I feel like such an academic failure! :(

You may have read that I got 4 Us today and am quite deflated. Although I have decided what to do. I will do a Btech in Engineering, while applying to Engineering apprenticeships. I had received an interview a bit ago (although was not able to attend). I think if I convince them that the cause of my downfall was me focusing too much on Chemistry which I was failing rather than the other subjects which I was not, then I can engineer (lol) my way out of the pickle I am well within.

Although, this doesn't get rid of the fact that I very ignominiously failed EVERYTHING. I have academic interests, I am interested in aspects of history, I read books which most people would consider to heavy going for pleasure and for the sake of knowledge. I speak German I learn an instrument, I love music and art and yet I wont be able to talk about this most important of my academic career without shame. My question is: should I redo my A levels (2 at a time maybe) to escape the ignominy and show that I was just too lazy rather than too thick

Would you self-teach or attend a day/night college course?

Day college I suppose, I don't know what a Btech is but I doubt it would be possible to self teach by the sounds of it. I only ever learnt through home study anyway, so I was thinking about repeating two A levels privately as well

Sounds good . Make sure you are up with the changes to the A-level system, and book yourself as a Private Candidate for things like practicals if you need to re-do any of them

That's somewhat the problem, I have to go in to the 6th form literally now and make a walk of shame to the head of 6th form's office and ask here if it would be possible for me to register as a private candidate. She may well ask for what I have as a plan for the Biology coursework and I don't have one as such, I'll say I could pay to do it there or else where and await the reply (hope it won't be too expensive as I'll be paying for it). I don't know if they'd let me do the new spec, which might be better??????????

I'll report back, wish me luck

How did you get 4 U grades though? Were there not any clear indicators before hand (when you did your mocks and past papers) that maybe your revision technique wasn't working, you picked the wrong subjects or didn't revise as much as you needed to? Just asking because it is more important to know why you got the grades you did so you can avoid this happening in the future but whatever happens I wish good luck to you. So long as you continue to work hard even if you don't succeed academically you will find other ways to achieve your goals provided you put the effort in, in my opinion

Have you considered redoing but with different a levels? I'm not sure what you've done but it sounds like you should do history, German and art. Maybe forget a 4th subject and focus on those three?

Your A-level results don't define you and how well you did at a couple of exams that test an extremely narrow set of skills isn't a true indicator of intelligence. Anyone with any common sense knows this, so have more confidence in yourself.

Good luck!

I spoke to Mr.Thorne who was my Bio teacher (and favourite) and he said that it would be possible for me to register as a private candidate and do the exams in the hall like an odd ball when the time comes. About coursework he said I could probably do it at the college I'd go to for the Engineering Btech and he said that looking for apprenticeships meanwhile was a very good idea, so it's fine I suppose, there is still the ignominy of failure but I'll just have to think of some good excuses for that.. meh

I'd do Bio, History and (undecided) English Lit (though that might be a pain in the behind for coursework)

English lit is lovely, I still kind of wish I did it. Plus coursework has its pros, you can kind of estimate your final grade based on what you get in it. However are you sure you wouldn't do German? It'd be easy for you to get a great grade in it as you already know it well?

The coursework would only be a problem for the invigilation (and the cost obvs). All down to the cost for me as a private candidate. If I do the Btech in Engineering (until I get an apprenticeship) then I'll repeat two ASs and can do the Bio coursework there no problem as its a science and engineering college

Right I see. You can always see how much it all costs and decide whether you'd want to go for it

Why the picture by the way? Are you too tall for your camera tripod?

You are very beautiful by the way. Have you ever considered wearing a dirndl?

Oh my god
No just didn't want my face on here but no I have not, don't tend to parade in traditional Bavarian clothes