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Got my AS level results, Want to Do Medicine. Please Help.

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Reply 40
Avatar for Maz A
Maz A
16
Original post by Hofstad_
Hi everyone,
Gonna try keep this short and quick.
Got my AS level results on Thursday. Biology, Chemistry and Maths - EED.
You may get shocked seeing those grades, so imagine how shocked and depressed I am. I am not someone "Who didn't work hard" or "Didnt take it seriously" blablabla. I worked my socks off, I just don't know how this happened. Now I am here to get some serious advice, not just people commenting things like "forget about medicine it's too competitive" because I know people will be commenting such phrases, let me tell you one thing.. I'm still gonna apply. I just need some expert advice if possible to make it easier for myself as My grades aren't good at all.
Now due to A level reforms, my bio and chem grade don't count. I will be sitting AS and A2 for bio and chem at the end of year 13. But the problem with those two subjects is that even though they dont count, teachers will make predictions based on thise grades, so if I can make my teachers predict me high (they know my abilities etc) than It's not too bad right?
And for maths.. My AS level grade is a D, again if teacher predict me high, I could still have a chance, however uni's will find out about my D and they may find out about my E too.. what Do I do about that?
I booked my UKCAT, what if I smash that? Get extra work experience, and an amazing personal statement? I know uni's want a well-rounded personal that done well in evertyhing including grades, but I dont know what happened...am sure there were some external factors that effected me during my exams but I understand uni's dont accept excuses..
Please only comment if you're confident and know you can make me feel better..
Thanks a lot for reading :smile:

Right here's the thing I achieved 8A* 1A in GCSEs and for my AS I received AABCC (ICT, RS, Maths, Chem & Bio) so yeah pretty awful and rather upsetting. I explained to my chemistry teacher on results day that I have been doing a lot of work in Summer and that I feel I would be in a greater position for upcoming exams next year, she straight up replied saying I should look at other courses including biomedical sciences instead of medicine. For someone to say that is incredibly demotivating I have done a lot of work experience and extra-curricular activities (even going abroad just for work experience). Although, in all honesty I'm taking the 'advice' as a pinch of salt if you really and I mean really want to study medicine nothing should stop you a lot of Universities are not going to look at AS results and if you manage to get the right predicted grades for A2 level then you may very well be able to apply. Effectively you need to convince your teachers; I'm doing a lot of work in the library which I'm planning to carry on throughout the school year. Don't think that you can't apply because there is a chance, nevertheless at the end of the day it does very much depend on the amount of effort you put in.
Original post by candyyfloss
ohh i thought that you could only apply for a foundation year if you qualified to fit their criteria. e.g: you had a household income of less than 35K or somethings

sorry :smile:

or you could always do medicine as a second degree :wink:
i mean biomedical sciences is amazing <3


I'm not too well versed on the different foundation programmes available but I think each place has different eligibility requirements.
Original post by Hofstad_
Hi everyone,
Gonna try keep this short and quick.
Got my AS level results on Thursday. Biology, Chemistry and Maths - EED.
You may get shocked seeing those grades, so imagine how shocked and depressed I am. I am not someone "Who didn't work hard" or "Didnt take it seriously" blablabla. I worked my socks off, I just don't know how this happened. Now I am here to get some serious advice, not just people commenting things like "forget about medicine it's too competitive" because I know people will be commenting such phrases, let me tell you one thing.. I'm still gonna apply. I just need some expert advice if possible to make it easier for myself as My grades aren't good at all.
Now due to A level reforms, my bio and chem grade don't count. I will be sitting AS and A2 for bio and chem at the end of year 13. But the problem with those two subjects is that even though they dont count, teachers will make predictions based on thise grades, so if I can make my teachers predict me high (they know my abilities etc) than It's not too bad right?
And for maths.. My AS level grade is a D, again if teacher predict me high, I could still have a chance, however uni's will find out about my D and they may find out about my E too.. what Do I do about that?
I booked my UKCAT, what if I smash that? Get extra work experience, and an amazing personal statement? I know uni's want a well-rounded personal that done well in evertyhing including grades, but I dont know what happened...am sure there were some external factors that effected me during my exams but I understand uni's dont accept excuses..
Please only comment if you're confident and know you can make me feel better..
Thanks a lot for reading :smile:


