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Higher education

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

Original poster

Resitting A levels in October 20 - thoughts?

11 replies

NadiSel · 15/08/2020 12:57

What are your kids electing to do - resit or accept their grades and press on? Two schools and of thought here (see what I did there Smile).

  • Local school is encouraging dd to accept her university place with the A levels she got. They say the competition will only get more in next year’s intake with all those deferring and the return of international students. And they point to the fact there will be no school support for her. Problem is she wants to do medicine and she hasn’t got the grades to do anything other than a course that if she does really well, might allow a sideways move into Medicine in Year 2.
  • she resits, and gets the results to apply for 2021 intake for Medicine. Problem is many medical schools don’t normally accept resits. One of the uni’s said yesterday that an Oct resit will not count as a resit. Has anybody else heard this?
OP posts:
lockdownsunflowers · 15/08/2020 13:14

Did she have an offer to do medicine? Can you ask them directly?

Have you looked up the medical schools council website?

jayritchie · 15/08/2020 13:27

I think this is one of those question where thestudentroom will have loads of good advice. From recollection:

  • an increasing number of medical schools accept retakes
  • Oct sittings are not considered retakes.
Coffeeandbeans · 15/08/2020 14:07

I read today on Mumsnet that Ofqual or the Govt have said that an October resit if the grade improves replaced the allocated grade and unis have been told to ignore the allocated grade.

My child is resitting one in October. This then means he can have one more go in May 2021 and then we call it a day. He needs his predicted grades for his chosen career.

Skerryberry · 15/08/2020 14:09

The October exams are NOT resits. The exams have never been sat. They are OCTOBER EXAMS!!

DS is sitting them. Like your DD, he has a particular career in mind and needs to be on a particular degree course. He wants to sit the exams to get the results he has achieved and deserves. He will then enjoy a Gap year of working and hopefully travelling.

Original poster
NadiSel · 15/08/2020 14:09

LockdownSunflowers

No offer for Med. But offer for a course that has a potential pathway to Med after the first year depending on getting into top 10% of her year.

And in terms of contacting schools, I’m afraid our experience has not been particularly favourable. Lots of unis seemed to have closed their contact centres after about 2pm on 13 Aug despite still having clearing places. And lots others don’t have a manned tel no or email mailbox that is responsive enough on their emails. I do accept, though, that they have been inundated with queries this year.

Jayritchie may I ask what are u basing your comment “ Oct sittings are not considered retakes.“ upon - have u seen that written down somewhere?

OP posts:
mumsneedwine · 15/08/2020 14:27

@NadiSel October are definitely not seen as resits. Unis will take the results as their 2020 grade. For medicine I would suggest trying this but has she sat UCAT yet as will need that to be done before deadline to apply this year. Not sure what will happen as to grades not being back before Oct 15 UCAS deadline but I'm sure that will be sorted by then. If all else fails retake in June. A lot of medical schools do allow retakes 😊

mumsneedwine · 15/08/2020 14:28

@NadiSel and the not a trait bit is in one if the OFQUAL things. So it is official

mumsneedwine · 15/08/2020 14:28

A resit ! Sorry typing too fast

fwwaftp · 15/08/2020 15:42

Did she not get an offer because her predicted grades were not good enough? Or was it just simply because too many people apply and there were other who were better?
Is she likely to get top grades in October if she does sit the exams?
How does it work anyway? Are schools offering to give lessons in the autumn so that they can prepare for the exams or are they just expected to sit the exams with the knowledge they have now and revise by themselves? Sounds like your school is not offering anything.

It's very difficult because it is a risk and it's a really big ask of our young people. I don't think they will do as well in the October exams as they would have done if the exams had been carried out as normal.

She could still accept the offer for the course she is on and aim to work towards getting into the 10% and then transferring. If she doesn't make it she would have another chance in that she could apply for one of the 4-year graduate medical schools.

mumsneedwine · 15/08/2020 15:46

Be v careful with transferring - get it in writing ! And also is it if you get over a certain mark or just one person. Also graduate medicine is so ridiculously competitive and expensive. You get a minimal amount for a 2nd degree and you as parents would need to find a lot of it. 48 applicants per place whereas about 10 for undergraduate medicine. Things to think about.

Original poster
NadiSel · 15/08/2020 17:47

Thank you all some really good advice. Yes the transfer to Medicine is going to be very very competitive and no guarantee.

She is going to redo the UCAT as her pass only lasts for one year so not into the 2021 intake. And resit in Oct to see if she can get the grades for undergraduate entry in 2021.

I do feel sorry for all those thinking about resits in Oct because they have not had school or tuition since Mar as it was about then that they were due to be let off for homestudy ahead of A levels in Jun. Nobody knows if the Oct exams are going to be harder than normal to weed out the bow wave that is building up for 2021 entry.

OP posts:
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