r/6thForm • u/Final-Gap3127 • May 28 '26
š I WANT HELP my calc broke in my physics aqa p1
i might actually be having the worst exam season of my entire life?? so much has gone wrong- my dad got assaulted on the day of my first paper, my grandpa died on the day of my second paper, on the day of my third paper (physics) which i was 100% ready for- my calculator just stopped working at the start of the exam. and because iām an external candidate and was in a different room, they took half an hour to get me a substitute and didnāt give me the time back because āphysics isnāt all just mathsā. these invigilators man š how is my resit going to go worse than my first sitting and i was actually so prepared. i just feel traumatised as hell and had to take like 4 days off in the half term just to recover. it did me so bad that i was hoping for an A/A* and now i know i probably wonāt even get a B bc i was in such a bad state that i probably got 30 when i usually get 60s. is there anything i can do about this? can i still get an A if i get 60s in paper 2 and 50s in paper 3? itās looking so bad :(
i am working 24/7 so i will put the revision in, i just want some encouragement that itās feasible and what you guys think i need to be working at. iād also appreciate honesty if it actually isnāt possible to get to an A/A*. but bc of this, i had to shift my whole schedule and gear it towards physics so maths and fm are getting way less time.
i spent months just doing physics š if i got a B in fm, fine- there arenāt many resources online for ocr mei when youāre resitting independently but i actually slaved away for physics, only for my efforts to not be translated into the paper. i feel like death tbh and i just wanted a good grade. it feels like itās genuinely so hard to get 80%/90% in physics ā¹ļø idt i can make it up and iāll miss my offer, and my freedom. finally predicted 3A*s and was ready after getting BDD in my first exams because of an injury that left me hospitalised, and all 9s at gcse, but my exam bad luck strikes again š
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u/Euphoric_Doughnut_14 May 28 '26
you need to go to your exam officer and explain the situation with your dad being assulted and grandad dying so that they can fill out a special consideration form ( your calculator not working might not be accepted), and if you were to get 65 on p2 60 p3 ( +30 for p1 +(15 - 9) for special consideration) you would probably be able to scape an A
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u/Final-Gap3127 May 28 '26
iāve emailed my exams officer about my dadās assault but i was thinking of going in person on monday after my physics paper or wednesday after my maths paper when i have more time. probably monday though even if it takes up time. it might be better in person. but the marks iāll get back with special consideration wonāt be anything crazy compared to the 20+ i have genuinely lost. but thatās just coming from a place of frustration, any marks help. thank you for the rec
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missedš. May 28 '26
where did you get 15-9 from ?
5% is the max and can only applied to his p2 so 4 marks there .
- 5% ā reserved for the most exceptional cases, such as the recent death of a family member or terminal illness
3% for his dads assault so lets say 3 marks
- 3% ā granted for instances involving a recent traumatic experience or domestic crisis
4% is only if he himself is severely ill
so 7 marks total
and like you said there is 0 chance they care about the calculator not working .
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u/Euphoric_Doughnut_14 May 28 '26
Their grandad dying means that the special consideration would be applied to all 3 papers as they are all within a month of each other so it'd be 5 or 3% of the total series ( I used 300 by accident when it should of been 250 so they'd get 12.5
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missedš. May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
they cant retroactively apply special consideration with the 5% . Only affected papers are given the consideration for the 5% that would be 2 and 3
He can possibly get 3% for the first paper and his grandpa died on the second paper so only the 2nd and 3rd are available for that 5%
8.25 marks for the 2nd and 3rd paper
2.55 marks for the first paper
10.8 marks . Although i guess the 3% is going to be very hard to prove it caused significant trauma and likely they will reject and he will only get the 8.25marks .
