Surprising AS results, what to do next?

Just received shocking AS results

Chemistry-E
Maths-C
Biology-E
Spanish-D

This is so different to what I'm predicted (BAAC respectively) and how I thought I did. Ive emailed teachers for advice and to order my papers back.

Is it really that bad to retake the whole year? The problem is that as I come from a large school, they've said that it might be a possibility that there will not be enough spaces on the courses after GCSE results are announced.
The other option (although more unlikely considering the E's) is to retake individual exams, even so, I still can't apply for the uni that i want because the retake is after we apply to universities, right?

Im still so shocked, throughout the whole year i was getting my predicted grades at least on past papers and my mocks were fine.
I knew my real exams didnt go as smoothly as i wanted but still i didnt expect it to be this bad.

I was hoping to take pharmacology at university and my first choice would have been Bristol (AAB)

My head feels so muddled.

I'm in the same position as you. My results were C,D,D,E,E when my predicted grades were A,A,B,B,C. I really don't know what to do now as my school may not let me resit individual exams and if I resit the entire year I will have to pick different subjects (my current subjects are Biology, Chemistry, History, Maths and Philosophy). They would only let me do one of my current options (if I resit year 12) and then coursework based subjects. I really don't know what do to AHHH.

At the moment i think I will do what one of my classmates did last year and retake yr12, luckily my school usually lets people retake the same subjects. plus, maths, chemistry and biology arent the most popular subjects in my school.

which exam boards were you on for chem bio and maths?

lucky you!! I really don't know what to do I was OCR for Chem and Maths and AQA for Bio, you?

Just received shocking AS results

Chemistry-E
Maths-C
Biology-E
Spanish-D

This is so different to what I'm predicted (BAAC respectively) and how I thought I did. Ive emailed teachers for advice and to order my papers back.

Is it really that bad to retake the whole year? The problem is that as I come from a large school, they've said that it might be a possibility that there will not be enough spaces on the courses after GCSE results are announced.
The other option (although more unlikely considering the E's) is to retake individual exams, even so, I still can't apply for the uni that i want because the retake is after we apply to universities, right?

Im still so shocked, throughout the whole year i was getting my predicted grades at least on past papers and my mocks were fine.
I knew my real exams didnt go as smoothly as i wanted but still i didnt expect it to be this bad.

I was hoping to take pharmacology at university and my first choice would have been Bristol (AAB)

My head feels so muddled.

It is not bad to retake a whole year, I know a couple of people who retook AS levels and it worked out for them. If you can't do the AS levels at your school then maybe you could look into doing them somwhere else, colleges do them, and an AS level is the same really wherever you do it.

Have you heard the recent new regarding OCR estimating a large number of grades? do you think it might be worth a remark? whatever you decide to do, i wish you the best of luck!

Im with AQA for chem and maths, edexcel for bio. Ive asked to get photocopies of my papers because these grades are so far from my predicted and how i felt i have been performing throughout the year. I did feel especially stressed this year but still, i cant understand how i did so badly

It is not bad to retake a whole year, I know a couple of people who retook AS levels and it worked out for them. If you can't do the AS levels at your school then maybe you could look into doing them somwhere else, colleges do them, and an AS level is the same really wherever you do it.

Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear that you were disappointed with you AS Level grades this year.

Being a retake student myself, I feel like I would be in the best position to advise you on what to do.

You have several options available to do; some of which you may find a little more difficult to do but anyway:

1. You could retake the whole year
Retaking does not mean that universities will not like you (!!!) unless you're applying to vocational courses such as Medicine. If anything, retaking after you've received disappointing grades shows that you're motivated to do well and universities admire that sort of drive!

2. Apply as a private candidate
This could possibly be a difficult option to do, as it could come out as quite pricey depending on the number of exam papers you'll need to complete. This could be an option if your school doesn't allow you to retake subjects on certain boards (otherwise they won't allow you to re-sit there) but you're adamant to try again.

3. Retake individual modules
Of course, if you've achieved a U in all modules, then I don't think this is an option because you might as well retake the whole year.

4. Retake your subjects at a different sixth form/sixth form college
This is a great alternative for if your school won't allow you to retake a whole year/resit certain subjects at another school.

