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Original poster

To despair? Please tell me positive stories of your DC whose A levels went horribly wrong.

171 replies

MargoLovebutter · 04/06/2018 08:12

DS is going to tank his A levels. I’m not exaggerating or hedging my bets or anything like that. He is going to do really badly.

I’m struggling to understand how a boy who is academically able and hasn’t gone off the rails is going to do this badly but that’s another topic.

He needs 3 Bs for his uni course (biochemistry) and realisticly, he is looking at 1 B if he is lucky in music and there is a strong possibility that he won’t scrape Ds in two of his subjects: biology and chemistry! He is getting Es in all the practice papers and the teachers assure me they aren’t marking harshly.

He is despondent and I’m worrying myself into a small hole.

Please can I have some stories about DC who turned around from doing much worse than they were expected to.

OP posts:
ItchyAF · 25/06/2018 04:25

Didn’t tank them exactly, but I didn’t get the grades I needed for my original choice of uni course (this was about ten years ago though)

I met and split with my first boyfriend in yr13 and was in so much emotional turmoil throughout I didn’t apply myself properly at all.

Took a year out and got a good, tough job, applied again for a different course at a better uni and got in. Loved it!

In the end though I joined an industry I had no experience in and irrelevant to degree, worked really hard and was running my own department within three years. It’s still possible to work way up to some extent although I guess it’s not a super high paying grad role - but there are none at my company anyway

Seriousquestion09 · 25/06/2018 04:37

Several comments about medicine in relation to success and sometimes I don’t know why as it takes ages to get to that 6 figure salary!

I’m getting closer to Consultant level and work as an ophthalmic trainee with interest in plastics with a few years to go (including fellowship) but even as consultant NHS pay standardardized. I partly chose eyes as I know private practice is great and will get you there in terms of six figures but that’s only supplemented by private and not the case for every type of dr!

Seriousquestion09 · 25/06/2018 04:55

Sorry I also agree with the comment that it is not that easy to work your way up these days... many people start a successful business true but I think it is getting increasingly difficult to get the financial support one needs to do this.

LookAtThatCritter · 25/06/2018 07:03

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buttonmoonb4tea · 25/06/2018 07:32

I bombed my GCSE’s got CCDDF, went on to do a GNVQ got distinctions. Went to uni and only managed 2 years. I’d had enough of education plus I was in an abusive relationship. Got a job and worked my way up. I completed my degree a few years ago after claiming the certification for the first 2 years of my fist degree so only had the final year to complete. Got a 2.2. I’m doing ok not massively well paid job but I like it and it fits in with my children at the moment. Plan on doing a masters once the youngest is at school. All is not lost.

Germantree · 25/06/2018 08:03

Sister hated a levels and as such struggled with grades. Left school after year 12 and applied to college to do a 2 year sports science course (basically repeat a year). Ended up with distinction stars in all her modules, went on to get a 2.1 from good uni and is now qualifying as a paramedic and has a great job lined up for summer

DantheWOman · 25/06/2018 08:07

My cousin got fairly decent grades BCC but then applied to Bristol uni after his gap year. They're entry requirements were ABB but he still got onto his course!

My step-sister unfortunately got Us and was devastated. Instead of retaking, she decided to get an apprenticeship and now she works in an area which she loves and she's doing exactly what she wanted to do before she got her results.

Obviously these examples don't happen to everyone but it's not the end of the world!

moira123io · 25/06/2018 16:32

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Wowzel · 25/06/2018 16:35

I screwed up my A levels and ended up getting a B in general studies, a C in AS Psychology, an E in French and an E in Computer Science.

(And an N in Maths...)

I was predicted As and Bs...

So, I phoned up some universities and went through clearing. I got a first degree, then I went back and got a second one. I am now halfway through a MSc.... it doesn't have to be a disaster (although it felt like one)

juneau · 25/06/2018 16:39

Thing is, back when most of us were going to uni it was a lot less competitive, so with slightly crap grades you could get into a reasonably decent uni.

Wait for the results OP and then ask your DS what HE wants to do about them. If he wants to resit then either he'll have to redo the year or he could (at great expense), go to a crammer and resit. I had a few friends who did this and they got good grades the second time around, having been faced with the reality of no uni place and nothing else on the horizon. But if he's flunked his A levels this time from lack of effort then the motivation to resit and do better needs to come from him. Time for tough love.

