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Do retakes have any impact on university admission?

Hi!

I just wonder whether anyone know if the universities "devalue" your Diploma score if you do retakes? Are the universities allowed to see that the candidate has done a retake in a particular subject?

Thanks,

Johan

Reply 1

Svefngenglar

Retakes are a disadvantage for applicants to competitive courses, such as medicine. In fact, many universities do not accept retake students. I am not sure how this works for other courses.

Reply 2

TI-84

@ Svefngenglar

7 in HL math.

:eek:

Reply 3

nota bene

The universities will see that it in the application (as you'll have to submit the grades you currently have with the application - and state that you are retaking, unless you have retaken the subjects (and got results) before submitting the application, in which case I'm not sure if they see that you have done retakes or not). Different universities and for different courses it will be looked at differently, and if you have any special circumstances concerning why you have to retake that will also affect it. You will never be advantaged of a retake ( :p:

), but you may be disadvantaged. Try to check the university website in question etc. to get an idea of how it is before applying.

Reply 4

toothwort white

If you have any extenuating circumstances that have affected your grades the first time round, then probably not. But otherwise, you can be quite sure your retakes won't be of any advantage to your application. Just ask the unis you're interested in and see if they will 'view you in a different light' because of this. :smile:

As to your second question, I think unis would see that you have retaken exams, even if you applied with the new results (assuming you apply through UCAS, of course).

Reply 5

shinhans31

Well, I don't think unis would underestimate re-take candidates...
I mean, even if they prefer normal candidate to re-take candidate, they won't be able to know whether you are actually re-taking it or not unless if you stated in your PS, recommendation or sth.
Just make sure you pretend to be a normal candidate as not to be disadvantaged :smile:

I'm not telling you to lie to them though :smile:

but just try to be an ordinary candidate who is in the 2nd year of his/her IB course...

Reply 6

Magnum Opus

i doubt they'll consider retakes much different if any. A-Levels students always retake and they won't bias in that sense

Reply 7

TI-84

arisk01

i doubt they'll consider retakes much different if any. A-Levels students always retake and they won't bias in that sense

I might be wrong but.
When A-level students do their retakes this is not shown in the UCAS form. Therefore universities have no way of knowing how many (if any) retakes A-level students have done.
This is not true for IB. If you have done retakes it will come up in the UCAS form.

Reply 8

09kiwigrad

A guy at my school got accepted to Cambridge but did not get the grades in the end. So he retook the subjects that needed bumping up one year later, got the grades and is now at Cambridge. That should answer your question :P

Reply 9

angie45

I think if you have a plausible reason as to why you had to retake, I doubt unis will a lot. Especially if you are just retaking one or two subjects. However, many university prospectuses (i.e. Kings) state that they prefer students to have obtained their grades over the 'standard' period of two years.

Reply 10

johan_89

Oh, there seem to be some diverging opinions:P. The thing is that I suffer from a serious medical condition, which constitutes a big part of my everyday life. During the revision period I was at the hospital several times and many, many days of revision disappeared, probably the reason for the 5 in B&M (didn't have time to practise on the past papers as I'd planned). I'll ask for a remark and hope for the best, I got 59%, so a 6 is probably not too far away (even though I don't know the boundaries).