The Student Room Group

If I retook my A levels more than once, do I need to specify that on clearing?

Or would uni’s be able to see that for themselves on my UCAS profile? I’d much rather they see it on my UCAS profile then me telling them over the phone, cause I feel embarrassed about saying I failed A levels couple of times before.
Original post by Minminwun
Or would uni’s be able to see that for themselves on my UCAS profile? I’d much rather they see it on my UCAS profile then me telling them over the phone, cause I feel embarrassed about saying I failed A levels couple of times before.


They may only be interested in your most recent grades, but you must disclose to them that have previous ones as well. I'd probably say something like "from the most recent sitting I have XYZ, I took some other subjects in YEAR, do you need those too?".

In most cases they will want to input all of them I am afraid.

They'll be dealing with hundreds of calls and many thousands of grades. There's no need to feel embarrassed, you might get a place out it after all!
Reply 2
Original post by Admit-One
They may only be interested in your most recent grades, but you must disclose to them that have previous ones as well. I'd probably say something like "from the most recent sitting I have XYZ, I took some other subjects in YEAR, do you need those too?".

In most cases they will want to input all of them I am afraid.

They'll be dealing with hundreds of calls and many thousands of grades. There's no need to feel embarrassed, you might get a place out it after all!

Yes, I’m more than happy for them to see all my grades, but wouldn’t they be able to see it on my UCAS profile using my personal ID before making an unofficial offer? Or would I still need to ask anyways if they want my previous grades from retake as well? Or should I just email the uni’s I’m interested in now to ask if they care about multiple retakes for the course I’m applying to, so on clearing day it’d be faster
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by Minminwun
Yes, I’m more than happy for them to see all my grades, but wouldn’t they be able to see it on my UCAS profile using my personal ID before making an unofficial offer? Or would I still need to ask anyways if they want my previous grades from retake as well? Or should I just email the uni’s I’m interested in now to ask if they care about multiple retakes for the course I’m applying to, so on clearing day it’d be faster

I would say there’s no point emailing now to be honest.

When you make a clearing call, the operator will have scripted questions to ask about your qualifications. “Can you list all your A-Levels?” or some such.

It’s irrelevant whether the uni could go into your UCAS record. You must answer the questions honestly.

I would not risk losing a clearing place for the sake of disclosing some grades. The whole point of clearing is to deal with people who have a mixed bag. The person you speak to will likely be a temp who won’t care one hoot what you got.
Reply 4
Original post by Minminwun
Or would uni’s be able to see that for themselves on my UCAS profile? I’d much rather they see it on my UCAS profile then me telling them over the phone, cause I feel embarrassed about saying I failed A levels couple of times before.


Yh
Oh, just to add that clearing staff themselves don't often have access to UCAS. They just have a webform to complete with the relevant details that you provide.
Reply 6
Original post by Admit-One
I would say there’s no point emailing now to be honest.

When you make a clearing call, the operator will have scripted questions to ask about your qualifications. “Can you list all your A-Levels?” or some such.

It’s irrelevant whether the uni could go into your UCAS record. You must answer the questions honestly.

I would not risk losing a clearing place for the sake of disclosing some grades. The whole point of clearing is to deal with people who have a mixed bag. The person you speak to will likely be a temp who won’t care one hoot what you got.

I’ll obviously answer honestly, but I wanted to know if they can go into my UCAS record when making an unofficial offer so I have a peace of mind that they made me the offer after knowing all about me. Otherwise, if they don’t ask or brush it off after I tell them I retook without asking for more details, then I’m going to worry while I wait for them to accept after applying through the UCAS clearing. This is because u can only apply to one at a time. Plus I’m someone who get's nervous easily and I’ll most likely panic even more over the phone, I’d much rather they see everything clearly on my UCAS profile before making an unofficial offer, cause I don’t want to be in a situation where I apply & wait only for it to be rejected later & end up wasting 2 days & by that time more places being already filled out from clearing & I end up having a lesser chance.
Original post by Minminwun
I’ll obviously answer honestly, but I wanted to know if they can go into my UCAS record when making an unofficial offer so I have a peace of mind that they made me the offer after knowing all about me. Otherwise, if they don’t ask or brush it off after I tell them I retook without asking for more details, then I’m going to worry while I wait for them to accept after applying through the UCAS clearing. This is because u can only apply to one at a time. Plus I’m someone who get's nervous easily and I’ll most likely panic even more over the phone, I’d much rather they see everything clearly on my UCAS profile before making an unofficial offer, cause I don’t want to be in a situation where I apply & wait only for it to be rejected later & end up wasting 2 days & by that time more places being already filled out from clearing & I end up having a lesser chance.


They would not go into your UCAS record at the point of making you a verbal offer. They would only do that later after you referred yourself to them via Hub. As you note, that could cause a delay, (or even a rejection), if there is any discrepancy between what you told them over the phone and what is on record.

As above, you just need to pay attention to the wording of what they're asking you, IE. "can you tell me your highest three grades including SUBJECT" or "can you list all your AL's please". It's all scripted so there should not be any ambiguity.

Also worth noting that calls are recorded, so if the operator does not seem interested in your previous grades when prompted and they later reject you, (worst case), then you should be able to dispute it.

But all probably a bit redundant as unis don't really care about retakes, (only whether you did not disclose them if asked).
hi, can i ask did you retake your a levels already or are you plannning to?

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