Aeroflotgirl · 25/06/2018 16:46

DH very academic, predicted 3 As in A level, needed 3 As for Dentistry, he got something like 2 Ds and a C and went through clearing, to Study a BSc in Computer science. He loved it, he did not really want to do Dentistry, it was his parents who wanted him to. He is now in a well paid job in a telecomunications company writing computer softwear for companies such as BT, Vodaphone etc.

upsydaisydah · 25/06/2018 16:59

A Levels are hard - there’s such a knack to them that completing homework and a bit of revision isn’t going to do the job. I got BBCC at AS Level, so not awful, but did a couple of resits and came out with ABB. The only thing that helped was doing billions and billions of past papers. You have to get the exam technique just right or you don’t hit the marks. It’s brutal.
I’m about to graduate from a very good university with a 1st class honours degree. I have found University so much easier - it’s just a different, less rigid form of learning. If he flunks out, a couple of years working and saving and travelling and then an Access course will do him really well.

hettie · 25/06/2018 17:13

Well not DC but me... straight A student (GCSE) Oxbridge candidate but completely disengaged and could not be fucking arsed, didn't even want to go to uni...crappy a levels and scraped into Russel GRP via clearing (and much parental persuasion and promises that I could leave if I hated it). Loved the social life so stayed, but uni wanted to kick me out (not turning up for anything, not handing stuff in). Had a turn around moment (long story). Applied myself from end of 2nd year on... Managed 2i, then masters, doctorate and success in stupidly competitive career.
The secret was finding the thing that I was really passionate and interested in... not studying for some long term success/that I didn't even know about/couldn't see. Just studying for good grades to get into a good university to get a good job seemed far too nebulous...

Technonan · 25/06/2018 17:37

Sounds like he has chosen the wrong subjects and would benefit from doing an extra year - maybe picking up a different subject from biology? A-Levels can be sat in a year, if the school will allow this. OTOH, it's a buyers' market for uni places this year, so they may well accept him with lower grades. But does he still want to do biochemistry?

KittyKlaws · 25/06/2018 17:42

Not my DC but a close relation who failed all but one of his A-levels and is now the CEO of a very profitable company with all the trimmings and has way more money that me (who has various 'impressive' Hmm qualifications)

As someone who worked with students in universities I will say sometimes having to resit exams brings about a new level of maturity and a different attitude to them.

Either way failing is not the end of the world, you can resit or you can find something you are more suited to.

So good luck to your DS, not just for these exams but for what happens after them too.

ferrier · 25/06/2018 17:46

Thing is, back when most of us were going to uni it was a lot less competitive, so with slightly crap grades you could get into a reasonably decent uni.

Slightly crap grades then = reasonably decent grades now.
Lot less competitive then? - way more people go to uni now.

Jorah · 25/06/2018 17:55

Dd failed biology AS (got a U) and got an E in history. She made the quick and brave decision to repeat a year with new subjects. She changed from biology and history to PE A level and Health and social care btec. She carried on with geography.

She's predicted a B in geography but found the paper hard so we are hoping for a C.

She's now predicted an A in PE and a distinction in Health (equivalent to an A at a level) and looking at decent unis for a Sports science degree 🙂

Etymology23 · 25/06/2018 18:06

Biology A level didn’t in any way represent how much I liked biology at university in the end.

(And also, you can work your way up from A levels at our accountancy firm, and you can get lab work with A levels too.)

Echobelly · 25/06/2018 18:09

Friend of my brother deliberately flunked his A-levels to spite his suffocating ultra-religious parents. I know he got away from them, travelled, went back to studies and is now a very successful IT consultant (and not at all religious!)

Onceuponatime21 · 25/06/2018 18:11

Hettie what was your turnaround moment??

BillywigSting · 25/06/2018 18:17

I failed all of my a levels spectacularly, twice.

I am academically very capable and thought studying science and maths was what I "should" be doing because I'm bright.

I bummed around for a year pretty shook up, then a friend suggested I train to be a chef (I was always cooking and baking for people and it went down very well).

So that's exactly what I did and haven't looked back since. (there's a difference between a chef and a cook too, I did a few years of college to get my qualifications and when I'm working [currently a sahm] I earn a good wage, as good as dp who is actually a scientist)

LemonysSnicket · 25/06/2018 18:19

Try and get him an apprenticeship - they're fantastic and clearly he shouldn't go to Uni if he's not putting g the effort in at A level. My brother cracked under the stress of A levels ( v bright but just couldn't take the pressure) he is 20 now and v happy finishing his roofing apprenticeship, happy to be working with his hands in a great team of mates and with a lovely girlfriend.

Jorah · 25/06/2018 18:20

Good apprenticeships want decent a levels.

mangocoveredlamb · 25/06/2018 18:21

I got a c and two e’s at a level. I went straight to a (pretty average) uni. But the shock meant I pulled my socks up, got a 2:1 (1 mark off a 1st) and have a professional and post graduate qualification.

With hindsight I wish I had reset my a levels as I might have chosen a more interesting course!

LemonysSnicket · 25/06/2018 18:21

Or let him do other A levels next year - I did chemistry and got a U. It was ridiculously hard and I got an A* at GCSE, the jump is big.
I got As in my humanities and arts subjects and so went to uni for them, if I'd done all science I'd probably be where your son is now x