The Student Room Group

Missing A Level grades

Hi,
This is maybe slightly premature, but A-Level revision is killing me, so I guess I want to prepare for the worst ...

If one was to miss the offer grade by a few points (say a high B instead of an A) in one subject, maintaining As in the other two (for a standard AAA offer), what are the options ?
Should one send an email to the school (begging and pleading) reinforcing why we make a good candidate despite the lower grade ? Or is it really only dependant on the number of people making their grades ?
If anyone has any experience with this, I would be grateful.

Thank you :smile:
(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 1

Original post
by ImyBee
Hi,
This is maybe slightly premature, but A-Level revision is killing me, so I guess I want to prepare for the worst ...
If one was to miss the offer grade by a few points (say a high B instead of an A) in one subject, maintaining As in the other two (for a standard AAA offer), what are the options ?
Should one send an email to the school (begging and pleading) reinforcing why we make a good candidate despite the lower grade ? Or is it really only dependant on the number of people making their grades ?
If anyone has any experience with this, I would be grateful.
Thank you :smile:

It depends on the uni you are applying for. Unis such as Bristol are infamous for not allowing anyone with lower grades get in, but unis such as Cardiff are (atleast in my school). I would suggest only sending this sort of email once you've got your grades and if you have been rejected. Particularly if you have had an interview, ask whether they would be happy to reconsider your application, as you were very close to the target grades (and rly love the uni/course ect, put something complimentary too). Good luck!

Reply 2

Hey there,

I don't think you would be able to find out whether they would consider a lower grade until results day unfortunately, as it all depends on how many people got or missed their offers!

This may be slightly different for every uni, but usually universities will tend to give more people offers than the course capacity, as they know a lot of people will put them as insurance and go to their firm, some may not firm or insure that uni at all, and others will firm and then miss their offer.

It would completely depend on how many people get the grades to meet their offer for the specific course - the admissions team would usually then re-assess and decide whether or not to take those who only missed out by a small amount. This would all be done between the time the universities receive everyone's grades and then results day, but they would not be able to tell you anything until results day.

Hopefully that makes sense?
Jorja (LJMU Student Rep)
There's no point grovelling via email/phone if there is a rejection decision on Hub. The uni had your results a week or more ahead of you and has weighed up your grades versus other candidates and the number of spaces they had left.

The Uni Guide has a good summary of what to expect on results day, but in brief you should only need to contact your firm or insurance choice if they haven't posted a decision to Hub.

https://www.theuniguide.co.uk/advice/clearing-results-day/a-level-results-day-grades-what-to-expect

Reply 4

I was unaware unis got our results before we did.

Thank you both for your advice.
Original post
by ImyBee
I was unaware unis got our results before we did.

Thank you both for your advice.


No worries. If it puts your mind at ease, most students either do a bit better then they expect, or their firm or insurance accepts them in any case.

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