Do people with bad gcse results end up doing bad at a-level automatically

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Title . Just something i thought i put out there , if you did bad/not as good as others or as expected in gcse's does that mean you're more or less destined to do bad in a-level despite putting in an immense amount of effort in every way , i only got B's in my science at gcses and my tutor (who is a chem teacher) said i was gonna fail , even though she has no idea what i'm capable of ,someone help :frown:

Original post by Chris Skube

No. People do well at GCSE and badly at A-level and vice-versa.

Original post by Anonymous

really?

Absolutely.

Reply 41

KatheO11

Original post by mikeeyy99

There is a large correlation between people who do bad in GCSE and dont do great at A level too. However that doesnt mean that because they messed up GCSE, theyll fail at a level too. The reason for the correlation is obvious (people who do bad at GCSE are less intelligent, do less studying etc etc)

Dont let yourself go with the normal trend though. Easy to fix really.

I can understand where you view the correlation. One of the flaws with that is GCSES are not an accurate measurement of intelligence. Everything is spoon fed and it’s generally remembering the information given. A-levels, I would say it slightly more accurate, because although you choose your subjects, it shows how much you really learn about it, to make receive the best grades possible. Everyone has a different career in life, but if you want to aspire to be something , laziness will not stop you and also, you may be intelligent but laziness got the better of you.
I’ll give an example: I am in Year 12, I know a girl ( I don’t like her) but she is in all of my classes, and she is likely to do chemical engineering or engineering of the sort. She did well in her GCSES, but she isn’t intelligent. I’ll explain why; she is the youngest in her family and all her sisters currently study chemical engineering and did the same GCSES as her, as well as A-levels. One of her sisters just left, to go to Imperial (unconditional offer) but I would say her sister is more intelligent than her because of the way she sees things and doesn’t allow herself to be spoon fed. If her sisters do all the same A-levels as her, she’ll find the transition easier because her sister will have the notes and so she doesn’t have to do as much research. I also think that wants to follow her sisters because she wants to finally stand out for something. I’m sorry but she is a one trick pony; if she goes out of her area, she struggles.my point is that Intelligence can not be determined by grades, but it does estimate how hard you work. A person who does well in school may not be smart but it shows perseverance does pay off. But, laziness at A-levels does not get you anywhere because if you are going to university, grades is what they look at (A-levels in particular) even though, I don’t believe that grades measure intellect, it would be foolish to say that ‘ I’m intelligent but I’m failing my subjects but a top competitive school will definitely take me.’

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 42

rebekah150

Original post by Anonymous

No! I've seen quite a few people who didn't do too well at gcses and then do amazing at a level. And even more often Ive seen people who did outstanding at gcses and then flunk a levels as they thought it would be easy. One thing is a levels aren't easy, but they're not impossible, and they're completely different to gcses so don't stress over your past results; focus on what you can do now to achieve what you want at a-level :smile:

Reply 43

Anonymous #3

Well you can’t get into a level with crappy GCSEs for a reason

Reply 44

Keira_D

i got U's, G's and F' in gcse. then went to college and got an A in maths a year later and a grade equivalent to 3 A levels in IT. But my attendance in school was like 60% because i would skip it. so that prolly didnt help my school grades

Reply 45

XKH1300

No! GCSE’s and A-Levels are on completely different levels. I remember at the beginning of my English Literature course in year 12 and my teacher gave us our first essay and said ‘don’t be surprised if you thought you were good at English and end up with a low grade’... Basically happens for every subject. There’s just so much content and independent study at A Level that you can’t really compare the two. For example, i got A*AA in triple science at GCSE and was consistently getting U’s THROUGHOUT the year in my AS biology mocks... In year 13 now and i can say is that it depends on your attitude and how well you want to do. You’ve probably heard it a lot but if you really want to do well, start revising early! Of course your GCSE’s get you into A-Levels in the first place but other than that, it’s a fresh new start. Hope this helped x