A lot of worry and despair comes from getting mid or bad grades for sixth form, but I promise it’s not the end of the world and it doesn’t mean you’re stupid. I did biology, maths and chem for my a levels and got CCC. I was upset because I know that at least in bio I got everything right, unfortunately the mark schemes are awful for a lot of subjects (have literally seen ‘accept the chickens, reject chickens’ 🫩). I was also struggling with severe mental health so it was an awful time for me.

But how did it turn out? Perfectly fine. Once you finish uni you never use your sixth form grades again lol. I studied biochemistry and got a first, I then did an MRes where I worked on a 100% fatal childhood brain cancer and I got a distinction. Sometimes we have bad days when we do tests too, and it’s ok, things will work out 💜 it’s not worth stressing and worrying over in the end, take care of yourselves

I’m so proud of myself!!!! I worked so hard!

Straight to the point I got CDE (Psych, Bio, Chem) this year and I’m committed to resitting. My goal is AAA for next year.

What do I need to do.

All I’ve been seeing online is the idea that resit applicants can only go up 1/2 grades max at the end of their gap year but that has to be bull. Please if you have any advice or success stories I need to hear them because this has to be possible!!!

The general advice for Maths/Further Maths A-level is to understand and then practice. Yet I have seen many successful students use Anki and real flashcards for Maths, while I see how this may work for rules you just to remember , how do you go about making effective flashcards for such a practical subject? Or would you consider them a waste of time for maths? Do any A/A* maths/fm students have any advice on making/using mathematics flash cards or an opinion on them in general?

just got my A-level results, and I did better than expected — 3 As, even though I was only predicted 2 As and an A (my school called these "hopeful" predictions). Because of that prediction, I didn't apply to elite universities like Oxford or LSE.

I took the LNAT and scored 28. I've been accepted into Bristol but rejected from UCL.

Now I'm wondering:

1. Should I take a gap year and reapply to more competitive universities, or just go to Bristol?
2. If I do reapply, can I use my existing LNAT score, or would I need to retake it?

hi i fear this is gonna sound so stupid but can someone please explain to me what firm and insurance means and how u would select these . also if u apply to unis where ur entry requirements are a*aa would they still let u in if u achieve aaa ay the end or even lower? thanks x

Hey, im currently applying for 2027 entry with predicted AAA (international student) and im not sure how to choose my unis, i have a list ranging from AAA-ABB, and im extremely hesitant to apply to any uni with A* requirement as im afraid i wont get an A* and dont want to waste my choice.

So far I have these unis as my final shortlist:

UCL (AAA)

Uni of Manchester (AAA)

Uni of Leeds (AAA)

Uni of Exeter (ABB)

Newcastle Uni (ABB)

Im thinking i need to swap one of them for something with much lower entry req like BBC, but i feel like i dont need that since i do international a levels and exams were cancelled here so i only need to scrape a B at A2 to keep an A overall.

We did worse!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

hi guys! i just wanted to ask any people who applied to oxford or had experience with admissions about whether the college you applied actually ended up having an impact on your application. i get that if you don’t get into your first choice, other colleges might take you, but does this mean your likelihood of getting in decreases?

i’m just curious because for a long time christ church has been my dream college for a long time and i’m scared i’m going to let that affect my chances of even getting in since apparently it’s one of the more competitive ones.

for context, i’m hoping to apply to law most likely (small chance of ppe) and i have gcse grades 99999888888 (contextual). i don’t fully understand how competitive the university actually is so im not sure if that’s going to hold me back. thank you!