5. Take 3 AS subjects at your school, and a subject of your choice at a college (part-time)
This is a part alternative to those who want to stay at their shcool in fear that there will be no places elsewhere, and want to carry on a subject that they won't be allowed to do if they stayed. However, it may be a possibility that the three AS subjects you take at your sixth form will need to be different from the ones you didn't do too well in.

I hope this helped you in some sort of way, feel free to PM, quote or reply to me if you'd like an expansion or have any other questions you'd like to ask!

thecatwithnohat

wow! Thank you so much for this, honestly! Luckily my school usually let people retake the same subjects again, I do have an interview with the school in september to talk through this, however i have already emailed my teachers and they believe it would be fine to retake the whole year, as one of my classmates did (she was in the same position as me, did well all year, failed exams) and i do believe this would be the best option for me considering where i want to go.

just to be sure, pharmacology isnt considered a vocational course is it? ive never heard it been called that before.

may I ask how you found your retake year compared to your first year?

Hmm...well Pharmacology is a less specifically vocational degree, so I doubt retaking should have that much of an effect on your application.

My school was a bit iffy about retakes: they only allowed internal students to retake whereas they told the external ones to leave (lucky I was an internal! ). The headteacher usually asks you to get a signature off the teacher's you want to retake/start afresh with to check whether they're happy with you being in their class.

Last year I achieved ACCU in French, English Literature, Psychology and Biology respectively and I was honestly gutted. I kept my A in French and took on 3 subjects this year : ICT, Sociology and English Literature which I got ABB in respectively. I'm so glad I retook despite being scared about what people thought about me, being stuck with 17 year olds blah blah...if you have the opportunity to retake, take it! But only retake if you're certain that you're going to work very hard.

Have you heard the recent new regarding OCR estimating a large number of grades? do you think it might be worth a remark? whatever you decide to do, i wish you the best of luck!

Im with AQA for chem and maths, edexcel for bio. Ive asked to get photocopies of my papers because these grades are so far from my predicted and how i felt i have been performing throughout the year. I did feel especially stressed this year but still, i cant understand how i did so badly

Yeah I'm getting my Chemistry and Philosophy (and history) remarked. Same it's ridiculous I knew I hadn't gotten my predicted grades but I didn't think I'd be this far off :'( Don't worry I'm sure everything will work out for you though, good luck!! I'm going to see my head of sixth form tomorrow to see what he says- uh oh.

Good luck! I hope they make an exception for you and let you retake, considering what you got is rather different than your predicted grades.

What did you want to take at university, is it possible to take other subjects as still get on the course?

I wanted to do Biomedical Science but that is COMPLETELY OUT OF THE WINDOW, How about you?

pharmacology.

is it completely against the school policy to let you retake the same subjects? are there other sixth forms in your area which could take you in to do the same subjects?

Well the people who were in my classes this year who should have been in year 13 were all allowed to take one of their original options then had to change to take easier stuff. I really don't know what to do and I have no support from my parents as they're too annoyed/disappointed.
What are you thinking of doing now?

Just received shocking AS results

Chemistry-E
Maths-C
Biology-E
Spanish-D

This is so different to what I'm predicted (BAAC respectively) and how I thought I did. Ive emailed teachers for advice and to order my papers back.

Is it really that bad to retake the whole year? The problem is that as I come from a large school, they've said that it might be a possibility that there will not be enough spaces on the courses after GCSE results are announced.
The other option (although more unlikely considering the E's) is to retake individual exams, even so, I still can't apply for the uni that i want because the retake is after we apply to universities, right?

Im still so shocked, throughout the whole year i was getting my predicted grades at least on past papers and my mocks were fine.
I knew my real exams didnt go as smoothly as i wanted but still i didnt expect it to be this bad.

I was hoping to take pharmacology at university and my first choice would have been Bristol (AAB)

My head feels so muddled.

Im really sorry that your parents are giving you a hard time, mine arent exactly over the moon either. but i guess we can give each other a bit of support, huh? Look above in the thread, someone replied to me with detailed options of what to do now, if that helps you.

Ive got an appointment with some coordination officer at my school in september, so ill know then whether or not i can retake the same subjects again. Hopefully they will because my performance during the whole year does not reflect in my final grade at all!

for all your uni courses that you were looking at, did all of them require 2 sciences? did any of them allow negotiation if you only have 1 science?