Medicine resits

I’m in Year 13 and currently sitting my A-Levels. I’m applying for medicine and have a few backup plans depending on how things go:
1) If I get the grades, I’ll take a gap year and reapply with a stronger application
2) If I miss the grades, I’m considering resitting my A-Levels
3) If things really don’t go to plan, I’m open to applying abroad (Bulgaria)
I understand what I need to do for the gap year and applying abroad, but I’m really confused about the resit process. I’ve seen so many different answers online and don’t know what’s correct.
Here’s what I know so far:
My school allows external candidates to sit exams, I’ve already passed my practical endorsements for Biology and Chemistry (I’m also doing Psychology). My school said if I resit, I’d just be sitting the exams — not retaking the classes
But I have questions like:
Will I need to resit the practical endorsements, or do mine still count?
If I’m not in lessons, how do I get predicted grades?
Who writes your reference for UCAS in a resit year?
Should I mention the fact I’m resitting in my personal statement, and talk about what I’ve learned from it?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s gone through something similar — how did you cope with the pressure and uncertainty? What helped you stay motivated and focused? Ant other advice?
Thanks so much in advance for reading this longggg message 🙏

Hey, I'm currently in a gap year retaking all of my A-levels and reapplying for medicine, so I can help out a little! When it comes to your practicals, as long as you've got the pass grade for the practical endorsement on your A-level certificate in August I believe you should be able to carry forward that pass to your next exam entry, so you should be fine there. For predicted grades and references, this depends on who you choose to work with for your application, i.e. if you are retaking your exams with your school, your school might be the ones giving you the predicted grades, and the way they give you the predicted grades would depend on the school, whether that be your current predicted grades in year 13, one grade above what you would have achieved for the current exams (June 2025), or possibly doing mock exams/lessons to achieve those predicted grades. UCAS references could also be from the school, again this would be something you will have to discuss with them and consider whether you'd like your school to do that for you. You don't have to mention you are resitting in your personal statement, this should already show in your UCAS reference/application, so it is up to you whether you'd like to include that, personally I spoke about the other things I am doing in my gap year, for example volunteering and other work experiences I was able to find. It's great that you're planning ahead right now, but I do advise that you focus on your exams to the best of your abilites since getting the needed A's could save you from retaking that subject in the next year as well! There can be quite a bit of uncertainty especially during application times, but once you submit the application and hopefully receive interviews/offers it'll feel so worth it! If you do have any more questions do let me know, and I'll try and see if I can help you, good luck for your exams

Thank you soo much!! and gosh it does not sound like a piece of cake. So I'd have to talk to my school and see what happens there. I hope they let me do a mock examination because A-levels at the moment aren't going too well. How are you finding re-sitting exams? Is it easier or more mentally exhausting than doing A-levels?

No worries at all, and yeah definitely not easier the second time haha, but it doesn’t feel as overwhelming as last year. It’s a bit weird sometimes since I don’t know many people in a similar situation as me, and there are moments where I’m unsure if I’ve covered the content properly (but then I can always refer back to the spec), but overall I am still glad I chose this route and hopefully I can prove it was worth it in August. Just remember to keep going and trust yourself, A-levels are only a small part of the much bigger journey to medicine. Good luck!!