I'm in dire need of some advice for redoing Year 13

Hello all! So, I'm in quite the rut. Here's my AS results: C in History C in English Lit E in Philosophy E in Politics, horrid. I've done two AS resits so far, one for History and one for Philosophy. Both went poorly, and I didn't finish the History. On Monday I've got a Politics resit, and on the Thursday, another Politics resit, then begin my A2's. I have been incredibly lazy up to now, and incredibly stupid. While I've always wanted to university, (I haven't applied simply because my AS results were so poor), I'm very concerned about my future and options, knowing my results are going to be really crappy again, if worse, this second time round. But, I am absolutely willing to redo the year and do far better, give it my all from the get go, having talked to teachers at my school, that's something I can do, but my concern is that, wanting to study Politics and having a terrible AS grade which I don't expect to go up after these resits due to poor revision and such and such, I'm so lost as what I can do.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

Capaldian

Resit! I can't speak for year 13 but after getting BCC on my AS levels in 2013 I decided to redo year 12 (swapped 2 subjects) and came out with AAA in 2014. I'm now nearing the end of A2 year and am in such a strong position with all my uni offers after being predicted 3 A*s.

You will really really have to be committed though. And if you make the decision, still try really hard in these exams but when they're over start doing work for next year. Use the summer to your advantage and be ready for year 13 again in September.

Because I was so anxious in my resit year I just studied every single day from October for about 8 hours a day (sounds like a lot but isn't)!

My mindset was if I'm doing the absolute maximum I could be doing then I will succeed!

Good Luck!

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Reply 2

Reord

I really sympathise with you. It's horrible when you feel you haven't performed to your best and it's something you could have controlled. It's great that you have the determination to repeat the year and to try harder this time.

My advice to you is - what exactly is it that you are going to change which will make it different this time? It's all very well and good having the commitment at this point to change and be better, but you need to have some concrete ideas of what you will do differently. And then you need to actually follow through and do them. I'm talking about things like "I will do at least one hour's work on each subject every week" and then make yourself a chart and document your time and actually make sure you do it. Or "I will watch tv after I have done 30 minutes of work, not before", and then make yourself do it.

It takes great strength of character to make changes like this to your work style. Often it's a habit, or a "rut" as you put it, which is really, really hard to break. You need to have an end goal which you want enough, if that makes sense. What might help with that is to explain to yourself why exactly it is that you want to study Politics at university? So many people don't do that, they just leave school and start work. Why don't you want to do that? Etc etc.

I would also advise you if you can, to let your family or whoever you're living with know about your plans and your changes to your working style, and ask them to let you know if they see you ever breaking a rule. Let them support you as well.

Good luck

Reply 3

returnmigrant

Think carefully about the advice above - all good points.You also need to be thinking carefully about why you want to go to Uni - and the level of work required at Uni.If you are finding A levels this difficult it suggests that you will struggle with University level study which is much higher than A levels. If you are wanting to go to Uni mainly for 'the student experience' then you really do need to think this out a bit more realistically.

Reply 4

claireestelle

since their changing some of the exam specs in september you might want to check they d all still be available to sit in 2016 before you decide to resit. But really have a think about why you want to go to uni and what you d want to do, it wouldnt be too late to apply for a foundation year somewhere through clearing once you ve got your a level results, something to consider rather than resting year 13

Reply 5

RowlandTennyson

Thanks for all the advice! I'm confident that I'll be able to do far better if I redo Year 13, following a timetable from the start, putting a lot more time into my studies, working in the Summer so I'm fully prepared going in, and generally not being so lazy, because that's why I'm now struggling, not necessarily because I'm simply not able to do it. Had this talk with my family, they're fully supportive and now that I'm pretty much certain this is what I'll do I'm a lot less stressed. I certainly don't want to go to university just for the social side of things, I really want to study Politics and Human rights, so that's why I'll be resitting. Considering the changes that claireestelle mentioned, and I do recall my teachers talking about this, that's worried me a little, but I suppose I could always work around it, even if it means more work?

Again, thanks, didn't expect anyone to reply since this is my first post! :smile: