Extenuating circumstances

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Hello, I wanted to ask if this is counted as an extenuating circumstance. So in GCSE I was transferred from a state school in year 8 to a private one that was fairly new. When I went there I realised everyone was so behind on the syllabus and over the next few years in that school they taught us nothing, teachers kept getting changed and we didnt even get onto learning year 10 and 11 work.

Then covid hit peak year 9/10 and we were "taught" online but when we came back when schools were opened again, the school told us to sit our maths and science exams. I was so confused cos we were only in year 10 and hadnt done ANY year 10 and 11 content but nonetheless they forced us to sit the exams . Because of covid the rules for exams were lenient and people had teacher assessed grades. Our school took advantage of that and forced us to sit those exams not even properly. We were given the exams before, we memorised their working out and then were given the same question paper but in timed conditions and copied out the answers we remembered. We even sat our science exams as open book and when we gave the exams in, the teachers brought us one by one to their offices and told us to fil in some blank answers.Obviously i got good grades in science and maths because they made us cheat.

Then in year 11 didn't listen to them and revised my heart out for my remaining subjects and sat proper exams with and invigilator and i got 9s in those subjects which i feel i defo worked hard for no thanks to my teachers.

So when i told my tutor this in college at the end of year 12 i told her that was the reason my performance and grades were so low, it was because of this but I had been revising gcse content too so that's why near the end of the year i began to get As but it was too late because there wasn't enough evidence to predict me As for medicine. So they are letting me resit year 12 and 13. Will unis accept this as an extenuating circumstance?

Hello, I wanted to ask if this is counted as an extenuating circumstance. So in GCSE I was transferred from a state school in year 8 to a private one that was fairly new. When I went there I realised everyone was so behind on the syllabus and over the next few years in that school they taught us nothing, teachers kept getting changed and we didnt even get onto learning year 10 and 11 work.

Then covid hit peak year 9/10 and we were "taught" online but when we came back when schools were opened again, the school told us to sit our maths and science exams. I was so confused cos we were only in year 10 and hadnt done ANY year 10 and 11 content but nonetheless they forced us to sit the exams . Because of covid the rules for exams were lenient and people had teacher assessed grades. Our school took advantage of that and forced us to sit those exams not even properly. We were given the exams before, we memorised their working out and then were given the same question paper but in timed conditions and copied out the answers we remembered. We even sat our science exams as open book and when we gave the exams in, the teachers brought us one by one to their offices and told us to fil in some blank answers.Obviously i got good grades in science and maths because they made us cheat.

Then in year 11 didn't listen to them and revised my heart out for my remaining subjects and sat proper exams with and invigilator and i got 9s in those subjects which i feel i defo worked hard for no thanks to my teachers.

So when i told my tutor this in college at the end of year 12 i told her that was the reason my performance and grades were so low, it was because of this but I had been revising gcse content too so that's why near the end of the year i began to get As but it was too late because there wasn't enough evidence to predict me As for medicine. So they are letting me resit year 12 and 13. Will unis accept this as an extenuating circumstance?

This is not an extenuating circumstance - you have inflated Year 10 GCSE grades at a Private school. What grades were you working at in Year 12 and why is resitting the only option? You could apply with actual grades ...

I was getting cs and ds. resitting is the only option because even if i try to going to year 13 i wont understand the content.

Generally extenuating circumstances are something you apply to the exam board for, and then unis will accept the exam board's decision. What you describe doesn't really sound to be related to that process as much of it is wider contextual issues and not specific circumstances that are of short duration, out of your control, and that affect your performance in a specific assessment.

What you describe may be considered by universities in terms of any contextual admissions or widening participation flags they use, but these vary between unis in what they consider and how they use them. Medicine tends to be pretty transparent in how this works so you can just look on the relevant uni's websites for further details - usually you need more than one contextual flag though, so something like a combination of two or more of disrupted education (with evidence), POLAR quintile, eligibility for free school meals, being care experienced etc.

It's not really clear what you are applying for extenuating circumstances for either, as you've alluded to being in year 12 and now are resitting it, but mostly talk about year 8 and 9 and GCSEs. It's not clear why you're planning to "resit" year 12 either. So overall it's hard to speak in more than general terms. I would generally suggest, if you are taking the correct subjects already in 6th form, that you just continue with them - as medical schools do have issues with students taking the same subjects over more than two years.

As even if you aren't predicted the suitable grades to apply to medicine next year, if you believe you can achieve the grades in any event, you can just take the exams, get the grades, and apply in a gap year. Which would be the same year you would apply in if you "restart" in year 12 in the coming academic year anyway - and you wouldn't potentially rule out half of the medical schools you might otherwise choose from due to taking your A-levels over three years rather than two (since I'm not really sure what you describe would be a suitable rationale for it since I can't even make sense of the link between your disrupted education in year 8 and 9 and your 6th form studies, especially if you got top marks in GCSEs in those subjects).

You have two months to look at the content again ... I can't understand how you have got so far behind. Did you do no prep work before Year 12?

I did, well i tried to but it made no sense to me as i literally had no knowledge from gcses. my tutor said it is a viable reason but idk what to do now as they have already approved me repeating

i have lost someone aswell (bereavement) but idk if i shoould mention it

I think your UCAS applicaion will be tricky - good GCSE grades will not explain three year A levels nor will 'my school cheated' carry any weight. I almost think resitting A levels would be better but it's a really tricky one whatever you do as some unis will reject you on the three years whichever route you go.

That is a relevant extenuating circumstance.

But you haven't really addressed any of the other points raised.

Frankly I think as far as applying to medicine goes, taking A-levels over 3 years rules out more than just taking the A-levels and doing your best to consolidate your knowledge between now and your exams in year 13 in the coming academic year, and then if necessary retaking one or more subjects. For other courses it's potentially more acceptable but taking A-levels over 3 years is something that most medical schools are not happy to accept in most cases.

ill have a talk with my tutor and ask her if taking the gap year optionisbetter. they did tell me that most unis dont accept resits.

That is incorrect. Most unis don't care too much about resits for most subjects, in general. For medicine while most do have specific policies around them, there are quite a few that will accept resits under various conditions or expectations. Far more than I think you would find medical schools that accept A-levels taken over three years.