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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

re-sitting A levels while at uni

28 replies

Voyager2019 · 22/08/2019 08:50

Hello, knowledgeable MN. I have an odd quiery and I wonder what everyone thinks about this.
My DC worked really hard, but missed out by a few marks on 2 of the A levels and got Bs despite A* predictions. Managed to get into the insurance uni for the right course and is intending on starting this September. DC is very unhappy with the Alevel results and wants to re-sit them while at uni, so the B grades do not hinder future applications for postgrad and jobs. DC is aiming very high and feels that these grades are not representative to their knowledge and efforts. Do people think this is possible and is it necessary? Are A levels really that important for the future opportunities? TIA

OP posts:

CottonSock · 22/08/2019 08:52

I wouldn't unless it was lower than a c in English or maths. Maybe she can chat to tutors once she starts.

senua · 22/08/2019 08:55

No. A waste of time. Concentrate on Year 1 of University. A bad idea for one A Level but a really bad idea for two, they will be stretched too thinly.

User10fuckingmillion · 22/08/2019 08:58

Bad idea. No way will they be able to do as well as they can with year 1 at uni and 2 A levels.

Atlasta · 22/08/2019 08:58

I really don't think it's necessary. If she wanted to retake to go to her first choice uni and defer a year then yeh, great but if she is going to her insurance uni this year then really what's the point?
Future employment will be looking at her degree. Not A-levels so much. I also think she needs to look forward and concentrate on her degree rather than resitting A-levels.
I'd be telling her to move on and look to the future. No good ruminating.

BikeRunSki · 22/08/2019 09:00

Will it really matter, or is it just ego? I scraped 2 Es due to domestic circumstances (my dad was dying) but had an offer from a poly (was still a poly in those days) that happened to be well thought of for the subject I wanted to study. I wanted to stay in and resit my A levels. My head of sixth form told me that no one would care about my A level results by Christmas. Turns out she was right. I got a 2:1, MSc and PhD and at chartered in 2 professions. No one has ever questioned my A level results. Times may have changed, or different professions may be different, but surely your DC would be best off concentrating their energies on their degree and university life.

Daffodil2018 · 22/08/2019 09:03

I think your DC would be better off trying to get a first at university rather than being distracted by A level resits.

LIZS · 22/08/2019 09:05

The disappointment will fade in time. Unless it is for something like a Law career, where A levels may affect which firms consider her, the degree will outweigh these grades. Very difficult to resit during Fresher year.

senua · 22/08/2019 09:11

Does DC think that the grades are correct? I ask because they are going straight for retakes rather than re-marks.
Have you spoken to the school about an appeal or getting the papers back for a post mortem (as a positive step: I now know where I lost marks and will not repeat that mistake in future exams).

00100001 · 22/08/2019 09:18

She must have missed more than "a few" marks to drop two grades?
Even if she got the highest B, and was predicted a bare scraping of A, she would still be around 20 marks off the A.

What were her actual scores?

00100001 · 22/08/2019 09:19

And if she was only 1 or 3 marks from an A, then she might be able to go for a remark ?

tunnocksreturns2019 · 22/08/2019 09:22

No no no! Focus on first year at uni. Resitting and getting As plus flunking first year would not be good. There’s enough of a life change to deal with starting uni as well as keeping up with coursework and a new way of learning

negomi90 · 22/08/2019 09:27

Once at uni, the degree (and work experience in chosen field) matter far more than the A-Level marks.
Tell her to focus on the degree, its more important now.

Marinetta · 22/08/2019 09:32

Once you have a degree I don't think employers are particularly interested in A levels. I put my A Level subjects on my CV but not the grades and I've never had anyone ask what grades I got or want to see the certificates. In the first year of uni there will be plenty of other things to learn, I wouldn't reccommend studying for A Levels alongside uni as it might effect the learning for the uni course.

Original poster

Voyager2019 · 22/08/2019 10:07

Thank you all very much for all your valuable thoughts and input. I shall show DC this thread, hopefully to put their mind at ease. We have requested the scripts and will decide on the re-mark when they arrive. One subject was 3 point away from an A (despite A perdiction) and the other - 10 points from an A (predicted A, not A).
I agree, probably best to look forward and let the disappointment faint in time. I really hope you are all right and A level grades do not matter much or at all after the degree ( I know that each degree trumps the previous one ). So I guess DC will stand a good chance when applying for a competitive Masters after the BSc, if they manage to get a first (it is a RG uni)?

OP posts:

senua · 22/08/2019 10:20

We have requested the scripts and will decide on the re-mark when they arrive.
Woah! Have you discussed this with the school? I may be wrong but I thought that, once returned, papers could not be subsequently remarked.

Original poster

Voyager2019 · 22/08/2019 10:25

senua yes, they can and yes, we have discussed with the school.

OP posts:

senua · 22/08/2019 10:26

Phew!
Sorry to cause unnecessary stress.

ErrolTheDragon · 22/08/2019 10:31

I'd say your DC should put all their effort into the degree they're doing now, not looking back or too far forwards.

See about the re-marks, that's worth bothering with. But if those Bs were actually the fair grades then, unless there were some specific issues during the A level study and/or exams, your DC may have to recalibrate their expectations.

SirTobyBelch · 22/08/2019 12:29

Once you have a degree I don't think employers are particularly interested in A levels.

Some are. The OP's son/daughter needs to look at things he/she is likely to be applying for after university to see whether this would be a good idea. UK degree classifications are meaningless, so there is a chance an employer will also be looking at A-levels.

This is the second time today I've posted this link: www.hepi.ac.uk/2019/08/14/why-employers-dont-care-about-qualifications/. Close to 30% of employers set minimum A-level standards as well as minimum degree requirements.

ErrolTheDragon · 22/08/2019 13:18

UK degree classifications are meaningless

That's severely overstating the case. Many employers are capable of assessing the grade within the context of the specific university and course. And the degree classification, not A levels, is usually the main criterion for access to higher degrees

The graph in your link still shows significantly more employers using degree grade than looking at A levels.

While clearly it's ideal to have good A levels and degree grades, it would surely be foolish to jeopardise the latter to try to improve the former.

SirTobyBelch · 22/08/2019 13:34

That's severely overstating the case.

Really? I can't remember where I saw it now, but someone had done a detailed analysis of degree classification algorithms that showed - as an extreme example, admittedly - that a student could gain a first from one insitution with exactly the same marks as a student gaining a 2ii at a different university. Employers who receive a lot of graduates will form empirical judgements regarding the relative value of degrees from different institutions, but for smaller employers I think this is difficult as they won't necessarily be aware that a graduate of one university has a degree classification based on all of her/his module or part marks from year 2 onwards, while another's is based on only the highest-scoring 75% of credits from the those years with individual module marks rounded up before the final average mark is also rounded up.

The graph in your link still shows significantly more employers using degree grade than looking at A levels.

I didn't say a majority of employers look at A-level grades. I said some do.

ErrolTheDragon · 22/08/2019 13:48

None of that makes degree classifications 'meaningless'. To be sure, their meaning is not nearly as clear as it should be, and depends on the context of course and institution.
Next stage will probably be some AI which tries to figure that out - likely to the detriment of students who got firsts from unis which award too many of them but who could have got a first from one which has maintained standards and awards fewer.

SirTobyBelch · 22/08/2019 16:12

Okay. Fair enough. My language was intemperate. Degree classes are open to misinterpretation, then, given that they are decided in different ways at different universities.

ErrolTheDragon · 22/08/2019 16:13

Agreed!

Namenic · 22/08/2019 16:25

Better to concentrate on degree - it costs a lot more money.

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