Don’t know what to do about my future

Hi, I’ve posted this all several times before, but I thought it relevant to provide some context as I think it might prove relevant to my questions.

So basically I started sixth form in 2018; I attended a completely new school, so had to adjust to new people & teachers, & the 3 original subjects I chose were Maths, Eng Lit & Chemistry. I’d be lying if I said it had all started off as well as I wanted it to in regards to work ethic, but about 2 months in, just when I thought I was beginning to get a grip of what A levels entailed a load of personal life problems started to crop up; my best friend from my old secondary school was killed in a car accident, not long after this my mother had a stroke and my siblings throughout the year just kept on having more and more issues. A lot of these really shook me up, for the entirety of year 12 I just sort of drifted; I felt like I had nobody to talk to & I would honestly just try to get through my lessons, which I didn't enjoy and was falling behind in (esp Maths & Chemistry) as opposed to trying to learn. I finished the year with awful grades and I just kept putting on weight. When summer came around I felt a little more focused & decided to try and make a change to try and stop the repeat of year 12 happening in year 13, and decided I’d return in the summer and speak to my school to drop chemistry (the subject I felt I was falling behind in the most however Maths wasn’t far behind). My school spoke to me & said it should be fine; they said that I could continue in Maths & English in year 13 and complete the exams in the summer as planned, and that I would be able to take history in year 12 and then take a year sort of year 14 where I spend the year only doing history. This was great and honestly year 13, although not perfect, went much better for me; I put more work in and really tried to save my grades (which was a really difficult challenge in itself), but then of course covid happened and halted the entire country.

This proved to throw a huge spanner in the works. I had managed to increase my grades by perhaps one in English, but I was really banking on the fact I would sit the exams in the summer in an attempt to save myself (esp in Maths), however this obviously didn’t happen. I knew I would fail maths as things stand so I just hoped I would get at least a B in English as I could work with that for uni. When results day came around, I would be lying if I said I didn’t know I had already screwed up, and ended up getting a B in English Lit, a B in EPQ & a D in Maths. The two B’s I was content with, but I knew I’d have to retake maths in order to get into any uni, let alone the good ones.

Eventually “year 14” came round (this year) and my focus shifted entirely to history. Now this is where I feel like I made a mistake. I tried to be strategic and clever regarding Maths and I think it may have come back to bite me. Essentially, I went into the year thinking I’d use the lessons at school and learn History with the support of my 6th form, then use a service called uplearn and learn the entirety of the Maths course through that & then sit all of the exams (History & Maths) at the end of the year, however around October time, I had decided I wouldn’t be applying for university next year (to attend in summer 2021), as my Mum’s health still wasn’t great, & instead planned on going the year after (for the 2022 summer) when I'm 20 and thought it might be best if I focused entirely on history this year, then do the entirety of the maths course next year as I knew I wouldn’t be going & then when I did go to apply through UCAS, I would also have two actually A levels & a EPQ to apply with and probably a predicted grade around an A in Maths (as uplearn guarantee and A or A* or your money back).

This is where it gets a little harder to explain really; as the year went on I decided that in order to do maths, I'd need to relearn everything anyway, and realised that it wasn't a required subject for any of the uni courses I intend on applying to, so I decided instead of putting myself through the pain of A-level maths again, that I would probably be better off learning an entirely different subject all together and decided on learning psychology instead; uplearn offer a course on it & its also a subject I've always been interested in.

On results day 2021 and I only got a B in history. This has made me think a lot; I’m clearly not that academically gifted and in the year in which everyone’s grades were really inflated, I only got a B. This means I currently have BBD + B in EPQ (which is a really bad set of grades) which not only means I will definitely need an A in psychology to get into my uni choices, but I would’ve also spent 4 years doing A levels, which Russell group Unis will look down on.

