When is it too late to make an academic comeback?

Hi I'm a current Y13 and I haven't been doing great in terms of grades. My predicted grades have already come out and they weren't great being CCC and the unis I want to go to request higher. I scared that due to my predicted grades already being out, it's too late to make any improvements as it would only affect my final grades and not do anything to sway any universities.

Reply 1

Divinebandit

Original post by 7KRocks

I'm very confused, I need some clarity.
Were your year 13 mock grades CCC?
What were your UCAS predicted grades and if you have received any offers yet, what are they asking for?

Reply 2

7KRocks

Original post by Divinebandit

I'm very confused, I need some clarity.
Were your year 13 mock grades CCC?
What were your UCAS predicted grades and if you have received any offers yet, what are they asking for?

My UCAS predicted grades were CCC, and I have received offers that are asking for lower, but the unis that's I really want to go to ask for higher on their websites and haven't responded yet

Reply 3

mesub

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by 7KRocks

My UCAS predicted grades were CCC, and I have received offers that are asking for lower, but the unis that's I really want to go to ask for higher on their websites and haven't responded yet

It's not too late to make an academic comeback. Get on the grind now.
Even if you get rejections, you can still smash your A'levels and then use clearing or reapply with achieved grades next year.

Reply 4

University of Bath

Official Rep

Original post by 7KRocks

My UCAS predicted grades were CCC, and I have received offers that are asking for lower, but the unis that's I really want to go to ask for higher on their websites and haven't responded yet

Hi there OP,

Its really great to hear you're wanting to make a comeback and I would agree with Mesub that its never too late to make improvements to your grades.

Try to make extra effort to keep up with your content in class by making updated notes on the textbook pages relevant to each topic you learn, make sure you get anything you don't understand clarified, and if possible, dedicate an extra hour to an hour and a half per day after school to do some practice questions, make some flashcards out of the questions and markscheme answers you found hard so you have some exemplars. It doesn't feel like a lot at the time but it amounts to five to seven hours of extra revision per week which will really pay off in the end.

Also, make sure you use your teachers. When you get a piece of work or exam back, perhaps ask them for guidance and clarification on the questions did not get the right answer to and note down the right method for next time.

You have plenty of options available to you - you could choose to go to uni this year if you wanted to, but if you made large improvements and ended up getting a lot higher than CCC then you could take a gap year to think more about your goals, do some part time work and travel, then reapply for some of the unis you'd rather go to with your achieved grades next year.

I hope this helps, best of luck 🙂

Holly
University of Bath

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 5

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

Original post by 7KRocks

Hey @7KRocks,

As mesub pointed out - Clearing is always an option! If you do make an academic comeback and achieve grades significantly higher than your predicted grades, you can always turn down your current offer on Result's Day and apply for a course at the univerisity you want to go. If your particular course isn't available through Clearing, you could always consider taking a gap year and then reapplying in the next admissions cycle.

It's definitely not too late to start making an academic comeback at this point in the year. Set aside some time to revise each day and start working your way through the content of each subject. Then, test your knowledge using past paper questions.

Best of luck,
Eve (Kingston Rep).