The Student Room Group

retaking gcse's in gap year

hi, I have another thread going on, and basically my gcse's don't meet the minimum requirements for most med schools (1 A 4 B's and 4 C's a C in maths.

as time goes on, i begin to resent more and more my gcse grades, especially geography and maths, since geo was meant to be an easy A but i got a C instead becuase i messed up in the last section of the paper.
and for maths, it was going really well during year 10 (maths was always a subject i struggled on, but through secondary i started to understand it more and more with practise) in mocks leading up to the exams i was getting A's and B's, but i sat it in 2015 and got a C :/

for other reasons, im taking a gap year, but im wondering if retaking gcse's is
a) acceptable in the eyes of med school
b) wont make my gap year a gap year (i read somewhere doing a qualification during a gap year makes it an educational year instead)

thanks :smile:
You have to pay to resit them and you might have to learn the content by yourself. But if you want to do it go for it
Original post by Volibear
I don't know about the second question but to answer your first question, some universities accept resits, others don't. You can find pages telling you where each university stands (if the information isn't on their websites). However, I don't know if there will be a difference between resitting them after secondary school, and resitting them now.


okay thank you, i'll just email them, and post my findings for future reference to anyone else with similar queries :smile:
so i did some research, sent a few emails and this is what i have to feedback-

Keele: only accept resits of A Levels once they have obtained the grades. So if you're sitting your A2 exams in 2018, you'll have to apply for 2019 entry. They require the B in GCSE maths, but may waiver based on the admissions officers discretion if your application is stellar.

Bristol: doesnt provide much information, but GCSE maths is required at an A. You can only resit any subject once.

BSMS: Doesnt mind if you retake the GCSE during your gap year or alongside your A Levels.

Exeter: accepts resits without discrimination.

these are the four uni's im looking to apply to for 2019 entry after my gap year. I'm going to resit GCSE maths this year, as its free in my college.

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