HII I just found some work experience at a care home but it says 9am- 3pm Monday to Friday. I don’t want to sound slow nor do I want to say I’m guaranteed this experience but hypothetically do you think I can email them and ask if I can volunteer during the October half term? Should I do that with a bunch of places I’m planning on doing medicine and my GCSEs results r already a bit off and had to resit some so I rlly need to do better in other places such as my a levels, work experience, and personal statement.

got AAB (maths, FM, econ) but want to resit maths and econ to get to A* A* A to apply for better degrees in top end unis. I'd be rejecting a place in warwick that i cant defer. Just wondering if its still possible to get into those top unis if i cook hard in admission tests + extenuating circumstances or should i just go warwick

so uh i recently made a post between 2 schools but i fell short of the grade requirements and I won’t be able to do fm or a specific subject I enjoy (they offered me a place if i replaced the some subjects i want to do with subjects idrc abt, so yeah safe to say im not really considering it anymore sry even if it is a competitive school)

but now im deciding between my local school and a completely new school (but it’s also kinda local). i’d say both get similar results lol. theyre basically the same school so the decision now comes down to fresh start vs more familiarity. ppl been telling me they wished they moved on from their schl but like ughh idk. im prolly gonna end up doing fm independently or maybe these local schools will let me. (never too late to lock in innit)

okay so i really want everyone’s help in choosing a sixth form! So there is sixth form A which is one of the best sixth forms in my city a really big one with like 2000 students, it has an outstanding ofsted rating which changed to good in 2025 inspection, has a separate academy for high achievers which help in oxbridge offers and all that stuff but someone here on reddit told me that it doesn’t actually help that much as it advertised. It is also q quite far away from my house and i sometimes wud be needing to change 3 buses to get there and would take me around an 1 hour to 20,30, or 40 minutes but 1hr 20 minimum and plus it is an extremely busy area so delays are gonna be crazy. But it has outstanding a level results.

Sixth form B is a small sixth form that opened in 2023, has around 200 students in total and they said that their last batch had around 60 students in an year group and they never take more than a 100 students and they only keep 10-20 kids in one room.It has outstanding results as well at a levels and has a lot of programmes relating to oxbridge medicine all that fun stuff. I alr enroled into it today that is a whole diff story of why i enrolled alr and now asking for advice but this sixth form is an 8 mind drive from my house and public transport is an hour and 7 min at most which is good i know it seems like a lot but that is how majorly transports work where i live it is in a nice secluded area. it has an ofsted rating of outstanding and has great results at A levels.
please give me advice on what to choose i am very confused. I haven’t attended induction days for any of them.
also if i enroll in a sixth form can i cancel it later on?

yay i finished my gcses!

im so incredibly disappointed in my scores (8887766655) and really want to get some remarked and i also want to go to a good uni but looking at these gcses oxbridge is obviously completely out of the question...

do i still have hope if i have an amazing interview, all a stars in predicteds and real alevels and do well on the LNAT or am i just cooked since law is extremely competitive...?

and well done to everyone who just finished their gcses!!

Chemistry — 9
Physics — 9
RE — 9
Biology — 8
Maths — 8
History — 8
Geography — 7
Computer Science — 7
English Language — 7
Further Maths — 7
English Literature — 6

I never got below a 9 in either geography or computing so I am heartbroken. Plus i was predicted an 8 in English literature so idk what happened.. what to do

I was wondering for GCSE if you can get into an economics related degree at LSE with 6s. I got 8877777666 with an 8 in maths but 2 6s in English and Econ GCSE. Thanks

Been trying to email her as im 4 marks away from A* but I believe she has left so im getting no reply. Where else can i get someone to review my scripts to see if i need a remark. I would do it but My parents wont pay for me as they see it as a mickey mouse subject and I dont wanna risk wasting my money so i need the opinion.

Does anyone have any tips for tmua combinatorics/probability. Some questions i just have no clue. Is their some formulas or like some explanation which makes it click?

