The Student Room Group

Autumn Resits

I am soon to start a gap year and so will be applying to uni in October. If I am resitting a subject in the autumn resits to get a better grade and do actually get a better grade in December , how is that going to be relayed to lets say Cambridge or Imperial if I have already sent my application off with my earlier A level grades on it?
No one is sure and many people are in the same position as you and asking the same questions. I would assume that you would apply as if you were a year 12, with new predicted grades and then your a-levels as pending. Any offer you get would be conditional.

I’m starting to think we should make an autumn exam series mega thread so people have been posting about it so much lately, especially oxbridge people and medicine/dentistry/veterinary people.
Reply 2
Original post by Anonymous17!
No one is sure and many people are in the same position as you and asking the same questions. I would assume that you would apply as if you were a year 12, with new predicted grades and then your a-levels as pending. Any offer you get would be conditional.

I’m starting to think we should make an autumn exam series mega thread so people have been posting about it so much lately, especially oxbridge people and medicine/dentistry/veterinary people.

Yh definitely because I have no clue what's gonna happen and I am just hoping I don't have to resit.
Original post by avacados1
Yh definitely because I have no clue what's gonna happen and I am just hoping I don't have to resit.

The majority of universities are considering autumn exams first sittings so technically you wouldn’t be resitting anything. Yes, taking the exam would be a pain in the ass but they are, by most accounts, not resists.
Original post by avacados1
I am soon to start a gap year and so will be applying to uni in October. If I am resitting a subject in the autumn resits to get a better grade and do actually get a better grade in December , how is that going to be relayed to lets say Cambridge or Imperial if I have already sent my application off with my earlier A level grades on it?

You would be applying to uni with predicted grades for your Autumn resits and they would make you an offer conditional upon you achieving those grades. So if your school reference predicted that you would achieve AAA in the resits for example, you could get offers of AAA that would turn unconditional after the Unis receive your exam results. That would be done automatically like it is in a normal cycle
Original post by harrysbar
You would be applying to uni with predicted grades for your Autumn resits and they would make you an offer conditional upon you achieving those grades. So if your school reference predicted that you would achieve AAA in the resits for example, you could get offers of AAA that would turn unconditional after the Unis receive your exam results. That would be done automatically like it is in a normal cycle

This is what most people have been saying and it does make sense, but others have said that when applying to uni you need to declare your August results. I don’t know where they have gotten that information from or who has told them that, but there is uncertainty. Technically, after you’ve sat exams in autumn you can get a new certificate and replace your August grade, but in the meantime what we’re getting on Thursday is an actual recognised grade and a certificate etc. Although autumn exams are first sittings and those results will trump these ones in august, people are saying that you need to declare what you got in August and also get new predicted grades and then also take exams. That seems excessive to me but I am confused as I believe a fresh application with just predicted and pending grades makes more sense than declaring August results, especially since the whole purpose of autumn exams is to eliminate and replace August results
Original post by Anonymous17!
This is what most people have been saying and it does make sense, but others have said that when applying to uni you need to declare your August results. I don’t know where they have gotten that information from or who has told them that, but there is uncertainty. Technically, after you’ve sat exams in autumn you can get a new certificate and replace your August grade, but in the meantime what we’re getting on Thursday is an actual recognised grade and a certificate etc. Although autumn exams are first sittings and those results will trump these ones in august, people are saying that you need to declare what you got in August and also get new predicted grades and then also take exams. That seems excessive to me but I am confused as I believe a fresh application with just predicted and pending grades makes more sense than declaring August results, especially since the whole purpose of autumn exams is to eliminate and replace August results


You need to declare your August results and put down that you are taking the October "resits" - results pending. Your school/college should provide predicted grades for these "resits" and that is what the unis will use to determine whether you meet their grade requirements. So if you are predicted AAA and they want AAA, they are likely to make you an AAA conditional offer (assuming other parts of your application are good) regardless of the fact that you may have been given AAB, ABB or whatever in August.
Fundamentally, you have to declare all exam grades so that is unlikely to change. If you are doing the autumn exams then the predicted grades should be based on those and you can also mention that you are sitting them in your personal statement. If you are interested in Cambridge I would post the question on the Cambridge board on here as there are people from Cambridge admissions who are very helpful - but bare in mind they will be very busy for the next few days or so.
Original post by harrysbar
You need to declare your August results and put down that you are taking the October "resits" - results pending. Your school/college should provide predicted grades for these "resits" and that is what the unis will use to determine whether you meet their grade requirements. So if you are predicted AAA and they want AAA, they are likely to make you an AAA conditional offer (assuming other parts of your application are good) regardless of the fact that you may have been given AAB, ABB or whatever in August.