We are now in October 2021 and I’ve done about 20% of the entire psychology course (what it says on uplearn) and honestly I’m enjoying it, however I’m not sure if I would’ve been better off retaking maths instead. I want to apply to law at a Russell group university (hopefully one of Edinburgh, Sheffield and Cardiff; I get widening access for these 3 so I get one grade lower then required) and would have A ( predicted grade) and BBD + B in row as actual grades, however I’m not dead set on law; and I’ve been looking at other courses such as Economics (could possibly do a BA at some universities even with my bad maths grade), psychology (I would love to be a clinical psychologist but this is just so competitive) and Medicine with a foundation year course (I’m about 99% sure I won’t stand a chance for this but I would really, really love to do medicine which is what I originally wanted to do when I attended sixth form).

What I’m essentially wondering is; is it better to retake then take a new a level? Would I be able to put a predicted grade for maths instead of the actual grade itself? And if any of you are familiar with uplearn, is it possible for me to learn the entire a level maths course from now to exams in the summer from that? Or am I better off just doing psychology? Is it looked down upon if you don’t retake and take a new a level entirely? Do people often do that? Also will me doing A levels 4 years mean I even get considered at unis? Another option is if I take another year out next year, take 3 brand new A levels; Chemistry, Biology and I’ll probably finish my psychology course as well and then possibly apply to a medical school with those three A levels (psychology, Chemistry and Biology) and study medicine? However this would mean I have to take another year out, do 2 mor A levels then initially planned, end up applying as a mature student and also have no guarantee I will get a place.

I just don’t know what to do; I feel I’ve made a big mistake on almost every turn; it’s gonna take me 4 years to do A levels, I’ll potentially end up with grades ABBD + B or ABB + B (very bad for 4 years), I’m not even sure what I want to do at university, and I’m not even sure any good universities will accept me. It’s become quite clear to me over the past few years that I’m not very academically gifted at all, but it’s not like I have a lot of other alternatives; my family expect me to go to university. I feel I’ve made massive mistakes along the way and now I’m at a point where I can’t salvage it; I feel like it’s all too little too late sort of thing and I just don’t know what to do. It honestly feels like I’m drowning at this point in an endless maze of bad decision after bad decision. I just feel like a failover to be perfectly honest.

This may all sound like drivel to some people & many of you may not care, but I would love to hear peoples thoughts as well as hopefully getting some questions answered and insight into things. I do enjoy psychology a lot more then Maths but I honestly feel Maths opens a lot more doors. I do honestly feel I’ve messed up at every turn so I’m hoping I can still salvage something from it at this point. I’ve done pretty much this exact post like 20 times hoping I get the some answers (honestly I haven’t received much) or in the hope someone gives me advice on everything I need advice on.

Sorry for the long barrage of information, but I wanted to get it off my chest and I will be very grateful for any help

Hi, I’ve posted this all several times before, but I thought it relevant to provide some context as I think it might prove relevant to my questions.

So basically I started sixth form in 2018; I attended a completely new school, so had to adjust to new people & teachers, & the 3 original subjects I chose were Maths, Eng Lit & Chemistry. I’d be lying if I said it had all started off as well as I wanted it to in regards to work ethic, but about 2 months in, just when I thought I was beginning to get a grip of what A levels entailed a load of personal life problems started to crop up; my best friend from my old secondary school was killed in a car accident, not long after this my mother had a stroke and my siblings throughout the year just kept on having more and more issues. A lot of these really shook me up, for the entirety of year 12 I just sort of drifted; I felt like I had nobody to talk to & I would honestly just try to get through my lessons, which I didn't enjoy and was falling behind in (esp Maths & Chemistry) as opposed to trying to learn. I finished the year with awful grades and I just kept putting on weight. When summer came around I felt a little more focused & decided to try and make a change to try and stop the repeat of year 12 happening in year 13, and decided I’d return in the summer and speak to my school to drop chemistry (the subject I felt I was falling behind in the most however Maths wasn’t far behind). My school spoke to me & said it should be fine; they said that I could continue in Maths & English in year 13 and complete the exams in the summer as planned, and that I would be able to take history in year 12 and then take a year sort of year 14 where I spend the year only doing history. This was great and honestly year 13, although not perfect, went much better for me; I put more work in and really tried to save my grades (which was a really difficult challenge in itself), but then of course covid happened and halted the entire country.

