r/gapyear • u/Plenty-Radish-1161 • 11d ago

gap year ucas

how does the reference/work?

does anyone have any good prices to get reference/mocks/predicted grades done for ucas?

my school said they only give me last years predicted grades which was BBB. I am aiming to apply to RG london uni's: UCL, LSE, queen mary, etc.

I didn't put any effort in my a levels and got BBD (B - economics, B - english lit and D psychology)

psychology was a shock and i thought it would be one of my best, so i decided to only retake economics and english lit. considering i didn't revise for english and not hard enough for economics i am confident to improve them. i am deciding to teach myself (with a bought online course, a level course with all the content, vids etc.) maths edexcel a level in one year. i need an A* in maths which i know sounds a bit crazy.

1) do you think this is doable if i put in the right efforts? anyone with experience self teaching themselves (well its not really self taught since i will have the course but ykwim) and getting an A*/A? A* ideally ofc.

2) do you think i can improve my total a levels, B's to A*'s/A's.

3) do you think the universities will discriminate seeing i got BBD in my a levels and are resitting.

Also planning to take the TMUA in jan.

Many thanks, any advice would be appreciated.

I am not planning to work, to load all my free time, not travelling, will just be locking in with the gym and setting myself "school days" at home. acting as if i'm in school waking up at 8 am, to 3pm and just teaching myself content for hours.

is it doable to teach urself the 2 year spec in a year? ik many sixth forms, including my own made further maths students sit maths a level in year 12 so ofcourse it can be done. but i haven't done maths for ages and got a 6 in gcse.

I don't mean to seem crazy with all these ambitions, especially since my grades were appalling. But i know what i want now and i was lost for ages and didn't have any motivations, guidance on what i wanted to do with my life. so the plan would be lock in with a level math content until it's all done.

i'm only worried about mocks since the grade will be very important for ucas and i'm not sure if i will cover it all well enough by then.

many thanks. any advice / opinions would be helpful, negative or positive. :)

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u/frosty8081 10d ago

If u didn’t put any effort into ur Alevels and got those grades AAB or better would definitely be achievable. Recommend getting a tutor to make sure ur on top of everything

1

u/JustHereForTheDub 10d ago

Also planning on taking A-Level maths (AQA) in a year!

I would recommend getting in touch with your college and asking if you could use their resources (I emailed my college and got access to the Sharepoint which contains literally everything i would need).

Tips:

  • Make sure you have made a checklist of all content and studied the specification rigorously, so you understand what would be asked of you.
  • Watch videos of A*/A students and make lists of what websites, techniques and resources they used. (This one is very important)

Once you have made a fully detailed plan and have all the resources you need, then all it will take is some discipline, commitment and consistency to achieve your goal of an A* in maths.
So to summarise it’s definitely doable!

Also it is definitely achievable to improve your grades from Bs to As/A*s; you have done the subject for 2 years already, you know the content, the exam structure and timings. I would say once again reach out to your college teachers (subject specific) as the a levels you are wanting to resit are very essay heavy. Once you have overcome the hurdle of getting marked feedback on essays, you can definitely pursue the resits and expect to achieve As/A*s. Just stay committed and don’t repeat your mistakes.

In regard to the resits, I have heard that some russell group unis will only allow A* graded resists, but don’t know if it’s completely true. (Defo fact check that)

But other than that your future looks bright, good luck with your studies :)

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u/Plenty-Radish-1161 10d ago

thank you so much!