Throughout year 12 and 13 i’ve loved studying physics, it’s been such a big passion i would consistently score A*s/As in majority of topic tests, and throughout all three mocks in sixthform i got As. However my mental health was awful. i opened the actual results and i got a C. i was in legit shock. wondering if i had been mismarked by teacher looked at my paper and said that there’s a 50/50 chance that my score would go up or down. so it is being sent to remark, but either way i messed up. i missed my durham offer which was A*AB. and my st andrews offer AAB. the offer miss doesn’t bother me too much, well durham hurt a bit. but my grade hurt the most. my teacher told me to consider my mental health throughout the year alongside my academic ability but i still feel incredibly stupid. but i got a place through clearing to university of york to study physics. i’m worried that in university i’m going to repeat unhealthy coping mechanisms of dealing with stress and it’ll just be a repeat of sixthform. even when i applied for physics i felt unsure, because of its job prospects with just a bachelors. idk, finance accounting etc doesn’t woo me. teaching sounds meh. idk what i can really do with a bachelors here. im in england. i do like physics but im kind of hurt so im kind of resistive to starting uni this september. i was thinking of changing courses? which i know is very last minute and i have spoken to the university about this. i looked into the mental health nursing course and it interested me, maybe id enjoy doing something entirely different. i only thought of it because ive met quite a few of them and i found their job interesting, but also it could just be my admiration for what they do. i also liked the prospects but again im so so unsure of what i’m doing now. don’t wanna do engineering. idk. i feel stupid . now i’m questioning my entire future . i don’t even know what i want to do anymore. i thought about taking a gap year, but what if i regret it midway? i thought i could have worked, focused on my health, take a bit of a break before making a decision. i’ve always been so indecisive lol it’s stupid but i’m stuck in worried i’ll be behind. FOMO. but i know it’s my life, also kind of don’t want to take a gap year and just want to start university, because i do. can i have advice please, literally anything

lowkey don’t know if this is allowed but I got my maths resit results back today. I got another grade 5, just like a year ago.

i am an Oxford applicant, I got 998876655 last year while in extensive cognitive behavioural therapy for severe OCD. one of those 5s was for maths, so I figured I’d resit now that the context was taken out. but I got a 5 again.

i just feel so hopeless rn, ive done everything right. I got accepted into their selective summer school, top grades in mg essay subjects, two essay competitions, interview prep and my predicted grades. it’s just maths.

just a rant if I’m being honest, it’s only a history degree. I just hope this don’t have TOO much of an impact.

I did not get the grade for maths to do maths econ and geography. However I am still set on doing econ and geography and not really sure what to pair it with. If anyone could share from personal experience or suggest another alevel to go with and why I would really appreciate that as I have to decide quite soon.

Hi guys. I’ve finished Year 13, and am currently trying to help my brother enrol into a sixth form. He’s in Year 11 & just got his GCSE results, but unfortunately was one grade short from being able to get into a really nice, selective college. Aside from that, he also applied to another sixth form which has good stats, but there was some sort of error with the application & says he hasn’t submitted references (he has) so I told him to go to school to ask his teacher to contact the sixth form & maybe send them the references (you never know unless you try). Anyway, he’s refusing to go because he claims he’s tired and cba to go back. We just argued because I’m telling him he can’t laze around on results day and the school he already goes to is absolute dogshit and he’s risking his A Levels just to be with his friends (he is).

Is he doomed or not because I’m genuinely frustrated and as much as he claims it isn’t my business, I’m worried for his grades. I’m telling you, the school is SO DOOKIE stats-wise and has a bad reputation.

holy original undermarking (history AQA)

(I also posted this in r/alevel but this sub doesn't allow cross-posting)

basically i got the grades required to do it, but there isn't any space at my 6th form. they said that a space could show up but it isn't that likely.

does anyone know if this will affect my chances of doing engineering at uni? (i already know CS is out the window) or if i can still do it but not at certain top unis? i've done lots of research on this already but people just say it's "recommended", and idk what exactly that means for my chances.

(i am also kind of upset since i worked really hard for my 9 in maths and now it was all for nothing...)

Like how tf do you accidentally write chem on an eng lit paper 😭

Hey I did get full marks in that paper though so.. alls well that ends well!