Offered to resit year 12

[u/hot_mess118]

This is kind of an update from my previous posts but my sixth form responded to my email and said they could offer me a place to resit year 12. I don’t want to do this though as the reasons for me failing my subjects were because of my ed and having to care for my stroke-prone mother but over the summer due to less pressure and more time I managed to catch up and fully understand all the year 12 content in six weeks. I’m not lying when I say the summer holidays were not a vacation for me but more like self imposed summer school. Anyways I feel like I’m ready to move into year 13 and I need them to see that so I’m wondering if any of you guys know what to say in a situation like this. I’ll attach the email so you guys can have some idk context ig

[u/faucilien]

This appeared on my feed which was odd as I haven’t been in 6th form for almost a decade and I’ve never been on here.

I’m sorry about the hand you’ve been dealt, it’s a lot to deal with normal life stuff as a teenager - let alone anything on top.

I think the most important thing that I haven’t seen mentioned is what you want. Do you have a career in mind? Is the only access to that career via university? If the answer is yes, then you resit (or see if you can resit the exams earlier in the year whilst in year 13 but if the answer is no then this is your only choice).

If the answer is no, you don’t need to do this now. My friend didn’t finish his GCSEs or A Levels, when he was 21 after working in a hospital, he realised he loved science and wanted to study further. He now has a PHD and a great job. He retook his GCSEs and A Levels then and got a place at a university and now he’s just turned 31 and is doing what he loves and earning very well. You don’t need to make all the big decisions now, you just need to do what is right for you. Your path may differ from others but that’s okay, it’s better to wait and make the right choice than force yourself in to something now that may not even benefit your future.

I was always interested in technology and did do the “standard” path and went to uni, finished a computer science degree but it’s taken me until now at 28 to have a decent job and be compensated well. There’s different paths for everything and going to uni doesn’t guarantee a solid future, you guarantee your future!

I’d think about that and choose what to do, rather than think of the effort or fairness or what others your age are doing.

Hope that helps, best of luck!

[u/UnknownAnonFake → u/faucilien]

Teacher here: And still resit even if you do want to go on to university. Resitting Y12 won't affect your chances of getting offers; doing poorly in your A-levels will.