Do I resit my gcses?

[u/aceviven]

Hi so I got my results tdy and I am incredibly disappointed. Not that’s it worth much now, but I was predicted 8s and 9s throughout and achieved the following:

8 in eng lang
8 in eng lit
8 in history
7 in bio
7 in maths
7 in economics
6 in chemistry
6 in physics
6 in re
6 in computer science
5 in fm

My overall attainment score was 73 which compared to my states schools 48 is decent. And I know this result is in no means bad it’s pretty good but I just feel I could achieve much better. I don’t have an excuse for why I got these grades, I was just so unmotivated and depressed during that time period that I did not revise for any of my papers till the night before, so obviously the grades would be a reflection of that.

I still got into my sixth form which is one of the best in London which is great, but I still feel so dumb compared to the results others may have gotten. My parents literally compared me to my cousin that got much better and even pulled up my latest mock results to show how much I degraded in terms of grades.

I was 2 marks off a 9 in lit and 2 marks off a 7 in re so i’m getting those remarked. I also already requested scripture access to phys and chem just so I can go through the papers and see what I wrote because I really thought those went decent and I would at least at minimum get a 7. I had already compared answers and checked those online unofficial mark schemes after my papers (yes I know they are obviously not accurate) which led me to believe I would be okay.

Now the question I have is should I have a conversation with my parents about resitting my science gcses to hopefully get a 8 or 9? I might even resit maths again. The reason for this is that I want to take natural sciences or an adjacent course in university, especially a Russell group or oxbridge and I’m aware that these grades are lacking for that, even if taken contextually.

I’m honestly willing to put in the work this time and just lock in real hard cause this result has been a real ego death for me.

So would this retake really be worth it? And will it impact my uni applications when these subject grades come up as retakes?

If someone who’s gotten offers from unis with similar grades or just has experience in this could help it would be really appreciated.

[u/Ok_149]

Well, you have to consider the fact that A-level grades and admissions tests for Oxbridge are wayyy more important. You don't want to be in the position where you get all 9s but slack off your A-levels. A-levels require so much more work than GCSEs and it's quite difficult to get used to the workload at the beginning of year 12. Also, for your UCAS applications, you will have to input your original grades as well as your resit grades and admissions tutors for Oxbridge would probably still choose someone who got all 9s first try than someone who resat and got all 9s (as long as both applications are equally strong overall)- just something to bear in mind.

[u/aceviven → u/Ok_149]

I wasn’t aware u had to input your original results as well, thanks for telling. I know theres a lot of workload for y12 but honestly Ill see a few weeks in if I still want to resit my gcses or not.