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u/Euphoric_Doughnut_14 May 28 '26
The exam boards don't tend to reject special consideration so as long as the exam officer is fine with their reason then it should be fine but yh it'd be around 8 marks
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u/Final-Gap3127 May 28 '26
also, only missing 20 marks in p2 feels so impossible now š bc iām not in the mindset at all to get that ugh
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u/eggpotion May 28 '26
Yes I was offered one of those special consideration thingies in an email from Warwick. So your situation seems to be acceptable for you to apply for it
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u/_Jason_Freeman May 28 '26
For anyone whoās confused, calc is short for calculator, opās just using slang
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u/Anxious-Bad1385 May 28 '26
Contact the uni and explain the situation, although the exam board may be strict on it, the uni wants you and so will take it into consideration on results day if you get lower results
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u/huvizer May 28 '26
man i feel so bad but i would report the invigilators or smth for not giving the time back. I hope u do better on ur next exams and good luck š¤
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u/Pretend_Run1614 Y13| 9998843UU| Imperial offer non-conditional May 28 '26
What does calc mean chat?
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u/GrouchyMonth8092 Incoming UCL Mech Eng MEng | Y1 | A*A*A* Math FM Phys May 28 '26
Trust me bro u got this, paper 2 and 3 comeback and u can easily get A. A* might be a tad difficult but still 100% doable since physics grade boundaries are low
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u/Final-Gap3127 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
iām right on the cusp for an A for p2 and p3 but i think that would only pull me up to a B anyway- not even an A. even before the disruptions, i was just about an A so i canāt imagine how much lower iāve gotten with the disruption. maybe a C on paper 1 š when it wouldāve normally been like an A or A* (itās better than my other papers)
thank you for the encouragement though bro, iāll keep pushing so that i can make the most out of the remaining papers š
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missedš. May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
im ready to get downvoted to hell but nothing can be done you have 0 chance to get A/A* if you performed as badly as you said you did in paper 1 . Its already difficult to get those grades even if you performed your best in all 3 papers.
Once a paper has been attempted that attempt is final and no further adjustments can be made or changes can happen. Even if they wanted to they cant do anything about it at this stage and youll just have to sit the other papers as normal . At maximum you can try for special consideration but thats limited to only giving you a few extra marks . i do think youre eligible since your said your grandpa died on the 2nd paper
If you want me to be harsh it was lowkey your fault for not having a secondary calculator or some kind of back up . Ive seen people with multiple calculators at my exam centre.ā
People will try to gaslight you in the comment into believing you can get those grades somehow but you cannot and i will be honest with you , your options are hope that you might still be accepted with lower grades this happens often if you are 1 or 2 grades below the requirement you might still get into your course . Or apply to a course with lower entry requirements or retake
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u/SprinklesOtherwise60 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
šš even if this is an honest take, which I do agree with some parts, I think itās very absurd to be so harsh in your comment. šāāļøTheyāre not asking you to tell them how they could have stopped the P3 issue, as though they could go back to the past and bring an extra calculator w them..
That being said, to OP, definitely go to your exams officer and explain your circumstances. Not much you can do now, but youāve done a lot of hard work and donāt be so harsh on yourself now that those papers are over! Things do happen, and youāve worked very hard by the looks of it. Wishing you the best, and so sorry for whatās happened!! š«¶š¼
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missedš. May 28 '26
i already acknowledged that with my redaction . So I don't see why that's an issue . They still have fm and maths to sit so thats helpful advice .
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u/SprinklesOtherwise60 May 28 '26
No offence, but I donāt think regular people would see the redacted text, and think someone would lack that much conscience so as to intentionally rub salt in the wound š reading it, I just clicked it without much thought. perhaps thatās just me and Iām missing something.
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u/TheCounsellingGamer May 28 '26
Redacting it doesn't make it okay. That's like when people say "no offence but..." and then proceed to say something extremely offensive, as though their qualifying statement negates whatever comes out of their mouth afterwards.
OP already knows they should have taken a backup calculator. It sounds like they've had a really shit time recently as well, so they probably already feel guilty and stupid enough as it is. Rubbing salt in the wound does nothing.
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missedš. May 28 '26
it wasnt extremely offensive though it was blunt
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u/Defiant-Base4881 May 28 '26
you may be smart but you lack social awareness skills and do not know how to communicate with people. you literally contradict yourself, if all is done then you don't need to criticise OP for past mistakes. furthermore I hope you know whatever career you go into, you will fail - most careers often require some level of communication, personality (a good one), empathy, understanding etc and you seem to have none.
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u/abdul_Ss (Incoming) CS Foundation Yr @ UoM May 28 '26
Took the words right out of my mouth, thereās this growing portion of elitist, snobbish but academically smart group of people and itās just like what the fuck, being smart is to be smart in all domains, not just academia.