Since you seem very realistic I would say continue your A levels and try to apply for a foundation year in Biomedicine if you average your grades. It seems like maybe your revision strategies weren't as great? You have to really focus on your revision technique, the only way you can better your chances of getting good predictions for university is to really learn the content of the exam and really get comfortable with the exam, you want to see where in your exams your weakest at. It is one thing to know the content of the exams but another to understand how the examiners want your answers to be. I was going to say it is not a must for maths (unless the universities you want to apply to specify this) but since you had a higher grade in maths that would be silly to drop. By applying to do biomedicine you can get into graduate medicine after the three years of biomed instead of directly getting into medicine if that makes sense. If you are determined to get into medicine doing biomedicine is your best bet with those grades. I know people who because of low grades have gotten into Foundation year courses in Biomed at institutes like Queen Mary and Middlesex.

Hopefully this will be of some help!
Is it possible to cancel your UKCAT and not lose your money? If so then id recommend it and not applying this year. Unless you have extenuating circumstances there is no way your school will predict you an A in not only one but 2 subjects where you got an E. Focus on getting three As this year and reapply with your achieved grades. Best of luck:smile:
Reply 44
Avatar for 1c8e2
1c8e2
4
Original post by sweetiemelx
Did you re-take all your subjects after you failed? If dont me asking what did you get? or did you a foundation year?


I resat my last 2 maths exams. It was really expensive to do resits as an external candidate i think it cost me £200 to do them two which at 18 is a lot! I ended up with CDE and got on a foundation degree at my local uni. Honestly foundation degrees are really good, im so glad i took a whole year at uni rather than struggle on my own resitting college. They covered a level maths and physics in the first semester and everything clicked from there.
Original post by Hofstad_
Hi everyone,
Gonna try keep this short and quick.
Got my AS level results on Thursday. Biology, Chemistry and Maths - EED.
You may get shocked seeing those grades, so imagine how shocked and depressed I am. I am not someone "Who didn't work hard" or "Didnt take it seriously" blablabla. I worked my socks off, I just don't know how this happened. Now I am here to get some serious advice, not just people commenting things like "forget about medicine it's too competitive" because I know people will be commenting such phrases, let me tell you one thing.. I'm still gonna apply. I just need some expert advice if possible to make it easier for myself as My grades aren't good at all.
Now due to A level reforms, my bio and chem grade don't count. I will be sitting AS and A2 for bio and chem at the end of year 13. But the problem with those two subjects is that even though they dont count, teachers will make predictions based on thise grades, so if I can make my teachers predict me high (they know my abilities etc) than It's not too bad right?
And for maths.. My AS level grade is a D, again if teacher predict me high, I could still have a chance, however uni's will find out about my D and they may find out about my E too.. what Do I do about that?
I booked my UKCAT, what if I smash that? Get extra work experience, and an amazing personal statement? I know uni's want a well-rounded personal that done well in evertyhing including grades, but I dont know what happened...am sure there were some external factors that effected me during my exams but I understand uni's dont accept excuses..
Please only comment if you're confident and know you can make me feel better..
Thanks a lot for reading :smile:

hi dont sress, tell me what your gcse stats are like.
Original post by Hofstad_
Hi everyone,
Gonna try keep this short and quick.
Got my AS level results on Thursday. Biology, Chemistry and Maths - EED.
You may get shocked seeing those grades, so imagine how shocked and depressed I am. I am not someone "Who didn't work hard" or "Didnt take it seriously" blablabla. I worked my socks off, I just don't know how this happened. Now I am here to get some serious advice, not just people commenting things like "forget about medicine it's too competitive" because I know people will be commenting such phrases, let me tell you one thing.. I'm still gonna apply. I just need some expert advice if possible to make it easier for myself as My grades aren't good at all.
Now due to A level reforms, my bio and chem grade don't count. I will be sitting AS and A2 for bio and chem at the end of year 13. But the problem with those two subjects is that even though they dont count, teachers will make predictions based on thise grades, so if I can make my teachers predict me high (they know my abilities etc) than It's not too bad right?
And for maths.. My AS level grade is a D, again if teacher predict me high, I could still have a chance, however uni's will find out about my D and they may find out about my E too.. what Do I do about that?
I booked my UKCAT, what if I smash that? Get extra work experience, and an amazing personal statement? I know uni's want a well-rounded personal that done well in evertyhing including grades, but I dont know what happened...am sure there were some external factors that effected me during my exams but I understand uni's dont accept excuses..
Please only comment if you're confident and know you can make me feel better..
Thanks a lot for reading :smile:


If your AS grades aren't cashed, then you won't have to declare them. Then, if you get AAA predictions from your teachers, you'll be able to apply.

