The Student Room Group

A*: Is it an achievable goal

Hi i wasnt too sure where to put this and it kinda fits in this section.
Anyway at AS level I got these grades.
Economics UMS: 183/200 A
Maths UMS 265/300 A. (B in C1 :frown: will retake)
History UMS 164/200 A (just!)
Chemistry UMS 273/300 A

For A2 i am dropping chemistry because it doesnt fit in woth my uni plans (straight politics or politics and economics or ppe) and I find it tedios compared to the other subjects
A lot of the courses I wish to apply to have an A* as an requirment (eg durham) and I honestely dont know where that will come from.90% is really high! I know i'm on the b/a knifeedge for history despite loving the subject ao it's not coming there. Moreover I know to get 90% over C3 and C4 looks unlikely. (Im good at maths but will never breese through a hard paper/problem. My only shot is economics but its essay based and thus unreliable for A *s.
So my question is: Is it worth applying for courses requiring A*s if i think it is unlikely i will get one?
Also how would one go about getting one. (Eg which subject or module to concentrate on)
Sorry about the waffle :s-smilie:
Certainly worth it. Obviously also apply elsewhere with lower requirements too incase you miss the higher grades, but if you put the work in there's certainly a good chance of getting an A*.
Reply 2
Your AS grades are amazing! I know if you put the hard work in you could get more than one A*.
I got ABBC at AS in Geo, Bio, Maths and Chemistry respectively (I know, bad right?), got my A2 results last week and got A*A*A in bio, geo and chem respectively. For essay based subjects e.g. geo and history make all your notes according to the specification and practice timed essays for me was key! Maths like chemistry takes a lot of practice and understanding. I am sure if you put the work in you could get A*A*A* especially with your fantastic AS results.
As for applying to universities, why not? but always make sure your insurance is lower than your firm offer. I mean you may have regret if on results day you get A*AA etc. are start thinking " I could have got into that uni", if on results day you don't get an A*, you'll have your insurance to fall back on hopefully!!

Good luck! x
Reply 3
Original post by questioningfox
Hi i wasnt too sure where to put this and it kinda fits in this section.
Anyway at AS level I got these grades.
Economics UMS: 183/200 A
Maths UMS 265/300 A. (B in C1 :frown: will retake)
History UMS 164/200 A (just!)
Chemistry UMS 273/300 A

For A2 i am dropping chemistry because it doesnt fit in woth my uni plans (straight politics or politics and economics or ppe) and I find it tedios compared to the other subjects
A lot of the courses I wish to apply to have an A* as an requirment (eg durham) and I honestely dont know where that will come from.90% is really high! I know i'm on the b/a knifeedge for history despite loving the subject ao it's not coming there. Moreover I know to get 90% over C3 and C4 looks unlikely. (Im good at maths but will never breese through a hard paper/problem. My only shot is economics but its essay based and thus unreliable for A *s.
So my question is: Is it worth applying for courses requiring A*s if i think it is unlikely i will get one?
Also how would one go about getting one. (Eg which subject or module to concentrate on)
Sorry about the waffle :s-smilie:


If you're worried about achieving the a* grade apply for a couple courses that offer it and a few that don't. Best outcome is to have an a* offer for your firm and an offer including no a*s for your insurance (this is what I did in order to counter the temperamental nature of a*s). 90% over c3 and c4 really isn't too bad and you may very well find A2 nicer than AS (obviously it is harder, but I mean the difficulty curve won't seem as bad). Plus you have already shown that you are capable of 90% in economics and if you know the way marks are allocated well enough you can quite reliably get a* in an essay-based subject.

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