Physics at university? Bad AS grades.

Hi, I want to study physics / theoretical physics at university and need some advice.

So I have recently finished year 12 and took a levels in maths, physics, biology and music (it was compulsory to take 4 subjects in year 12 at my school). I was predicted A,A,B+ in my AS levels in physics, biology and maths respectively and achieved 3 As in my mocks in January (I didn’t sit an AS/ proper mock exam in music as it’s a 2 year course however I was planning on dropping music, leaving me with nothing and continuing with the other 3). However on results day I received BCD in biology, physics and maths respectively.

I have attended a few university open days however all the universities I have look at have required 3 As or higher (I attended these in June/July so had not yet received my results).Now I am not sure what to do as I don’t think my predictions will be high enough for these universities.

I know what I need to do to improve my grades and what topics I need to focus on but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for universities to consider with my current grades? I would ideally like to do a course with a placement year (but am open to other suggestions). Also what options do I have if my predictions are to low but then I go on to achieve the grades I need for these universities (as these would be my preferred universities)? Would I have to take a gap year (as I don’t really want to)?

Also are predicted grades base on you work throughout the year (mocks, class assessments, etc) or will they be based on AS? How much do AS matter when it comes to university applications?

Also in my gcses I got A* 9998777766 (with the 9s in maths, physics and biology ) if this makes any difference.

Sorry for the long post and any advice is greatly appreciated.

Reply 1

Sophiej123

Don’t worry too much about AS results and try even harder next year is the best advice I can give. For my AS results I had a C,D and E (yikes I know), but the following year I dropped the subject I had an E in (geography) as I hated it anyway and that meant I had more time to focus on the other two (psychology and sociology) and I ended up having A’s in both second year exams! Which meant I came out with two C’s overall and an A for the Welsh Baccalaureate (mandatory in college in Wales) and I’ve now just graduated from uni with a 2:1 degree in Education! Just keep trying and see how much you can get your grades up when you really focus. It might also be good to look at uni’s that require slightly slower grades to get in just in case :smile:

But either way, when applying for uni they don’t even look at your grades, they look at UCAS points (so every A is maybe worth 80 points etc, B is worth 60) and then your overall amount of points tells you what uni’s you can apply for. Hope this helps :smile: