Hi, I’ve recently just lost a lot of motivation to work hard in school. I finished last year with AAA in end of year mocks and I’ve been predicted A*A*A for A level in history, philosophy, business. [Starting year 13]. Upon receiving these results I was completely satisfied and and thought about applying to Cambridge. In the end I decided not to apply to uni this year but to take a gap year, as although my predicted grades were very good, my GCSE scores are far from high standard and so without any official evidence of success, I figured I’d stand no chance at all.
My GCSEs are as follows:
French 6
Sciences 6,6
History 6
RE 6
English Language 5
English Literature 5
Computer Science 5
Maths 4 (Just resat, hoping, realistically, for a grade 7)
To be honest I was just lazy at the time and didn’t realise their importance
Ive never heard of, or seen, anyone getting into Cambridge with no As never mind A*s at GCSE and I’m really just wondering if it’s too late no matter what I do from now in my life to get a place on any Cambridge course. Which leads me to thought “is it worth really working tirelessly for top A levels if the reward of Cambridge is impossible?”. I’d even consider taking on an extra 2 years of A level to sit a further 4 (Total 7) if thats what it would take to outdo my mediocre GCSEs. I don’t know if that would actually affect anything, however,
even if I managed to somehow pull off 4 A*s (Hypothetically speaking to end up with A*A*A*A*A*A*A which is possible but extremely unlikely). Over the last year I’ve only really realised my potential and what I’ve wasted by not trying earlier. Being as brutally honest as necessary, I’d appreciate if somebody could assess my situation and advise me on realistic chances and what to do next.