The Student Room Group

MEDICINE - *RESULTS DAY 2014* - AS Level Results Discussion & Advice

Use this thread for any discussion and questions related to AS results you have received.

Are
Check out our Wiki page on entry requirements for each UK medical school, as well as the page on Applying to Your Strengths . This will give you an idea of which schools place a greater level of importance on AS grades.


Not
Bad AS grades will not necessarily kill your medical application. It is still unclear how many universities use AS grades and as long as your school can predict you A*AA/AAA (and you can ACHIEVE A*AA/AAA) then your application stands a chance. You can resit AS modules in your A2 year in order to pull your grades up, though bear in mind that now there are no January resits this will add to your burden of exams in June.

Take a look at this information page here for what prospects you may have with poor AS grades: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medicine_Prospects_for_Students_with_%27Poor%27_AS_Grades


Carrying
You're expected to carry on a minimum of 3 subjects to A2. To maximise the number of schools that you meet the entry requirements for, ensure that these three include Chemistry and Biology.
If you wish to carry on all 4, make sure that this will not be detrimental to your overall grades - AAA is always better than AABB, and if you enter 4 subjects on your UCAS form the medical school can make you an offer based on all four grades. If you subsequently drop a subject after your UCAS form is submitted, you need to inform UCAS and the medical schools, and any offer made can be rescinded since you would be changing the information that they made your offer based on. The only schools were you will benefit from taking 4 A levels are Oxbridge (where many candidates offer 4 subjects as standard) or Barts & The London (where the tariff points ranking system favours more subjects).


CashingState schools have to cash in AS results or risk big fines. This means you will have to declare your AS results on your UCAS application, and so you won't be able to hide poor AS results behind good A2 predictions. Medical schools take your AS grades into consideration or use them as an indicator of how accurate your A2 predictions are. Generally, a prediction above AS grade + 1 would be considered excessive.

Private schools have the choice of cashing in or not; however, note that most private schools do cash in AS grades. Schools also put on their references whether or not it is their policy to cash in AS grades, and if you decide not to declare your AS grades but it is your school policy to declare them then that is not going to reflect well on your application.


Any questions? Post them below :smile:

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Reply 1
Good luck all!
Hello, I recieved 3 A's (Biology, Chemistry and Maths) and a B (Government and Politics) at AS level, I plan on dropping the one I got the B in and carrying on the other 3 at A2. I'm really scared that the B at ASwill drastically harm my chances of getting into Medical school; any advice/help?
Reply 3
Original post by Ross121212
Hello, I recieved 3 A's (Biology, Chemistry and Maths) and a B (Government and Politics) at AS level, I plan on dropping the one I got the B in and carrying on the other 3 at A2. I'm really scared that the B at ASwill drastically harm my chances of getting into Medical school; any advice/help?


Don't worry, AAAB are perfectly good AS grades and will not drastically damage your chances of getting into medical school. Most places will be fine with that, check out this page - the lower character grade in the offer is the 4th AS grade.

Congrats on the grades!
Reply 4
Hey I've got AS bbbb and pretty gutted. Do you think I'd still have a chance at medicine?
Reply 5
Original post by Exx
Hey I've got AS bbbb and pretty gutted. Do you think I'd still have a chance at medicine?


I understand that this must be concerning for you but don't worry. You definitely still have a chance with a realistic set of predicted grades (AAA) and this isn't an automatic rejection situation. Check this page for AS grade requirements of medical schools (lower case grades in the typical offer).
Original post by Ross121212
Hello, I recieved 3 A's (Biology, Chemistry and Maths) and a B (Government and Politics) at AS level, I plan on dropping the one I got the B in and carrying on the other 3 at A2. I'm really scared that the B at ASwill drastically harm my chances of getting into Medical school; any advice/help?


I'm in the same situation! I got AAA (biology, chemistry, geography - very high A's in biology and geography both in the 90%) and BB (maths and general studies - both average middle of the range B's)
I am going to drop maths (general studies is compulsory for me, no matter how much i beg not to do it!)
My teachers said i will be predicted A*A*A* for biology, chemistry and geography, and even if i did take on maths next year I would be predicted an A!
My GCSE's are 9A*, 1A, 2distinction* and 1distinction