If they have been cashed in, you'll be forced to declare them, they'll see the grades and even if they see your teachers have predicted you AAA, they'll still reject you as your AS grades are far from your predictions.

If the latter is the case, just don't apply this year and focus on getting the best A2 grades you can, then apply the year after. You would still be doing your A Levels over two years, so you'd still be eligible for the all the medical schools (in terms of retakes).
Original post by GradeA*UnderA
If your AS grades aren't cashed, then you won't have to declare them. Then, if you get AAA predictions from your teachers, you'll be able to apply.

If they have been cashed in, you'll be forced to declare them, they'll see the grades and even if they see your teachers have predicted you AAA, they'll still reject you as your AS grades are far from your predictions.


As they are linear, it is certain that the Biology and Chemistry are cashed-in as not doing so isn't possible with the new AS.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 48
Avatar for tomlam
tomlam
15
My mate didn't get into medicine despite having 4 As as A2. He is now doing a gap year.
Original post by Compost
As they are linear, it is certain that the Biology and Chemistry and cashed-in as not doing so isn't possible with the new AS.


Unfortunate. It was a good loophole with old system.
What were your GCSE's like that may help slightly ? I'm in a similar position with a CDE for Chemical Engineering but I started in January for Chemistry which was my E and trying to change my C to a B with remarks as well as my D to a C because they were both one or two marks off but I'm not depending on those either. If you do choose to apply this year get yourself an amazing personal statement and a stellar UKCAT but do not bank too much on uni offers for this year and instead get great results for A2 so you can even call for Adjustments !

Now realistically your teachers won't predict you higher than a B but I assume you have mock exams in January ? Smash those as well. You never know what can happen it sounds fanciful but if you get A* A A in your mocks maybe you can get your school to write to unis. Ask to see your papers so you know where you went wrong it costs money, but if you worked as hard as you could perhaps you focused too much on learning the info and less time trying to get a good exam technique ? Different people have different cases !

Really sometimes bad things happen but it's what you do with yourself after that matters ! Be lucky that this isn't A-Levels itself because it would be even harder then.

Also I recommend you starting either your A2 work right now so by the time you're in class it's more tweaking and fine proofing than anything. Set your targets and make them realistic. Become your teacher's best friend and cut out all distractions in your life ( delete all apps on your phone, because A2 is harder than AS but reflect and see maybe your problem wasn't how much learning but how you were learning that was your issue )

AS Reforms are working more on your side because these don't count at all to your final grades. Imagine if it was the old A Level where that E would count ! Even if you get A-B at A2 it would still have resulted in a C at best.

Keep strong and try and remember anything is possible but bring in even more of your A game. I know someone who pulled all her bad grades to A*s and As.
(edited 7 years ago)
Not necessarily. The terms and conditions from the website are stated; as long as you leave ONE CLEAR DAY before you test date (test on Friday, cancel/reschedule on Wednesday), you can cancel/reschedule without loss of payment ie.full refund. I do understand your concern as the only reason why i'm on your thread is because I got similar results in MY AS levels and have been given the choice A] retake Year12 at another college or B] knuckle down, work hard and hope for better grades, to take a gap year and re-apply. Currently looking at other options. But know that you're most definately not alone, and don't feel you HAVE to take the UKCAT. There are other options :smile:
Reply 52
Avatar for qeyi
qeyi
i'm in the exact same position as you OP, and completely unsure what to do- but considering applying next year
if im completely honest i dont think you stand a chance of entering, i know you dont want to hear it being said but its the truth. A lot of applicants cant even make it with AAA. Id suggest you dont apply this year and just focus on getting atleast AAA for A2. Dont book a UKCAT exam this year, will be a waste of money. Use the gap year for work experience and volunteering.
Im going to apply with grades AAB (predicted: A*AA), and i honestly think i will still get rejected even with those grades. Medicine is one of if not THE most competitive course.
Resign yourself to having a gap year, forget everything except working for your A levels. It takes up a lot of time writing your PS doing the BMAT posting on here to see who has interviews, preparing for interviews if you get them ect.
If you work hard you can get 3 As. I would get your As papers back to see where you slipped up. It may even be there is some error in the marking.

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