This proved to throw a huge spanner in the works. I had managed to increase my grades by perhaps one in English, but I was really banking on the fact I would sit the exams in the summer in an attempt to save myself (esp in Maths), however this obviously didn’t happen. I knew I would fail maths as things stand so I just hoped I would get at least a B in English as I could work with that for uni. When results day came around, I would be lying if I said I didn’t know I had already screwed up, and ended up getting a B in English Lit, a B in EPQ & a D in Maths. The two B’s I was content with, but I knew I’d have to retake maths in order to get into any uni, let alone the good ones.

Eventually “year 14” came round (this year) and my focus shifted entirely to history. Now this is where I feel like I made a mistake. I tried to be strategic and clever regarding Maths and I think it may have come back to bite me. Essentially, I went into the year thinking I’d use the lessons at school and learn History with the support of my 6th form, then use a service called uplearn and learn the entirety of the Maths course through that & then sit all of the exams (History & Maths) at the end of the year, however around October time, I had decided I wouldn’t be applying for university next year (to attend in summer 2021), as my Mum’s health still wasn’t great, & instead planned on going the year after (for the 2022 summer) when I'm 20 and thought it might be best if I focused entirely on history this year, then do the entirety of the maths course next year as I knew I wouldn’t be going & then when I did go to apply through UCAS, I would also have two actually A levels & a EPQ to apply with and probably a predicted grade around an A in Maths (as uplearn guarantee and A or A* or your money back).

This is where it gets a little harder to explain really; as the year went on I decided that in order to do maths, I'd need to relearn everything anyway, and realised that it wasn't a required subject for any of the uni courses I intend on applying to, so I decided instead of putting myself through the pain of A-level maths again, that I would probably be better off learning an entirely different subject all together and decided on learning psychology instead; uplearn offer a course on it & its also a subject I've always been interested in.

On results day 2021 and I only got a B in history. This has made me think a lot; I’m clearly not that academically gifted and in the year in which everyone’s grades were really inflated, I only got a B. This means I currently have BBD + B in EPQ (which is a really bad set of grades) which not only means I will definitely need an A in psychology to get into my uni choices, but I would’ve also spent 4 years doing A levels, which Russell group Unis will look down on.

We are now in October 2021 and I’ve done about 20% of the entire psychology course (what it says on uplearn) and honestly I’m enjoying it, however I’m not sure if I would’ve been better off retaking maths instead. I want to apply to law at a Russell group university (hopefully one of Edinburgh, Sheffield and Cardiff; I get widening access for these 3 so I get one grade lower then required) and would have A ( predicted grade) and BBD + B in row as actual grades, however I’m not dead set on law; and I’ve been looking at other courses such as Economics (could possibly do a BA at some universities even with my bad maths grade), psychology (I would love to be a clinical psychologist but this is just so competitive) and Medicine with a foundation year course (I’m about 99% sure I won’t stand a chance for this but I would really, really love to do medicine which is what I originally wanted to do when I attended sixth form).

What I’m essentially wondering is; is it better to retake then take a new a level? Would I be able to put a predicted grade for maths instead of the actual grade itself? And if any of you are familiar with uplearn, is it possible for me to learn the entire a level maths course from now to exams in the summer from that? Or am I better off just doing psychology? Is it looked down upon if you don’t retake and take a new a level entirely? Do people often do that? Also will me doing A levels 4 years mean I even get considered at unis? Another option is if I take another year out next year, take 3 brand new A levels; Chemistry, Biology and I’ll probably finish my psychology course as well and then possibly apply to a medical school with those three A levels (psychology, Chemistry and Biology) and study medicine? However this would mean I have to take another year out, do 2 mor A levels then initially planned, end up applying as a mature student and also have no guarantee I will get a place.

