all applicants to complete their studies within the standard two year timeframe.
We are only able to consider resits where mitigating circumstances have meant that a resit is required. If this is the case, we would require evidence of mitigating circumstances.
Cardiff:
I can confirm that we do consider students who are re-sitting their A-Levels, so we would welcome an application from you.
Please note that our typical re-sit offer is grades AAA at A-Level.
So in effect:
Resits acceptable: Exeter, York, Nottingham, Newcastle, Durham, Manchester, Cardiff, Liverpool, Sheffield, UEA, Sussex, Lancaster
Don’t accept resits: Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Leeds, UCL, LSE, KCL, Warwick
I’d imagine you might be disadvantaged if you apply for Durham though; I received offers from Nottingham, Exeter, York and Newcastle this time round.
Hope this is helpful.
Scroll to see replies
Hi! As you decided to retake the exams, I was wondering if you decide to become a private candidate and retake them at your old school/college instead or if you did it by attending a college specifically for it. This was really helpful!
Thanks for this, really useful.
That's a brutal list of unis that don't accept resits.
How does it work for City law firms that require at least AAB - do they accept resits?
That's a brutal list of unis that don't accept resits.
How does it work for City law firms that require at least AAB - do they accept resits?
Original post by tokyoqhoul
Hi! As you decided to retake the exams, I was wondering if you decide to become a private candidate and retake them at your old school/college instead or if you did it by attending a college specifically for it. This was really helpful!
I was a private candidate effectively and resat them at my previous sixth form back in June. Virtually all the work I did was independent.
Make sure your school allows you to retake them there if that’s what you’re considering as I fortunate my school was so accommodating.
Original post by Arisapo
Maybe a bit premature for that but I'll certainly be on first year vac schemes.
When I've checked the websites of firms, they don't state about resits there, so maybe I'll get away with it.
When I've checked the websites of firms, they don't state about resits there, so maybe I'll get away with it.
When you go through the actual online app form they do ask when you got each grade and if you ever had to retake an exam.
Original post by Palmyra
When you go through the actual online app form they do ask when you got each grade and if you ever had to retake an exam.
Ah that could be problematic then 😂
Perhaps because I’ve got equivalent to AAA which is higher than some of them it might work in my favour, but obviously depends on the firm.
Try not to think about this not though!
so if i resit my levels, chances are mc law firms will not accept me ?
What sort of grades do they require?
*Sees Durham has a heart*
*sighs in relief*
*sighs in relief*
Original post by Arisapo
Ah that could be problematic then 😂
Perhaps because I’ve got equivalent to AAA which is higher than some of them it might work in my favour, but obviously depends on the firm.
Try not to think about this not though!
Perhaps because I’ve got equivalent to AAA which is higher than some of them it might work in my favour, but obviously depends on the firm.
Try not to think about this not though!
It's true they do ask all that stuff about exact dates of exams and if you retook any (I saw the forms when my daughter was applying) but they consider the form holistically (once you're past the A level cut off barrier that a lot of them impose) and you showed that you could vastly improve in a year so I think that's positive. Plus they ask if you had any extenuating circumstances so I'm sure a bright person like yourself could come up with something plausible
Oxford accept resits, two of my friends from U6 resat and got in. Many people on twitter also did (their places were confirmed by oxford, it's easy to distinguish between fakes and real)
However, they require resits to be due to extreme factors. Health related, mental or physical. + My friend and the one of the people on twitter all had results predicted A*AA and onwards. Good luck
However, they require resits to be due to extreme factors. Health related, mental or physical. + My friend and the one of the people on twitter all had results predicted A*AA and onwards. Good luck
Original post by Palmyra
Thanks for this, really useful.
That's a brutal list of unis that don't accept resits.
How does it work for City law firms that require at least AAB - do they accept resits? @JohanGRK
That's a brutal list of unis that don't accept resits.
How does it work for City law firms that require at least AAB - do they accept resits? @JohanGRK
You don't need to specify whether you resat or not
Original post by honestlykms
Oxford accept resits, two of my friends from U6 resat and got in. Many people on twitter also did (their places were confirmed by oxford, it's easy to distinguish between fakes and real)
However, they require resits to be due to extreme factors. Health related, mental or physical. + My friend and the one of the people on twitter all had results predicted A*AA and onwards. Good luck
However, they require resits to be due to extreme factors. Health related, mental or physical. + My friend and the one of the people on twitter all had results predicted A*AA and onwards. Good luck
I think this was implied in the OP, but yeah, it bears thinking about and might mean the OP needs amending.
Original post by honestlykms
You don't need to specify whether you resat or not
They do ask when you achieved each grade, so it's pretty obvious.
Original post by Notoriety
I think this was implied in the OP, but yeah, it bears thinking about and might mean the OP needs amending.
I was talking about the list, OP wrote Oxford in don't
Original post by Palmyra
They do ask when you achieved each grade, so it's pretty obvious.
Ah, ****. It shouldn't put you at a disadvantage if you say why. but you can always take the long way
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