The Student Room Group

Bad GCSEs and a levels

Hello I did my GCSEs this year and got 766665554 with the 4 being in English language, I’m currently doing economics, politics and btec it, with a epq, I might do core maths privately but not sure, I want to do accounting/finance at uni or a degree apprenteship but I feel like I will be restricted heavily due to my a level options and my poor gcse grades, and if I don’t get a degree apprenteship I will probably get into a bad uni and not universities like Birmingham, Leeds, royal Holloway,
If you study with the OU the grades don't matter because they'll accept you on any course. I'd say lkeep your options open
Reply 2
Original post by toppby55
If you study with the OU the grades don't matter because they'll accept you on any course. I'd say lkeep your options open


So you basically tryna say I’m cooked 😭
Not even royal Holloway
hi there! please don’t worry too much about your choices being limited. my gcses (which were very similar to yours) weren’t even taken into consideration when i applied for uni. now i’m at a russell group uni.

the only thing i would say, some unis can be weird about a level choices. some degrees require you to have taken the subject at a level or a similar subject, for example perhaps for spanish you have to have taken it at a level etc. i believe for something like accounting they would be more lenient and i think your a level choices shouldn’t affect your options too much. you can always speak to uni admissions if you’re unsure. plus, a lot of unis (especially russell groups) look positively on epqs. sometimes if you achieve an a on your epq, the entrance grades can be lowered for you if that’s something you’re worried about.

hope this helped and reassured you a bit!
Reply 4
Original post by Starrytillymae
hi there! please don’t worry too much about your choices being limited. my gcses (which were very similar to yours) weren’t even taken into consideration when i applied for uni. now i’m at a russell group uni.
the only thing i would say, some unis can be weird about a level choices. some degrees require you to have taken the subject at a level or a similar subject, for example perhaps for spanish you have to have taken it at a level etc. i believe for something like accounting they would be more lenient and i think your a level choices shouldn’t affect your options too much. you can always speak to uni admissions if you’re unsure. plus, a lot of unis (especially russell groups) look positively on epqs. sometimes if you achieve an a on your epq, the entrance grades can be lowered for you if that’s something you’re worried about.
hope this helped and reassured you a bit!


Ah that relieved me so much 😭
Thank you
Original post by Amar929
Hello I did my GCSEs this year and got 766665554 with the 4 being in English language, I’m currently doing economics, politics and btec it, with a epq, I might do core maths privately but not sure, I want to do accounting/finance at uni or a degree apprenteship but I feel like I will be restricted heavily due to my a level options and my poor gcse grades, and if I don’t get a degree apprenteship I will probably get into a bad uni and not universities like Birmingham, Leeds, royal Holloway,

Hi there,

We would advise contacting our Admissions team to discuss this in more detail.

You can drop them a message via online form, or call them on +44 (0)1784 414944 to discuss your options.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,
Royal Holloway, University of London

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