Help! Need reassurance about A-level grades lol

Hi,
this is kind of a negative first thread but ah well, I need some comments anyway.... ok so I got 4 not so great AS's. I got a B in Law, a C in Spanish which I'm resitting in a module for, I got an E in psychology :frown:

which I'm also doing one resit for and I thought I got an E in Italian although I have just been told that the exam board cocked the result up by missing out a unit and I actually got one mark off a C. Shame I didn't know before I decided to drop it cos I got such a low mark in it!
Anyway, I have been given my dream offer to do Modern Languages (Spanish and German) at Salford Uni but they want BBC. I'm just panicking about having to pull myself up. I shouldn't even be on here now, I should be having an early night cos my Law exam is in the morning. Will someone please offer some helpful comments or advice. It's not my actual knowledge of the subject that lets me down but my essay techniques. I can't time myself and I end up rambling on, like I'm doing now. Sorry for the long post! :redface:

Reply 1

SuperSam_Fantastiche

Just relax, the more you bring your AS grades up the easier it will be to get the overall grade.

In the event of a balls up, you can still resit in June...

Reply 2

kinglrb

Am very sorry to hear that, My advice to you is don't give up! Keep the hope up, concentrate on this year forget everything else and think about getting the best grades you can from now and then worry about other things afterwards. It isn't the end of the world there is always a chance. As for exam technique, do some past papers and notice the words they want or what the mark you for e.g application, content, evaluating etc. and learn what you need to do to get the mark. Keep the hope alive! I wish you the best of luck!

Reply 3

Absinth

Try your best. Often we know a lot more than we think. Sometimes grades can disappoint us, but at least you have the chance to improve them this year. You know that you have to work on your essay technique so now you have something to focus on, which is better than not knowing how you can improve! Another thing which often works with me is a positive and confident attitude before you enter your exam. This shows confidence in your essays, and I always find that this method helps me to write better essays (providing the necessary revision has been done). Hope you do well. :smile:

Reply 4

Greenmile

You can resit in the summer if your Jan exams don't go well. But start thinking about it now. It is easy enough to pull your grades up if you put the effort in. I am not kidding when I say this - but start revising in February. Not loads, do an hour a day, but by the time you come round to the exams you will be glad of it. By going over your notes, just reading them through, you will take in more than you realise. It really doesn't have to impinge too much on your life until a few weeks before. I would start revising seriously about 6 weeks before your exams - and a bare minimum of 4 weeks before. But how badly you want those grades should ultimately decide how much effort you put in. Good luck - and let your dream offer motivate you!

Reply 5

Chowder

I've a few classmates who were in the same boat as you back when they first received their AS results. But when they started panicking, the fear induced a great lot of motivation into them - they started working really, really hard. So hard that the teachers actually raised their predicted A Level grades. Now, one of them has offers from Durham and LSE, and has a whole new fear that he's not going to make the grades for the offers. My advice to you is the same as the advice I gave to him: if you really want something, work 110% for it. Thank God for the chance to do re-sits in June, and take these precious few months left as 'catch-up time' by studying, studying, studying. Of course, you have to relax at times, but don't get yourself carried away with the relaxing and chilling and forgetting about your studies (believe me, I know it's easier said than done, but it's got to be done). If you have really worked hard and still don't make the grades in the end, you still have the opportunity to call the university and ask to see if they can still let you in, providing that you give them a very good reason as to why you really, really want to get into that chosen institution. Most of the time, if you're a good enough negotiator, it works; at least that was what one of the Admissions Officers from Warwick said during an introductory talk over here in Hong Kong. And of course - there's still UCAS Clearing. Whoever came up with that deserves a real big hug. :p:

Good luck! :smile:

Reply 6

No.666

All you can do is your best.

PS. My law exam is later aswell.

Reply 7

*pitseleh*

Get hold of some mark schemes, if at all possible. I never bothered doing past papers for essay-based subjects, but I know that for science and maths exams, you can obtain past papers and copies of the mark schemes for those exams, so you may be able to get something similar for your subjects? It might help you determine what they're looking for, from your essays - and perhaps you might be able to refine your essay technique, if you have a better idea of what you should be concentrating on? Just a thought.

Good luck! :smile:

Reply 8

Tommy The Cat

Hey Jess, you seriously shouldn't be worrying! Yes, you have quite a bit of work to do to sort it out but don't panic. I think it's quite common for people to go into AS level following GCSE and underestimate the increase in need for hard work, you are definitely not alone. For AS i originally had C,C,D,D,E in General Studies, Religious Studies, Business Studies, Music and ICT. I continued General Studies, Religious Studies, Business Studies and ICT to A2 and came out with B,B,B,D in the end. I know these are not amazing results but I am a very average student, usually known for doing the minimum amount of work to get by. You have the ability, otherwise you would not be doing A levels, and you clearly care enough to sort it out, judging by what you have written. With as much hard work as you can manage there is no reason why you can't do very well in your A levels. Just keep reminding yourself of that uni place you want so badly... that should keep you motivated! Tommy

Reply 9

plopSDCSDC

Well, coming on to TSR in desperate measures for reassurance hows that you really do care about your studies and your A-levels. Personally, i believe that its people like you who have your kind of boost determination from unsatisfactory results, who want to try harder, want to redeem themselves and making sure that you get the grades you deserve to the best of your capability.

I felt really similiar when i was doing History past papers before the January exams. I've been getting D D E grades in them, which was of course, really demoralising, but made me feel angry. But if you change this to an strong incentive to make you want to work x 10 as hard. Put blood and sweat in to working hard ... and you never know, you may surprise yourself with a couple of As in August :smile:

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Finally, Best of luck for your exams, and for Law tomorrow. You can do it, and we're all in the same boat, so don't worry! :p:

Reply 10

xJessx

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the great comments, it's good to know other people have been in the same boat and pulled themselves up, I'm jumping between tsr and revising like :eek: