What should I do for this for A-Level private test centre results?

[kmo0416]

I retook my A-level exams this year.

I did well in the two others (both A-Stars), but for A-Level History there was a problem.

Last year, I did coursework in which I got full marks: 40/40.

I asked the private exam centre I did my A-level resits with whether I could carry this mark foreward as I was retaking History. They said I could.

In fact, when I submitted my application to do my exams with them in February, I was emailed by them saying that they needed a copy of my “Statement of Results” from my original A-Levels (from 2024) so they could carry forward the marks. I don’t know what they trying to do with that - get my ULN number or UCI number or see the mark? Though there is no coursework related mark on the 2024 statement of results or specific breakdown of results - it just has the grade and the raw mark.

Anyway, I sent them an email with a photo of the statement of results, confirming what it was, and they processed my application, sent an invoice and I paid.

Since they allowed me to pay and sit the exams, I thought that they had managed to confirm that they’d be carrying forward my coursework mark (40/40).

Just for the record, A-Level history is marked out of 200 with 160 marks for the exam papers and 40 for the coursework.

On Results Day, I got my results from them and got a B with the raw mark showing as 143/200. Just for the record, an A-Star is 172/200 and an A is 160/200.

I asked for my scripts back and checked the marks for each paper and just on the exam papers alone I achieved 143 marks so 143/160 (as there are only 160 marks for the exam papers - the other 40 come from coursework).

This means they definitely have missed the 40 marks from my coursework.

If you add 40 marks (coursework) to 143 marks (exams), that’s 183 marks so an A-star not a B.

I’m worried that something has gone wrong as the universities I applied to were telling me on UCAS that they could see I got a B in History and the result came out as a B. So, what happened to the coursework?

Would it even have been possible for the exam centre to book me in for an A-level history test without processing any form of coursework given it is a component of the qualification? If not, would the exam board just give me a 0 for it.

Is this too late to solve as apparently there’s a deadline to submit coursework or a deadline to modify exam results on these basis?

Would it be possible for them to add the 40 marks on to my exam results or not?

Would the exam centre know that they didn’t carry forward the marks?

I tried emailing them but they said to wait 3-5 working days.

I do so agree with the final paragraph here. A foundation year would ease you in to uni life which in the round will give you more chance of success than yet another year out.

It is time to move forward.

You can’t sue over a misunderstanding. All you can do is follow the complaints and appeal process for maladministration. However you have not suffered any loss to sue for, your uni offer is still there, and litigation will just prolong the uncertainty as you may find you are unsuccessful amd lose money over it. However in the meantime take a deep breath, do the Foundation cpurse and use it as a opportunity to get settled into uni life, focus your study skills and ,most importantly, move on towards independence. Quibbles over marks and processes will pale into insignificance and you are at risk of spending another year marking time and frustrated with no guarantee of a better offer next year. Longer term noone will care that your resit was “only” a B.

You can’t sue anyone!

if you genuinely found courses you liked on clearing that were advertised as AAA you’d probably have got in with your grades as they are. Did you actually try?

if you get the A stars you want, what’s the plan now?

I got A-star A-star B thanks to their malpractice so couldn’t apply for AAA courses in clearing due to the B. Even if they resolve it by making me get the A-star I should get, it’s too late.

But you can still use it when you apply for a course after the Foundation and for a Law placement, if the board were to uphold your appeal. Iirc the course at Cambridge is as much to redress disadvantages during your education and background as for academics, and it was financed, so minimal debt. Take it and enjoy the year to adapt while you resolve this and consider options. There is every chance you would not get such an opportunity again and it might open doors for your future.

I agree with all those saying - do the F year at Cambridge, really see if it is what you want. Get the very most you can out of it. If you love it, stay there for your full degree – that will always be an excellent thing to have.

Don’t waste time now seeking after clearing courses that have got away. They don’t matter. You have a great Cambridge offer which many people would love to have. You have amazing A level results; when this is sorted out they will be even more amazing. Move forward now, please, and count the good things you have rather than continually wondering about what has gone by.

Have you heard the saying "the best is the enemy of good enough"?

Please do the foundation year, not least because it will be a constructive use of the 2025/26 academic year, even if you decide to apply for other universities than Cambridge once you are there.

For the future, it would have been worth phoning up with two a stars and one b, especially if you explained the coursework issue was being investigated, as there is certainly a chance places asking AAA would have accepted you. You can’t sue anyone over this.

PS you are studying Law - an error on the part of the exam centre is unlikely to constitute malpractice.

Plus - it’s a great chance to see if you like Cambridge enough to stay there, and it gets you away from the drama with your sister etc.

Not that unusual

My ds retook biology and the practical exam results were carried forward to be used alongside the new results for sat exams

However
OP
have you checked that using coursework for history is accepted by the exam board
There may have been changes to the syllabus or coursework requirements this year and those changes may mean your last years coursework is out of date

Did you do that check yourself OP
We rang the exam board ourselves to get it in writing

Did you even retry and get clearing places though? Clearing is a negotiation and you would almost have definitely been accepted on some courses that in theory need AAA

no one is guilty of malpractice

what do you actually want?

You may think this is harsh, but I do wonder if you are deliberately avoiding taking up your place. That way you can always blame someone else for not going to Oxford, not getting the grades you wanted the first time, not taking up your foundation year, not getting straight stars in your resits, not fighting for a place in clearing, not going to university next year in 2026 either because there will be another injustice.

I do understand that you have had a difficult life, which is why Cambridge was so keen to give you the opportunity to start looking to the future. You must be 20 soon. Stop looking behind you all the time and start going forwards.

I'd never call for any poster - much less a young person to be blocked from a site, but the constant rumination, second guessing & quite frankly bizarre threads from the OP need to be stopped.
The poster has had the best of advice from highly knowledgeble posters not just here on MN, but reddit & the student room, all to no avail or comfort - just constant running in circles.

@kmo0416 Your clear academic ability aside, I'd really worry how you would cope with the demands of University life. You seem stuck & ND issues are hard, but all of the young people I know with similar difficulties have truly flourished with an amount of support at Uni.

This has to stop . I truly worry for you, you seem incapable of seeing a way for yourself or taking advice.

Turning down the great opportunity of a foundation year at Cambridge is unbelivable. If it wasn't clear to hear you distress - I'd have put money on this being a long running wind up of epic proportions.

Stop looking for everyone else to give you endless answers to your endless scenarios and live your life

If ever anyone could benefit from a foundation year at Cambridge, it’s you OP! Sadly I think at this point it is a complete waste of people’s time giving you reasoned and sensible advice on how to move forward. The pattern seems to be that you appear on the site with an idea in your mind and you keep repeating variations of the same question completely ignoring the answers which you have been given because they don’t suit your narrative.

What have you decided to do, @kmo0416 ?

The test centre still hasn’t solved the coursework issue and it’s stressing me out!

So are you going to Cambridge?

I don’t know. They keep emailing me to ask about student finance but I just keep ignoring the emails as it makes me upset thinking that about going there and now I have no other good options thanks to clearing being wasted due to the exam centre causing my grades to be too low. I’m thinking of just going to some random university for a year as my parents won’t let me take another gap year and then reapplying to better universities from there.

You have Cambridge - the best option in the world.

However you won’t go anywhere. You have self-sabotaged so you not going to university will always be someone else’s fault. People metaphorically chop their limbs off for a Cambridge place. And you won’t take your place up. Sad.

Seriously, just do the foundation year. You can continue to look into the History grade while getting on with life.

Even if the exam board thing was sorted and you got your A star - what difference would it make? You'd still only (!) have the Cambridge offer. There was no Oxford in clearing.

There was UCL for history. So, I could have gone to UCL then reapplied to Oxford for law as Oxford allows people at other universities to apply only if they are studying different subjects. A lot of this has to do with the fact that I’ve now developed a connection with Oxford and I just don’t wanna go to Cambridge anymore because I prefer Oxford.

Which is great IF you get a place at Oxford. Which is not guaranteed.

I know that’s my big worry. I am aware of the fact that Cambridge is a massive opportunity and that if I decline it and then don’t get into Oxford or maybe don’t even get into any other good university for whatever reason then I would’ve wasted another year and I would be very upset, however, I have to think about if I want to go to Cambridge as a place not just because of it’s prestige and I just don’t want to. I’m looking for the perfect combination of somewhere that I’d be happy and somewhere that is prestigious it’s not just about prestige.

Also, I have to think about the concept of a foundation year which I just find to be unnecessary and embarrassing to me. Although I understand how it could be helpful to certain people because of the grades that I now have I just would much rather progress to a degree but they won’t let me do that.