DD wants to resit - regardless

[Blushingm]

DD has a place to study law. She thinks she's messed up a couple of exams as her nerves get to her.

I've said to wait til results day as she may still be accepted - she's got a contextual offer already.

She wants to resit year 13 regardless as she's not happy with her performance and feels still will always feel like she could have done better. My thoughts are no one ever asks your a levels once you have your degree and she should go if they accept but she's adamant she wants to resit

What do you think?

There is an A level requirement lost from the Top 50 eg those that require AAA, AAB or ABB. It’s easy to find.

If her grades are below ABB she won’t get top tier firms but she can get others.
and there is movement between firms on qualifying.

Many successful lawyers are not necessarily academically the best but they are as tough as old boots when it comes to self belief. As they get recognised for their following and the work they do they can upgrade firms. Some with all A or Oxford never make partner whereas some from lesser universities do. Once you are qualified it all depends on areas of work, skill set and following etc.

However, she needs to work on her confidence levels.

If she wants a decent firm even with grades of AAA and a first, there is no guarantee of a training place. She would be better placed building up her cv eg taking part in societies as chair or treasurer, leading the debating society or writing on the university magazine, Anything that can show proactive thought is good. She has to be confident.

More importantly, I think that if she suffers from performance anxiety she will find that a legal career might be a living hell. If she messes up one case worth millions at aged 25 - how would she cope?

I think she should move onwards with the results she has and focus on the next part of her journey.

My twins didn’t get to do their Alevels at all thanks to covid and just got predicted grades as did all their contemporaries.

We’ll never know if this worked in their favour or not 🤷🏼‍♀️ and after all their work felt like a really unsatisfactory unfinished ending.

But they went on to Uni and have both just graduated with great grades. It was a good reminder that there is sometimes more than one route to your goal, to keep looking forward and be flexible.

Not once you have taken the exam, if you pull out the day before your first exam you can resit year 13. But once you have taken exams level 3 funding (key stage 5, A-levels, BTEC, Tlevels etc…) is finished.

@OhBeAFineGuyKissMe I don't think it is - there are people in DDs year who are resitting year 13. They took exams last year and are resitting this year

Exactly
A couple of DDs friends who did resits had to self fund. One got extra tuition and one just self taught but both had to find an external place to do the exams and pay for them.

To be perfectly honest this attitude won't actually help her in uni, she is best working on it now

@Blushingm do you really want to pay for her to resit year 13. It won’t be free.

Hi @Blushingm . I’m a partner who has run grad recruitment, and now at a large city firm. As pp have said if this is a story your daughter is telling herself to help with her worry about failure etc, fine. However I would strongly advise against retaking if she does not “need” to. Universities and recruitment teams will see it, she may not be able to rely on them anyway and she will need to explain them a grad scheme and TC interviews, and the explanation that she thought she could do slightly better will not be received as well as she seems to think, it looks a bit obsessive and like she lacks resilience or an ability to deal with the reality of a situation, none of which are useful in lawyers. To be clear if a big life event had caused her to crash and burn and she’d got over/past it that would be a great story, but incremental nibbling at slightly better grades when she is already at the top of the scale looks immature or like she cannot cope with mistakes.

I would encourage her to talk to the Uni advisory services and if possible the people on the access to law scheme she took part in to see if they can help her see past her perfectionism. May also we worth saying you can’t fund a retake year, she may be pissed now but if it gets her to move on sensibly may be better in the long run.

Also as pp say some work on resilience would be wise, law degrees and careers are more difficult and lonely that many think and she will drive herself to burn out or crashing out if she cannot work past things like this.

Good luck to her.

How is she going to pay for this extra year? Once she has 3 A Levels at whatever grades funding stops for FE.

I know - it's about £40 per resit exam

I don't think she should at all

This is a really lovely and helpful response

I'm really not sure she's considered how it will look to uni or grad schemes if she went to resit despite passing and getting accepted to university

And you're right, it could be a story she's telling herself to if she does crash and burn she can say 'I was resorting anyway'

Yes they can work it out from the dates

I think I’d be more worried about her attitude - she needs to realise that it doesn’t matter as long as you do good enough for the next stage. She won’t be perfect at uni or once she’s at work. As long as she gets in, resits are a waste of time.

no - if she wants to go back to school, you are likely paying for a year of private school, if you can find one to take her

It’s a tough career not an easy option. Her current attitude isn’t conducive to success in law. Dd also going this route.

Her and our view is she worked as hard as she could the exams were fair she had no extraordinary event so frankly the grades she gets will be what she deserves to get. Let the cards fall as they may. If she doesn’t get stellar grades she will apply for another subject. Law is now so insanely competitive that it’s probably not worth doing if you are not top tier as getting a TC would be a challenge as so many others would have those grades.

@combinationpadlock her school allows pupils to resist year 13, parents pay for the exam resits but pupils do resit year 13

That’s unusual and I’m not sure particularly healthy as proved by your dds “well I can just have another go” mentality

No state schools here would allow that thats it youre out if you want to resit you pay for a local crammar for a year which is a private school.

It might be different in Wales as education is devolved. (Is that the right word?) England you can only be funded once for a programme, so once you have completed it (sat exams) you don’t get funding for an extra year. It could also be the school is taking the hit and having a student unfunded, which is rare but not unheard off, especially if there are exceptional circumstances you don’t know off.

My advice stays the same, now is the time to look forward, not back. The wait between exams and results is really daunting and going to uni is a massive step, leaving your support networks of school, friends and family (if living away from home). It is not uncommon for students to catastrophise in this waiting period, as they have no control over their results anymore.

Offer reassurance and try to steer her to focusing on her exciting future.

Every time I've applied for a job I've had to put degrees but also A levels including grades. It's on the application forms.

Law is very competitive and yes a level grades do matter. But as pps have said getting top grades via “having another bash” at the exams without a good reason for retaking won’t impress.

@TheaBrandt this is one of my worries

I've tried to speak to her about it today but she's said she doesn't want to talk about it any l more

Hopefully results will be fine and it will all come out in the wash, but maybe leave it now then show her this thread if she starts up again after results. I am happy to chat if she wants to pm me.

I too am worried about her MH, and Joe it isn't conducive to law. At some point opening post, you're going to have to grow a pair of bollocks and talk to her about this.

@AllyMacbealmyarse that is so incredibly kind of you - thank you

Possibly your daughter is worried that most people studying law at an RG university will have all A* and A at A level and that she will struggle to keep up. Only about 18% of law graduates will get a training contract and the brutal truth is that these are probably not the ones who struggled to meet even a contextual offer.
Obviously you should encourage her and I hope that she does well, but she should also consider other options.