I just don’t know what to do; I feel I’ve made a big mistake on almost every turn; it’s gonna take me 4 years to do A levels, I’ll potentially end up with grades ABBD + B or ABB + B (very bad for 4 years), I’m not even sure what I want to do at university, and I’m not even sure any good universities will accept me. It’s become quite clear to me over the past few years that I’m not very academically gifted at all, but it’s not like I have a lot of other alternatives; my family expect me to go to university. I feel I’ve made massive mistakes along the way and now I’m at a point where I can’t salvage it; I feel like it’s all too little too late sort of thing and I just don’t know what to do. It honestly feels like I’m drowning at this point in an endless maze of bad decision after bad decision. I just feel like a failover to be perfectly honest.

This may all sound like drivel to some people & many of you may not care, but I would love to hear peoples thoughts as well as hopefully getting some questions answered and insight into things. I do enjoy psychology a lot more then Maths but I honestly feel Maths opens a lot more doors. I do honestly feel I’ve messed up at every turn so I’m hoping I can still salvage something from it at this point. I’ve done pretty much this exact post like 20 times hoping I get the some answers (honestly I haven’t received much) or in the hope someone gives me advice on everything I need advice on.

Sorry for the long barrage of information, but I wanted to get it off my chest and I will be very grateful for any help

Mate I’m kind of in the same position as you. I recently finished year 13 and done bad on my Alevels. I got a CCE. Now I’ve opted to retake 2 of my alevels in the summer as a private candidate. I’m soo lost and sad as I’ve always been an above average student(A/B) but due to certain things this year my grades went down. I don’t even understand or know how ill get references and predicted grades

Hey! Sorry to hear your mum is unwell, I hope she’s doing better now.

I want to start off by saying you need to stop telling yourself your not academically gifted, when in reality you are. Being able to studies A levels in the first place means you got good GCSE grades and when applying to certain universities, they will want to see how well you did in them too, it all counts. Your grades so far without a resit in maths or your psychology are already good enough to enter a Russel group university, believe me! Have you had any support re. Getting into uni and the application process?

Let me tell you this for example, I left school with ONE GCSE in drama. I got a C!! That’s it. I couldn’t even study A levels and I couldn’t get into any college courses either. Like you though I had various interests of things I wanted to do and was specifically interested in a career in healthcare! At the time I never thought about medicine as it was just too unrealistic but I started with the NHS as an administrator. I managed to find an apprenticeship and I worked in various health centres and clinics and this really made me realise healthcare was for me. Because I received a qualification for completing my apprenticeship I was able to get into college and long story short over the course of three years, I completed a level 2 and level 3 BTEC in medical science and sat my English and maths GCSEs again and managed to get an A and a C. My level 3 BTEC was equivalent to three A levels but wasn’t specific. Because I did good on my BTEC, I had more than enough to apply to university. I applied to a Russel group uni to study medical physiology at the university of Nottingham and was accepted on to the course. When looking at the requirements for most courses it might say AAB for example but if you haven’t got an A level in maths like me, they will want you to have a good grade in your GCSE Maths. If I could offer you any advice, I would email the admissions teams of all your unis you’re interested in and find out what it is they want. The course I applied for said it wanted me to have 3 A levels AAB or ABB and never mentioned anything about BTECs. Sometimes you have to get in contact with them to see if they would accept you with what you have and see what it is you need to do. That’s what they’re there for. That’s what I did when I was about to apply for uni, I would get in touch with them and see and most of them did accept me even though online it didn’t look that way!

The reason I told you that is because I don’t want you to doubt yourself and think you can’t do why you want to do because you can do anything you want to. You do sound very conflicted about what it is you want to study though and you really do need to think about that. It’s difficult to say you want to go into a specific area if you’ve never experience it! You might go have a day in a lawyers office and hate it. You might go on a ward a shadow a doctor and fall in love with the role or again hate it! Now COVID is settling down I would try and get some experience in a few of the areas you are thinking about going into. Ask for a day a week or anything to just shadow a few of the roles and get some experience. Like me I wouldn’t have known I love the healthcare environment without working in it and I think the best thing you can do right now is go and see what takes you fancy and where you could see yourself. At the same time speak to unis about courses but stop doubting yourself! If I can get into a Russel group uni with my BTEC I’m sure you will have even more options than me. I have just graduated and seriously I never thought this would be possible but you really can do whatever you put your mind to! Don’t think of your A levels as a waste of time or that it will look bad. To me it looks like pure dedication to get a good career. Some people would have just given up or not gone back and done another course but you did you kept pushing yourself! And as for your family pushing you to go to uni, I’m sure they will understand if you say you’re going to go and get some work experience in a few sectors and apply for university next year. You will have more experience that most people applying for an undergraduate course don’t have and any experience will look good on your application if you decide on a course.

