Did terrible at AS, what should I do?

Hi everyone. I hope your results were what you wanted!

Basically, I was predicted BBB in Chemistry (166 UMS), Maths (172 UMS) and Physics (174 UMS), and worked hard to try and achieve this. My GCSEs a year before we pretty good, with one A*, 7 A's, 5 B's and a C in FSMQ. I got a nasty surprise when I opened my results the other day to learn I got DDD and a P2 in Global Perspectives (Short Course), which is also equivalent to a D :frown:

I really can't work out what went wrong, because I came out of all but one exam feeling fairly confident I'd done well.

To do the courses at the universities I'd like to go to, I need around 320 UCAS points (~ABB). Without retaking, I have no hope in hell of getting an A for my A-Levels, and even B is a push. Should I retake the largest unit of each subject, get those units up to A's so my overall AS grades are B's, and work really hard in A2 to try and get at least one A-Level up to an A? Or is this unrealistic?

Any help would be appreciated!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1

JD95

If I were you, I'd redo the year. Just me though, but that's what I'd consider as my best shot at making that kind of grade considering what you got this summer.

Reply 2

noone29

Assess the situation. Were you struggling with the subjects? How is your essay writing. You have some solid science subjects there, maybe you'll be better mixing maybe maths with history and economics or something like that.

It entirely depends on what you want to do at university. If your subject choices are final you need to see where you went wrong. Was it stress or inability or laziness? If you hit restart are you sure you could do better.

I would personally change some subjects unless those three are imperative to your career choice. They're very very solid subjects. I'd switch one or two to ssolid traditional arts like history, economics, English lit or a language if you're any good at them.

Reply 3

DJ1995

I'd resit the units that contribute the most to your overall grade - the entire year is abit of overkill. Plus by the time you resit them you will be better at the required skills/needs etc. of the top grades.

But i wouldn't worry about it too much mate. I got BCD in my AS, and i needed ABB to get into Uni (like you). I ended up turning it around and walked out with A*BB. So just work hard, prioritise it and focus completely on getting the holy grail (University, haha). Don't let it get you down, and good luck!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 4

ryanm95

Thanks for the responses guys! Really needed some direction :smile:

Original post by noone29

Funny you should say that noone29, I was doing European History as a fifth subject, but the workload was crazy. Wish I kept it now, everyone I know got A's in it haha!

Original post by DJ1995

Well done on turning your grades around, quite a bit of inspiration there :smile:

Retaking the largest units in each AS (which also happen to be my worst-marked) is definitely what I intend to do now, Could be quite helpful in Maths because retaking C2 will cover some stuff in the C3 and C4 exams. I'm going to work incredibly hard this year!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 5

becky656

Just got my AS results back and I did horribly, I got BBCC yet I worked incredibly hard. I came out of my chemistry exams pretty chuffed as I knew everything on that paper but came out with a C, which makes absolutely no sense to me as before in class with minimal revision, id get a C. So I'm just baffled by it. Plus with my philosophy I also got a C and my teacher is quite shocked too because I am such a hard worker and in class tests and mocks was seeing A's. Is it possible that there was an error in marking? Because I just can't understand what went wrong. If it was English I would understand as there is never a straightforward right answer to it, but Chem and philosophy are straightforward wrong or right answers. was so keen on having AABB

Reply 6

Charlie Wills

I thought I had done really well at AS level and ended up getting CCDD in Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
My teacher recommended that I got some out of school tuition, because my grades were not matching my effort.

After lots of messing around I found an Online tutoring agency who were cheap and specialised in Maths and science.
They figured out what I was doing wrong and showed me what the examiners wanted to see.

The second time around I managed to get ABAA and then later went on to get ACAA overall.

Hope that helps