A level resits

[Harryyy]

Hi i have already made a post about this but wanting more opinions.

My grandma passed away mid January and it took a toll on my preparation and motivation leading up to my exams in May and in my opinion was a major reason as to why i scored so low and achieved BBC. Does this count as mitigating circumstances when resitting my A levels? I didn't know mitigating circumstances was a thing at the time.

BBC are perfectly normal A level grades. What did you need for your firm & insurance places? We're you under medical care in the run up to your exams? More importantly, would your teachers given you higher PGs in the face of your actual results?

Sorry for your loss.

I think you should be very proud of yourself to get those grades in the difficult circumstances.

Can your school/college help to answer the question you have?

I’m sorry for your loss.

so you’re planning on doing resits this autumn? I think it’s unlikely that your bereavement from last January would be taken into account. The best person to talk to is the exams officer at your school.

Short answer, no this is not likely to be accepted as mitigating circumstances.

I am sorry for your loss.
But no this would. not count.

@Harryyy
Mitigating circumstances has no bearing on resits, and in this case wouldn’t have qualified you for any marking concessions in the exams you just took.

To help you plan moving forward, “resits” are a completely fresh entry for examination. They are no different to sitting it the first time (unless you have a component which you are carrying forward).

Are you thinking of retaking the year at school? Or self studying and entering as an external candidate (costs a bit)?

Said with kind intent, exceptional circumstances might apply if your grandmother lived with you and died the morning of the exam. You would have to get your school to apply for special consideration the week of the exams, and you may have been awarded 5% extra marks or similar if the application was accepted.

It doesn't work that a sad thing happened to you four months before the exams started so you get bumped up a grade, and it wouldn't be applied after you get your grades or be applied to any resits you sit (which would be next summer as there is no Autumn resit for A Levels).

It may be a reason you've done less well than you hoped, and that's disappointing, but they are good grades and will get you into whatever the next stage of your life is, even if it's not the exact course and university you planned for.

Best of luck.

I needed AAB for firm and BBB for insurance which i got accept too but not really keen on going.

I was not under medical care

Depends on how i perform in the mock

Are you resitting the year at school/college or resitting at home?

resitting YR13

Ok, so it was 1999, but my dad dying whilst I was doing my A levels didn't count as he didn't actually die until later.

@Harryyy I think you mean that you are retaking by staying on at school? In this case I would start your revision as soon as you start back and also start doing practice papers from then as well

Yes redoing year 13. The thing is the universities that I want to apply to do not accept resits unless you have extenuating circumstances in the first sitting (Which i believe i had). That's why Im trying to figure out if my situation is a reasonable extenuating circumstance

In that case is there any point in resitting? I really don’t think sadly you will get extenuating circumstances, but you need to talk to the exams office/head teacher urgently. They may have teacher training days next week so I would email now. If they say it won’t happen and the uni you want won’t accept resits might you be better off going to the BBB uni this year? Or is there another third uni you’d rather apply to?

Also, probably email the programme lead of the course at your first choice uni and ask them. They might make an exception on the resits even without official extenuating circumstances. It’s in their power.

But the university website it states bereavement counts as extenuating circumstances

Not bereavement some 5 months before the exam. Sorry, but it really doesn't work like that.

With those grades do not resit, you will not qualify for any extenuating circumstances I am afraid. If the university you want to go to does not accept resits then it is a complete waste of a year. You have good results and if you got your insurance offer i would take it.

And that will be at their discretion. So your parent dies the week before your A levels, sure. Your parent dies a few months before, maybe. Your grandparent dies a week before, maybe. Your grandparent dies 5 months before, probably not.

sorry, I know that sounds harsh. I work as a senior university lecturer and sit on extenuating circumstances panels….for UG students, so nothing to do with A level/admission appeals. If a student was in your circumstances for say final exams we wouldn’t grant extenuating circumstances.

But do talk to the uni, there may be some flexibility in whether or not they’ll accept resits.

And I have to say I’d agree with the previous comment about taking your insurance offer.

unless you’ve really decided you wouldn’t like the course for genuine reasons as opposed to disappointment.

what will you do next year if you still haven’t got into your first choice?

Ok that makes sense thanks for the advice

Go to my insurance i guess. I was also planning on apply to degree apprenticeships as well during my resit. Also I have to move out in a few weeks for uni and I don't feel ready to move out yet im not gonna lie

I have experience from years ago. First thing - extenuating circumstances have to be submitted prior to sitting the exams. I was very ill in my second year of A-levels. Put in extenuating circumstances but I didn’t get what I needed. I could have gone to uni with my grades but not to do what I wanted. So I resat, I got the grades, reapplied and went to uni a year later. I’ll be honest, it was tough. Most of my friends went off to uni and I felt quite alone. I got through it though and had fun visiting them for the weekend!
When I was at uni, I lost a grandparent I was very close to. Again I did put in for extenuating circumstances and they did take it into account - I didn’t do as well as I needed in one module and they let me resit (when they would usually), I passed the resit and continued the course.
I would say you need to think about what you really want. Even if you resit, the unis you selected this time round won’t take you? Have you looked at clearing? It’s a lot of work to resit. It’s only worth it if other unis will accept resits (I called round unis to make sure they accepted resit grades before I did it!). At least now you for the future that if you think you have extenuating circumstances you should declare them at the time.
Good luck whatever you chose.

Fair enough. Can you defer your insurance? And apply for apprenticeship degrees in the next year as well?

My niece's Grampy died on the morning of her pyschology A level. She had to give him CPR whilst waiting for the ambulance after finding his body. She was given an extra 5%.

I'm really sorry for your loss. It sounds as though you will benefit from some more time at home, but try to do something productive with your time .