A-Level Retake. Depressed.

I received grades ABD on results day with D in English Literature AQA A. I received a 9 at GCSE and was confident I'd do well. I'm devastated and was planning on retaking the year but my school has informed me I won't be allowed to actually sit in lessons. I received a U in paper 1, B in paper 2 and a B in coursework and was predicted an A/A* which is what I was receiving throughout the two years and ended with the D.

I am so sad and don't know what to do. I got into University regardless to do Law in Leicester but many people have advised me to retake in order to enter the law profession. I was confident about taking a year out until my school told me they wouldn't allow me to resit year 13. I don't know if I'm capable of retaking on my own because I don't know where I actually went wrong in the exams and because I never understood how to revise English really. I know I did mess up on two questions paper 1, thought I'd done well on question two but I seemed to have messed up all three.

I received 18/75 paper one, 42/75 on paper two and 42/50 in coursework. I don't know if to retake or not because I won't have any support from the school and my parents are against the idea of taking a year out of education (as the school won't let me go back) and I don't actually know if I'm capable of doing better but keep being told by my friends that I'm being ungrateful and should go to University. Does anyone have any advice or revision tips?

Have you tried to see if another college or something around you will take you? For one subject it might be a possibility?

Nobody will allow me to do it in a college because all the texts are different depending on the college, they're rarely ever the same as the sixth form chooses them out of a wide selection. My sixth form itself has agreed to let me retake the actual exams with them but without any resources/support/lessons. I think there's just a fear I have of failing again because there's no guidance at all.. the question remaining for me is if I should retake or not. I'm just so scared and honestly so sad.

I was getting A*/A's in my mocks with B's at the very minimum. I was heavily disappointed with the grade but my issue is although I can iron out why I may have failed two sections of paper one (they come in three sections). I did DREADFUL on section two on unseen poetry and actually thought I knew what I was talking about to some extent. Whereas on paper 2 I performed impeccably in comparison. I guess I'm just so surprised because I knew I had the capability to do better.

Thanks so much for your help. I do understand it's doable, I guess there's just this inherent fear of failing again almost given a) I was expecting better and b) because everyone around me keeps telling me there's 'no guarantee I'll pass the second time round'. But I do appreciate your help. <3

Back yourself , be better. Hard well focused revision plus practice will make an improvement highly likely. You have just had your confidence knocked, its about how you respond now which is a least of character. Get your scripts back. Will your English teacher talk to you?

You wont fail again if you put right the things that went wrong.

Whilst there may not be any official support, maybe your old teachers would be willing to give you some work + tips and maybe even mark some of your work?

My librarian (who also has a degree in English Lit) said she can offer me some support January onwards or if I drop her an email (however I can't be reliant on her as it's a choice rather than a job duty). She's very kind and helpful as she deals with UCAS and gave me lots of support on my coursework during sixth form.

My teachers themselves were honestly awful to the students. I had two teachers for English and they disliked each other, there was no communication between one another and it led to stress for students because we were always torn in terms of teaching/assessments. They also offered us little support. I guess the only reason I want to now go back is because I'm just.. scared of being independent in a sense. If I wasn't able to get through it WITH them first time then it just feels like such a struggle to do it now. I will remain positive, I am able to get my scripts back and yes I am able to communicate with my teachers through email (although not sure what I'd say to them).

I have until tomorrow ultimately to decide what to do. I'm so scared.

You will be fine if you put the work in.
I say get a job because that gets you £ and you can use that for tutors or books or courses.
You got an A so you know the standard it is just something else.
I would do it and you might benefit from it being character building as well.
Think about other people who resit 3 and dont have two good A levels to fall back on.
Talk to your parents.

Your anxiety is making it a bigger task than it is. If you put the work in id be shocked if you got less than a B and you can easily aim for an A.

I think there was this expectation of letting everyone down around me and myself when receiving my results but you're so right. I am completely grateful for the other grades I did get. I do think my parents are supportive of my decision they just want some certainty that i will put in the effort to pass the second time round. I guess at the end of it nobody but people experiencing the situation really understand the difficulty of A-Levels and the impact they may have on the future. But thank you for giving me some hope, I appreciate it so much honestly.

I think there was this expectation of letting everyone down around me and myself when receiving my results but you're so right. I am completely grateful for the other grades I did get. I do think my parents are supportive of my decision they just want some certainty that i will put in the effort to pass the second time round. I guess at the end of it nobody but people experiencing the situation really understand the difficulty of A-Levels and the impact they may have on the future. But thank you for giving me some hope, I appreciate it so much honestly.

My librarian (who also has a degree in English Lit) said she can offer me some support January onwards or if I drop her an email (however I can't be reliant on her as it's a choice rather than a job duty). She's very kind and helpful as she deals with UCAS and gave me lots of support on my coursework during sixth form.

My teachers themselves were honestly awful to the students. I had two teachers for English and they disliked each other, there was no communication between one another and it led to stress for students because we were always torn in terms of teaching/assessments. They also offered us little support. I guess the only reason I want to now go back is because I'm just.. scared of being independent in a sense. If I wasn't able to get through it WITH them first time then it just feels like such a struggle to do it now. I will remain positive, I am able to get my scripts back and yes I am able to communicate with my teachers through email (although not sure what I'd say to them).

I have until tomorrow ultimately to decide what to do. I'm so scared.

Hey! I retook my A-Levels although in my situation I was able to go back to sixth form and sit in the lessons like a normal year 13 student, I don't think that helped very much though. I believe it was all down to my own personal hard work in my resit year that got me the results. My situation was I achieved a grade D in biology and never understood how to revise or prepare for the exam after 2 years. I was always convinced that I understood the content but when it came to the exams, I did badly in every single paper. In my resit year, I continued going to lessons regularly at school but that did not help at all. I had the same teachers who were terrible at teaching, didn't really gain any advice on how to improve as felt like they didn't have hope in me. Not to mention, I actually received 2 years of private tuition (from a student not professional teacher) for biology upon achieving my grade D and was so disappointed I wasted so much money and still came out with a bad grade.

So in my resit year, I quit having private tuition but continued attending them time wasting sixth form lessons which were just a repeat. I believe my mentality of knowing that it is my final chance at this resit got me to work extremely hard on my own to see where I went wrong. I purchased my exam papers that I failed in to understand where I went wrong as I marked it with the mark scheme. I then did so much research and tried to adapt to the exam technique examiners want by trying to understand every mark scheme against exam paper. I was doing all this hard work only to pray that I would achieve a B grade. Miraculously, I exceeded my own expectations and achieved an A grade and that was not because I was able to sit in my sixth form lessons, but down to my own effort!

My advice is just don't be worried about not being capable of retaking the exam on your own! I'm sure if you work really hard, your motivation will guide you towards the grade you desire. I advise that you purchase your past exam papers to try and understand where you have went wrong in the exam.