Retaking A-levels with IAL

4

Hello! I would greatly appreciate if someone who has knowledge on retaking A - levels answers my question. Today, I got rejected from LSE after failing to meet a conditional offer. I was asked for 3As but received A* economics (International AL), B maths, C FM and E physics (all UK AL). I would like to reapply by sitting the October session of economics, maths and physics (since they don’t have FM in the schedule I can’t take that) but all with international AL. I saw that LSE prefers all exams be done in a single sitting which is why I would also retake econ. My plan is that the results will be out before the UCAS deadline and I can reapply with achieved grades without having to redo a whole year. However, I’m wondering if doing the international AL would actually count as a resit since I did linear (UK AL) in the first session for maths and physics. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

Reply 1

Lemur14

Volunteer Team

21

Original post by poissonorgeo

Hello! I would greatly appreciate if someone who has knowledge on retaking A - levels answers my question. Today, I got rejected from LSE after failing to meet a conditional offer. I was asked for 3As but received A* economics (International AL), B maths, C FM and E physics (all UK AL). I would like to reapply by sitting the October session of economics, maths and physics (since they don’t have FM in the schedule I can’t take that) but all with international AL. I saw that LSE prefers all exams be done in a single sitting which is why I would also retake econ. My plan is that the results will be out before the UCAS deadline and I can reapply with achieved grades without having to redo a whole year. However, I’m wondering if doing the international AL would actually count as a resit since I did linear (UK AL) in the first session for maths and physics. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

IAL and UK AL are considered equivalent, so I'm fairly sure that LSE would consider them resits to go from one to the other. Have you looked into how different the specifications are? They could have different optional units or topics which would make learning whole new topics on top of improving your grades a whole different challenge.
Are you confident of improving the physics grade sufficiently also? To go from an E in June to an A in November would be extremely impressive. It would be better for you to get an A next June than get a C say in November so I would only go for this route if you are extremely confident.

Reply 2

04MR17

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

22

I agree with Lemur :ditto:

I reckon on paper LSE would see a level 3 qualification in economics and another level 3 qualification in economics and treat them as a retake of one.

Reply 3

poissonorgeo

OP

4

Thanks for your reply! I should clarify that I went into my physics exams with no prep and no desire to score well since I had been focusing on three subjects. On my latest mock exam I had performed quite well actually which was before I got my offer. I am quite familiar with the spec as many people I know did international AL and my prior tutor taught mainly IAL classes. Again, thanks for your reply, I am grateful!

Reply 4

poissonorgeo

OP

4

Original post by 04MR17

I agree with Lemur :ditto:

I reckon on paper LSE would see a level 3 qualification in economics and another level 3 qualification in economics and treat them as a retake of one.

Thank you, I’m glad to have this cleared up.

Reply 5

solihoma

1

how did the resit go

Retaking A-levels with IAL

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