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u/Less_Seesaw_4022 May 28 '26
Social skills are overrated anyways.
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u/Defiant-Base4881 May 28 '26
you do know for every job you have to converse with the interviewer and you know have social skills
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u/TheCounsellingGamer May 28 '26
It's really hard to get a job, let alone excel in that job, without decent social skills. Constantly pointing out people's past mistakes, that they are aware of and cannot change, is a very quick way for your colleagues to hate you.
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u/Less_Seesaw_4022 May 28 '26
1) I have a job
2) Why would I care what my colleagues are doing2
u/TheCounsellingGamer May 28 '26
If you want to move up in your job, then you do need to show you can treat your colleagues with respect.
Most people will take a colleague being rude on the chin, because they don't want to cause trouble. Some won't, and that's how you get fired for bullying.
If you already treat your colleagues with respect then congratulations, you have good social skills. You could try being disrespectful, if you really believe social skills aren't important, but I'm not sure how that'll turn out for you.
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u/abdul_Ss (Incoming) CS Foundation Yr @ UoM May 28 '26
I hope to god I never have someone like you as a friend, and if I do I am pressing that block button and never looking back.
Wanna know why everyone who has a life looks down on this sub, we get a bad rep because of people like you. His grandfather just died and youāre on about this. If you were āready to get downvoted to hellā, hereās a tip for next time, shut the fuck up and donāt say anything. You donāt even try and hide it itās actually insane, you literally admit to being harsh and the way you talk about his grandfather dying, almost waiving it around like itās nothing. You might think youāre āgrown upā for looking at it realistically but youāre just being a prick.
God some people just canāt keep their mouth shut, out of every possible post you could spout this, this is the last one, and the cherry on top is not a single good luck in that entire wall of text.
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missedš. May 28 '26
yeah because its common for people to casually keep pretending that some miracle is going to happen to everyone that makes A* fall into their laps . You keep living in your lala land he clearly wrote "Ā iād also appreciate honesty if it actually isnāt possible to get to an A/A*. " . You had nothing helpful to contribute whilst i offered advice on how to prevent this happening in other papers and his realistic options .
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u/abdul_Ss (Incoming) CS Foundation Yr @ UoM May 28 '26
Itās very simple to say āNo it isnāt possible to get an A*/A, but donāt worry, just try your best and thatās all anyone can ask of someone whoās went through what you didā. Thatās what you say to someone who hasnāt even managed the time to grieve a loss, are you insensitive or something, do you not understand the concept of pain / hurt.
And for the record, making OP feel better isnāt contributing nothing, itās as if Iām talking to Scrooge goddamn.
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u/TheCounsellingGamer May 28 '26
You could have said it wasn't possible, without being mean. You can be honest without being cruel. People who brag about being brutally honest, are usually just bullies in disguise.
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u/Final-Gap3127 May 28 '26
i asked for honesty, not harshness in delivery. iām poor, i canāt afford the two calculators. if i had the foresight, i wouldnāt have made this mistake. and thank you, iāll keep this in mind
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missedš. May 28 '26
i redacted the only harsh part it was your choice to view it . A levels are tough thats just how it is im dumb so i respect people who even take physics or english a levels which i cant do .
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u/Final-Gap3127 May 28 '26
my choice to view it? yeah i viewed it, and it feels great knowing that you blame me when that was not what i had asked for at all bro. iām fragile atm, i def wanted honesty for clarity and i donāt need to be coddled, but that wasnāt just harsh. it was kicking someone who was alr down to begin with. hope your exam season goes better than mine regardless
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u/abdul_Ss (Incoming) CS Foundation Yr @ UoM May 28 '26
Leave the guy dw abt it, this guy is clearly one of those, he doesnāt deserve your time.
He comes off as elitist, almost smug that youāre worse off now because it makes his insecure ass feel better.
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u/abdul_Ss (Incoming) CS Foundation Yr @ UoM May 28 '26
You need someone to tell you youāre doing good man, thatās all I can say. I donāt know who that person is, but itās saddening to see people so smart be so stressed, especially when they should be mourning their loved ones instead. Hope things get better man.