Does this hold up for the future too? I plan on applying next October instead of this October so I can take exams first and get the grades, so if I applied to uni in 2021 or 2022 or 2025 etc, would I still need to declare what I got in both? What would be the point then if the October results take priority over the August one did you choose to take them? Especially because October results are not resit results, so why would you need to declare in future years? (I understand needing to declare this year I guess but for people applying after they’ve got their October results? Doesn’t make sense to me)
October don't take priority - the best results do. If you get a B this week then take the exam in October and get a C then the B stands.
Original post by ReadingMum
October don't take priority - the best results do. If you get a B this week then take the exam in October and get a C then the B stands.

I know that, I guess I should have worded it differently but I know the higher grade takes priority but if you get ABB in August and keep the A and then take the other subjects and get AA, you would have AAA. You would get a new certificate replacing the August ones, and you can keep the A you got in August originally. So why do you have to declare all your results instead of just the ones that count?
Original post by Anonymous17!
Does this hold up for the future too? I plan on applying next October instead of this October so I can take exams first and get the grades, so if I applied to uni in 2021 or 2022 or 2025 etc, would I still need to declare what I got in both? What would be the point then if the October results take priority over the August one did you choose to take them? Especially because October results are not resit results, so why would you need to declare in future years? (I understand needing to declare this year I guess but for people applying after they’ve got their October results? Doesn’t make sense to me)

Your question is confusing me because you are talking about hypothetical situations and the person I replied to @avacados1 was asking a specific question relating to the situation arising with October resits due to coronavirus. The unis want to know all the exams results people have but understand that this is an exceptional year hence October "resits" not being counted as real resits like they normally would be. Students this year are being given the opportunity to take exams in October because they didn't get the chance to do so in June, but that is not a normal situation so why are you asking about 2025???

If you want to ask a different question to the OP I think you should start your own thread.
Original post by Anonymous17!
So why do you have to declare all your results instead of just the ones that count?

The same reason unis want to see all the results you have taken including GCSEs in non relevant subjects - they don't "count" as far as unis making you an offer is concerned but they still want to see academic transparency.
Original post by harrysbar
Your question is confusing me because you are talking about hypothetical situations and the person I replied to @avacados1 was asking a specific question relating to the situation arising with October resits due to coronavirus. The unis want to know all the exams results people have but understand that this is an exceptional year hence October "resits" not being counted as real resits like they normally would be. Students this year are being given the opportunity to take exams in October because they didn't get the chance to do so in June, but that is not a normal situation so why are you asking about 2025???

If you want to ask a different question to the OP I think you should start your own thread.


Ok, I’m sorry. Thanks
Original post by Anonymous17!
Ok, I’m sorry. Thanks

No problem, I just didn't want the thread to stray too far off topic from OPs original question.

You are welcome to start another thread or pm me if you want to discuss it further :smile:
Reply 15
Original post by harrysbar
You need to declare your August results and put down that you are taking the October "resits" - results pending. Your school/college should provide predicted grades for these "resits" and that is what the unis will use to determine whether you meet their grade requirements. So if you are predicted AAA and they want AAA, they are likely to make you an AAA conditional offer (assuming other parts of your application are good) regardless of the fact that you may have been given AAB, ABB or whatever in August.

Right that makes sense, thanks a lot.
I want to resit math as I got a B in my AS grades, but I feel hard done by because I really believe I could’ve gotten an A. I really want an A at minimum at the end of A2 in order to get into high end Unis. My As grades were as follows
Economics - A
Chemistry - A
Mathematics - B
Physics - B (dropping)
Do you think I should resit math, or is it still possible to get an A/A* at the end of A2. Please advise.
Original post by Gutted1010
I want to resit math as I got a B in my AS grades, but I feel hard done by because I really believe I could’ve gotten an A. I really want an A at minimum at the end of A2 in order to get into high end Unis. My As grades were as follows
Economics - A
Chemistry - A
Mathematics - B
Physics - B (dropping)
Do you think I should resit math, or is it still possible to get an A/A* at the end of A2. Please advise.

If you really believe you could have got an A I would resit the AS in October rather than feel hard done by

Quick Reply