Good luck!

Hey, I’m probably not the shining light you are looking for because quite frankly my situation is a mess (as you can see from the post), but for a reference, you should still be able to use one from your old school? Most schools expect people to take time off after A levels and so just postpone writing a reference until when they actually need to apply so just pop an email into your old school and see what they say. For predicted grades, depending on what i do, I’ll probably end up using a sight called Oxbridge home learning; they don’t provide a reference but they can give you new predicted grades (which they can send off to your old school, but I’d let your old school know this is the case) and they even find a place for you to sit the exams in the summer.

Not sure if that’s too helpful but it’s nice to know we aren’t alone. I’m guessing you are currently 18 going on 19? Which puts you in a far better position then me to put everything right (I’m 19 going on 20 so it’s not looking great for me), if I can help you in any way, look at my post and just do the opposite but I wouldn’t worry too much because your situation is definitely salvageable.

Thanks for the reply, every little helps. Yeah it's nice knowing that we're not alone. Yeah I think my school still have my references, however idk if I can use oxbridge as they are not the same with the exam boards I'm doing. I do OCR however their chem and bio is Edexcel and because I'm using my school as my exam centre (As a private candidate) I have to do what boards my school does which is OCR. Yeah it is salvageable but I have about 8 months to relearn AS and A2 bio and chem content which won't be easy

Thanks for the reply, every little helps. Yeah it's nice knowing that we're not alone. Yeah I think my school still have my references, however idk if I can use oxbridge as they are not the same with the exam boards I'm doing. I do OCR however their chem and bio is Edexcel and because I'm using my school as my exam centre (As a private candidate) I have to do what boards my school does which is OCR. Yeah it is salvageable but I have about 8 months to relearn AS and A2 bio and chem content which won't be easy

Buy a service called Uplearn; they only currently offer the revision service for chemistry but it’s about £200 and 98% of people who complete the course get an A or A*. It doesn’t really help with Biology but they can save you for chemistry

Yeah currently I'm using snap revise for both chem and bio but its soo bad for chem. I will definitely look into uplearns chemistry course thanks. Anyway, what are your current plans as I know how had it is to think in a current situation like this especially with all the pressure

Nothings changed really. I have no idea what to do, no great prospects and an endless list of mistakes along the way. I’m in a mess but what can I do really, just gonna have to make a decision and hope it works out otherwise there is nothing else I can really do, I’m in too deep at this point when it comes to the mess I’ve made.

Yeah I get you. Technically I'm literally in the same position as you but an earlier stage. 2 months ago when I received my grades I felt like everything was over. I've decided not to dwell on the past and move forward. Anything can be done with the amount of effort and time therefore gain courage and back whatever decision you make that's what I keep telling myself on this journey. Never give up

Yeah, that is defo the best mindset; I’m definitely more of a pessimist then an optimist. I’m defo a strong believer in Murphy law as well lol. I just need to make a decision and try and move on from it but it’s hard to find a balance between keeping doors open for me and fixing my past mistakes if you know what I mean

Hi, thank you for the reply, inert much appreciate it. To answer your first question, no I haven’t had any support with anything relating to uni, applications, a levels, my life etc. My mums mental health is equally as bad as her physical health (and believe me both aren’t great) so I’ve always had to be a rock for her as she’s had to deal with my older and younger siblings problems so I can’t really inconvenience her. But to summarise no, I’ve had no support at all

I love the experience/shadowing idea of yours, but I just don’t know how I would go about getting it if you know what I mean. Like who do I contact? I also don’t know if they will accept me because I know there are loads of actual under grade who can’t get places in things such as these so I’m not sure.

thank you so much for the reply, help is really appreciated