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Is it actually worth retaking A-levels?

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Reply 40

Original post
by hypercolius
Have you heard the saying that statistics are worse than 'damn lies'?
There really is no argument that teaching quality is perhaps the most important thing in university exterior to you.
In all seriousness, let's sit and think.
You are on a course which you like but do not put much effort into. You live in the moment, you are the average student who will graduate with a good 2.1.
1) You have a terrible lecturer. The lecturer reads in a confusing manner, with near-illegible handwriting. You do not understand anything in lectures, which has the effect of necessitating constant attention outside of lectures. When it is time to do a test, you sit staring blankly at the screen and madly scramble through your notes to try and find where he explained it. Desperate, you resort to ChatGPT to pass the quiz. (Quantum mechanics this year. By far the least popular module)
2) You have an excellent lecturer, capable of explaining even the most difficult topic in the most concise and accurate form possible. You understand everything in lectures. When you get assignments, you are able to do them immediately and accurately just based on your notes, which are of exceptional quality and clarity. (Mathematical methods this year. Fourier transforms are commonly considered extremely hard, but due to teaching quality, they were easier to understand than some 'easier' topics from year 1 when the lecturer was unfathomably worse)
There is no argument here. Teaching quality is exceedingly, excessively important. Full stop. The only case in which it would not be important is if your passion for the subject was such that you simply didn't care and did what was necessary. But that is unfortunately not the average student, which I have observed with my own eyes are placed at a massive disadvantage on the exam due to bad teaching quality.
This is why it is preferable to be in a more prestigious university since they usually have better teaching quality

I agree about good teaching but your last sentence is nonsense.

We aren't talking stats here we are talking the TEF a national framwork https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/quality-and-standards/about-the-tef/

Reply 41

Original post
by deliciouspropane
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Hey,
What are you going to end up doing? I’m in the same situation where I missed UCL but got an offer from Sussex but know if I retake I can get much higher grades and get into a better uni, hopefully UCL.

Reply 42

Original post
by Erin3878
Hey,
What are you going to end up doing? I’m in the same situation where I missed UCL but got an offer from Sussex but know if I retake I can get much higher grades and get into a better uni, hopefully UCL.

Hi, I managed to get a clearing offer from Warwick for chemistry so most likely going to go there. Still not sure though honestly, I'm somewhat tempted to retake since I'm pretty disappointed by my results and know I can do better and I don't want to regret not taking the chance to improve my grades but then again, I'm not sure if it's worth retaking now that I have an offer from Warwick.

Reply 43

Original post
by deliciouspropane
Hi, I managed to get a clearing offer from Warwick for chemistry so most likely going to go there. Still not sure though honestly, I'm somewhat tempted to retake since I'm pretty disappointed by my results and know I can do better and I don't want to regret not taking the chance to improve my grades but then again, I'm not sure if it's worth retaking now that I have an offer from Warwick.

Oh wow congrats! Warwick is amazing, I would deffo take the offer. Lots of people revise loads just to try get into Warwick! getting into it with BBC is really good as well. . Honestly, I’m disappointed in mine too and I know I can get better, 100% and I only managed to get into Sussex with my grades and would love to be able to go to a uni like Warwick. I would say go to Warwick because everyone I’ve talked to says that A levels don’t matter once you have your degree, unless you are doing a career like law or finance that may require high alevels. If it’s not, employers care more about skill and experience than alevels. I’m in the exact same situation though, but I only decided to go to Sussex today because I realised one of the main reasons I wanted to retake is that I know I can get better however, I thought all the work and money to retake possibly wasn’t worth it because no one even asks about alevels after uni and a degree is a degree. Which one are you leaning towards? Because even though I said all that I’m still tempted to retake lol.

Reply 44

Original post
by deliciouspropane
Hi, I managed to get a clearing offer from Warwick for chemistry so most likely going to go there. Still not sure though honestly, I'm somewhat tempted to retake since I'm pretty disappointed by my results and know I can do better and I don't want to regret not taking the chance to improve my grades but then again, I'm not sure if it's worth retaking now that I have an offer from Warwick.
Yes! Accept it! Accept it without thinking!

Just forget about your A-levels in that case and take up the offer. Warwick is one of the very best universities in the UK! I felt the same way after my final re-sit but just accepted the place without question.

Reply 45

Original post
by Erin3878
Oh wow congrats! Warwick is amazing, I would deffo take the offer. Lots of people revise loads just to try get into Warwick! getting into it with BBC is really good as well. . Honestly, I’m disappointed in mine too and I know I can get better, 100% and I only managed to get into Sussex with my grades and would love to be able to go to a uni like Warwick. I would say go to Warwick because everyone I’ve talked to says that A levels don’t matter once you have your degree, unless you are doing a career like law or finance that may require high alevels. If it’s not, employers care more about skill and experience than alevels. I’m in the exact same situation though, but I only decided to go to Sussex today because I realised one of the main reasons I wanted to retake is that I know I can get better however, I thought all the work and money to retake possibly wasn’t worth it because no one even asks about alevels after uni and a degree is a degree. Which one are you leaning towards? Because even though I said all that I’m still tempted to retake lol.

Thanks! I am probably leaning towards just going to Warwick since it is a step up from the other clearing offers I have but I'm also not exactly sure about what I want to do after university - if I decide I want to go into finance then my A-levels would probably make it a lot harder to get into the industry (even after getting a remark I've only got BBB which may restrict my chances of getting an internship). I can see what you mean about the work and money to retake not really being worth it though, outside of a few sectors like finance at least.

Hope everything goes well for you at Sussex btw 👍️
(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 46

Original post
by hypercolius
Yes! Accept it! Accept it without thinking!
Just forget about your A-levels in that case and take up the offer. Warwick is one of the very best universities in the UK! I felt the same way after my final re-sit but just accepted the place without question.

I've accepted it, don't worry 😅 Just need to get my accommodation sorted once they actually confirm my place. I am still slightly concerned that my A-levels will hold me back depending on which industry I decide to work in after university, i.e. I think finance cares quite a bit about your A-level grades, especially when applying for internships (could be wrong). I guess I'll see after I decide on what to do after university.

Reply 47

Original post
by emilyadams1975
I resat Alevel maths, went from a D to an A and took two new Alevels in a year, got an A and a D in those. Never regretted resitting, I ended up at a much better Uni.

what degree are u doing if u dont mind me asking, I think im going to get a d as well tbh

Reply 48

Original post
by deliciouspropane
I got BBC on results day and missed my firm and insurance offers pretty badly (A*A*A and A*AA respectively) - I'm pretty disappointed but not too surprised given my not so great preparation and near constant stress over the past 2+ years of the war in Ukraine that my family has been severely affected by. I can see where I went badly wrong with my preparation and I feel like I now have the motivation to do better in order to get into a better university compared to what I have in clearing currently (Loughborough and Southampton, both for chemistry), but is it actually realistic to improve from BBC to something like AAA at the minimum in just a year? If anyone has retaken their A-levels successfully, then I'd appreciate any advice you could give on how best to relearn content independently (i.e. through tutors, online courses, etc...) and whether going to a perceived

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