What are my chances of getting into medicine with that B in my AS maths??? any help would be great
Reply 7
Original post by Natalierm2707
I'm in the same situation! I got AAA (biology, chemistry, geography - very high A's in biology and geography both in the 90%) and BB (maths and general studies - both average middle of the range B's)
I am going to drop maths (general studies is compulsory for me, no matter how much i beg not to do it!)
My teachers said i will be predicted A*A*A* for biology, chemistry and geography, and even if i did take on maths next year I would be predicted an A!
My GCSE's are 9A*, 1A, 2distinction* and 1distinction

What are my chances of getting into medicine with that B in my AS maths??? any help would be great


Don't worry - read my reply above to the other poster in a similar situation to you. You have every chance of medicine and a B grade like that is not the end of the road.
Original post by Beska
Don't worry - read my reply above to the other poster in a similar situation to you. You have every chance of medicine and a B grade like that is not the end of the road.


Wow most universities only require a B at AS!!! thats so good!
so i wont be disadvantaged!
does offer criteria mean that that is the conditions of the offer, so does this mean that a person with an A at as has an advantage over me or not?
Original post by Natalierm2707
Wow most universities only require a B at AS!!! thats so good!
so i wont be disadvantaged!
does offer criteria mean that that is the conditions of the offer, so does this mean that a person with an A at as has an advantage over me or not?


That will depend on the universities you apply to. Some will have requirements, some won't and some will favour the better grade, others won't.
Reply 10
Original post by Natalierm2707
Wow most universities only require a B at AS!!! thats so good!
so i wont be disadvantaged!
does offer criteria mean that that is the conditions of the offer, so does this mean that a person with an A at as has an advantage over me or not?


Offer criteria are the standard offer that medical school gives (i.e. the minimum they expect). It depends on the medical school if those with an A at AS will be given priority to those with a B, each admissions policy is different. I would study the school websites carefully and send off some emails to confirm.
Hi, I got AABC (B in bio - I'm going to resit a module where I was a few marks off and C in Class Civ)

Are these terrible grades because I feel gutted (I wanted atleast AAAB)?? Have I ruined my chances???
Original post by SoundtrackToLife
Hi, I got AABC (B in bio - I'm going to resit a module where I was a few marks off and C in Class Civ)

Are these terrible grades because I feel gutted (I wanted atleast AAAB)?? Have I ruined my chances???


Not at all. Just apply with caution. Some universities don't consider AS results. As long as your prediction is high enough then you should be okay to go ahead and apply, as long as you get the A2 grades.

Well done though, AABC is still very good!
Howdy,

Just got my AS Results and screwed up horrifically. I intended to study medicine at uni and I can't really see myself doing anything else.
My grades were A in English Lit, D in Maths, D in Biology and U in Chemistry. I wondered if it's worth me resitting all my Maths, Bio and Chem units (with tutors and extra hard work) on top of A2 (as I'm aware for medicine you have to complete all your A-Levels in two years?) and taking a gap year so if I can sort it all out I can apply with my final A2 results?

Just for information, I don't have extenuating circumstances really I just have a terrible chemistry teacher and probably didn't work hard enough.

Are there other routes I could consider and how likely is this to hurt my prospects - if I manage to fix my grades next year will they still not accept me because of this set of results? I'm aware there would be so many applicants without resits applying with flawless grades so why would they even consider me is my main concern.

*very very scared* :confused::confused:
Hey! First things first is that you shouldn't panic! There's still lots of options available for you at this point!

I'm afraid that things aren't looking good for medicine at this point, especially with the U in a subject as important as Chemistry. Some universities will accept AS retakes for a few modules, but to resit ADDU is just too many for most universities to consider you. The best advice I have for you at this point is to have a look at specific university's policies and see if any accept whole subject retakes, but I don't know any university that does so. I'm really sorry. :console:

The next thing is for you to start considering alternative routes into medicine, this includes doing a foundation degree, access course or doing another degree and applying as a graduate, our medicine wiki has lots of info of this stuff for you, including a statement of resit policies as of last year!
Reply 15
Original post by beccaharry
x



See the post above ^^^
Original post by Beska
See the post above ^^^


Thank you v much both of you, I'll see what I can do <3
I know where I can apply to after my considerably low ukcat score, but need at least a B in maths or game over! Collection all the way at 10:00.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 18
Original post by WesterosWildling
I know where I can apply to after my considerably low ukcat score, but need at least a B in maths or game over! Collection all the way at 10:00.

Posted from TSR Mobile


Good luck :smile:
Just got my As results, aabc, the subject I got a c in I have dropped. I intend to improve the c to atleast a b, but will this affect my application for medicine as they look at as results?

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