Advice on what to do after A-Levels (career/apprencticeship related)

Hi guys

I was stuck in two minds, so decided that id rather ask others what they think. Achieved ABD at A Level, A in economics, B in maths, D in comp sci. Missed my firm offer at leeds for economics, got my insurance which was York but decided against it because i wanted to live somewhere i was comfortable. I decided to going into leicester through clearing, and then actually decided to defer my year and apply for apprenticeships.

My issue is now are my grades (ABD) appealing for finance related apprenticeships? I doubt they are so i considered resitting cs this year in order to improve my chances.But then thought about how much I hate the subject and would NOT be willing to resit that subject, i have decided that i might actually take business on as a full a level as a alevel economic student where i performed extremely well, i think id be better suited to it.

But the main issue is will i be able to achieve an A*/A within a year of learning, considering im also going to be working 37.5 hours weekly during my gap year, monday-friday 9-5.

Will i be able to balance everything out? How many hours are involved in studying for my A-Level etc. Would this be possible? Or should i take my chances and apply with ABD isntead of the chance of applying with A*(PRED)AB(achieved).

What do u guys think?

Things I would generally advise doing:


Just to recap (because TDLR), your options are:


Should you do an economics degree, I am wondering why you're not opting to do further maths instead of business studies (assuming you want the option to go to a top end uni for economics). Otherwise, you're good to pick any other subject as your third should you decide not to resit CS.
Economic degrees generally don't require anything other than maths, so so long you have that you can pick anything else you fancy. Personally, I would pick something that's considered more academic but that's up to you e.g. classics, languages, science, literature, humanities, music.

If you're considering doing a finance apprenticeship, what specific role are you going for? When it comes to finance apprenticeships, the sort of roles that come to mind tend to be in financial advisory, management accounting, stock brokering. These sort of roles don't require specific A Levels. In fact, the professional qualifications required for these specific roles (as well as for most roles in finance) don't usually require prior qualifications (the grade and qualification requirements would be set by the employer).
Furthermore, if you want to do a degree in economics, why are you thinking about going into finance? You often don't need a degree to go into finance. A degree in economics (preferably backed up with further postgrad degrees in economics) would be useful if you want to become an economist.

If you are looking at A Level subjects to see which ones would give you the most options on top of what you already have, let me know. I would require you to be specific about whether you're more oriented towards a specific career or degree subject (as well as which subjects you're leaning more towards), because you can often go into specific careers without the specific degree (or the degree won't be helpful).

Hi. Sorry for the late reply. I've been extremely busy. So what I've decided to do is take a gap year and go to work, and resit a-level computer science, but now the problem is that i dont have anywhere to resit the a level? my school dont do resits and apparently a lot of centres dont do CS due to the NEA coursework. No clue what to do now...2

2 options:

If you want me to help you find an exam centre, let me know the exam board you are with (or choose to be with), roughly the postcode where you're based (doesn't need to be exactly your home address e.g. your town centre) and I will try to see what I can dig up.
I can't guarantee that I would be able to find a centre near to where you are, but you should be fine if you're willing to travel.

Hi, If you could please. I don't mind the commute.

A Level Computer science
OCR 2024 (the one with the nea)
postcode is roughly LE13GP

Hi guys

I was stuck in two minds, so decided that id rather ask others what they think. Achieved ABD at A Level, A in economics, B in maths, D in comp sci. Missed my firm offer at leeds for economics, got my insurance which was York but decided against it because i wanted to live somewhere i was comfortable. I decided to going into leicester through clearing, and then actually decided to defer my year and apply for apprenticeships.

My issue is now are my grades (ABD) appealing for finance related apprenticeships? I doubt they are so i considered resitting cs this year in order to improve my chances.But then thought about how much I hate the subject and would NOT be willing to resit that subject, i have decided that i might actually take business on as a full a level as a alevel economic student where i performed extremely well, i think id be better suited to it.

But the main issue is will i be able to achieve an A*/A within a year of learning, considering im also going to be working 37.5 hours weekly during my gap year, monday-friday 9-5.

Will i be able to balance everything out? How many hours are involved in studying for my A-Level etc. Would this be possible? Or should i take my chances and apply with ABD isntead of the chance of applying with A*(PRED)AB(achieved).

What do u guys think?

Check the entry requirements for the apprenticeships before making any decisions.
You might meet the requirements already. I know quite a few only require "3 a-levels" and don't specify grades.