Bad A-level grades, can bite you in the rear end, 6 years in the future

[Nitefly]

Right:

But, that is also partly down to the extenuating circumstances that going to a bad school created for me. I don't feel it would've made a massive difference, but it would've made enough of a difference for me to get staight As, whereas I normally get B-C grades.

^^^ That reads very clearly to me as 'I would have got better grades in a better school'. I can't read that any other way. I would totally agree that a better school would proberly increase your chances, but the way you wrote that smacks of 'Its not fair, people had it better than me' when others have come from really sloppy schools and have achieved amazing things.

You seem to think that motivation is universal, the truth is it's very relative and subject to environment. People who goto a less academic school are going to be, on the whole less motivated than those in the better institutions. Bad schools breed the "I'm not good enough" mentality. I had very little to no motivation while doing my A-levels and it was a stuggle to get where I am, but I got here. My motivation has since climbed and I'm determined to get a good degree. I have the ability to do so, if I doubted that for a second I wouldn't be here.

I have to disagree, I would say that the pupils background and home lifestyle, mainly influenced by their parents is the largest contributer towards being 'academicly minded'. From then on its down to the individual.

My argument all along has been that education is circumstancial, being that you will do better with better circumstances and there are a myriad of points that can be made to prove that. If I'm wrong, then why is it that institutions give charity or predicted grades if there is a death in the family? Why is it you can apply for extenuating circumstances to begin with? Education and achievement in my opinion are relative to environment.

Agreed, but you make no mention at all of such things in any of your post other than 'school', which isn't helping what said come across very well.

Also, if you're going to troll someone in future, don't bother apologising beforehand, it makes you look like a moron and if you're going to disagree with someone, try forming a legible, consise argument instead of going for cheap sarcastic shots.

Why do I look like a moron? I can't see where I trolled either. So please enlighten. However, I will cut back on the cheap sarcastic shots

 

[Lopéz]

EED!

Psychology, Philosophy, Computing.

Go team crappy A Levels!

*n

Woohoo I'm in there too!

DDE (I think :/)
Maths, Design Technology, Art

Something like that anyway.

 

[Mundu]

Woohoo I'm in there too!

DDE (I think :/)
Maths, Design Technology, Art

Something like that anyway.

I must be in there too seeing as it's taken me 3 years to do 2 as levels.

things happen I was ill for 2 years but who cares it should all work out in the end and having good grades is equal to having a big fat e-penis!

 

[lucifersam]

nearly finished my A levels probs gonna get C or B in economics C in Physics and E in math not that great but im working pretty hard some people like me just aint academically orientated. shove a PC in front of any of my oxbridge AAA friends and they will look at in with a confused and bemused face, some people just arnt good at pure subjects like math or economics but they do well at a specialist degree and then companies put them down i think its quite unfair

 

[Vegetarian]

I have a Masters degree, an Honours degree and 2 postgrad diploma's... in a job interview, they asked for my A level results certificats - I declined and withdrew my application for the job!

 

[HangTime]

Opposite situation for me. Decent A-levels (AAB), but a rubbish degree. I've now been working for 4.5years and am still earning well below average salary. At the end of the day, a 2:1 from Bristol is sure to open doors to a reasonable job for you, even if it's not your dream job. Heck, I'd love to know what employer it is who pays so much attention to A-level results!

Depending on your personal situation and how much freetime you have outside of work, you might want to consider doing a couple of A-levels at a college or similar. Depending on how easy you find things I'd imagine that it shouldn't be too difficult to study 2 a-levels part time in the space of 1 year and attain A-C grades, provided you have a reasonable aptitude/interest/effort in the subject? As I said to begin with though, that would require giving up a lot of time at evenings and weekends.

 

[locutus12]

I admit it I have crap A-Levels which is why on my CV i don't specify my grades.

But since my A-levels I have managed a 2:1 (Hons) from a respectable uni and I have 2 years commercial experience in applications programming.

But alas I got turned down for an interview because of my A-Level grades

you can be safe in the knowledge that you were over looked for a candidate who had better qualifications than you but doesnt know his arse from his elbow.

very few employers seem to care about experience for non management positions, they are interested in getting the best looking paperwork in the filing cabinet and seemingly couldnt give a crap about whether you can do the job or not, Welcome to England, where 95% of company managers / bosses / team leaders wouldnt know a good candidate if the person walked in with Jesus Christ for a personal referral,

 

[Replicant]

I have a Masters degree, an Honours degree and 2 postgrad diploma's... in a job interview, they asked for my A level results certificats - I declined and withdrew my application for the job!

Why walk away from a job your interested in?, all part of the standard process for them to ask for proof of your results, if they look at your poorer grades and decide your not employable then so what?

Part of me does agree with what Nix is saying, the fact is, coming from a good background with parents who are prepared to offer their children the obsolute best in terms of education and environment will increase the likelihood of success, using this as an excuse for getting C's instead of A's just isn't right however, and dwelling on things like that is silly.

@w11tho, How is Tony Blairs suggestion of getting 50% of students into further education a bad thing? more people having a Degree and using there increased knowledge to add value to British business can only serve to strengthen the economy in the long term, and more people entering the degree market will encourage existing students to work harder and set themselves apart from the crowd by achieving a top grade.

Having 50% of people at county level at sport is a blatant waste of resources.

 

[Vegetarian]

Why walk away from a job your interested in?, all part of the standard process for them to ask for proof of your results, if they look at your poorer grades and decide your not employable then so what?

I have very good qualifications - a professional company will see that - By asking for proof of my A levels (they had my degree certificates), gave me warnings that they were amaturish! Could prove problems in future - so avoided!

 

[Replicant]

Well if you saw a chap with AAA, Maths, English. Physics. VS a student With ACD, but they both had the same maths degree grade would you not consider candidate A over B if they both did similar in terms of interview, if nothing else the extra qualifications show consistency.

 

[Nix]

Part of me does agree with what Nix is saying, the fact is, coming from a good background with parents who are prepared to offer their children the obsolute best in terms of education and environment will increase the likelihood of success, using this as an excuse for getting C's instead of A's just isn't right however, and dwelling on things like that is silly.

I do hope you're not assuming I dwell on not achieving straight As because I don't, the truth is I couldn't really care less. I just want to get my degree

 

[PaulStat]

you can be safe in the knowledge that you were over looked for a candidate who had better qualifications than you but doesnt know his arse from his elbow.

very few employers seem to care about experience for non management positions, they are interested in getting the best looking paperwork in the filing cabinet and seemingly couldnt give a crap about whether you can do the job or not, Welcome to England, where 95% of company managers / bosses / team leaders wouldnt know a good candidate if the person walked in with Jesus Christ for a personal referral,

Actually that must be true, in my current job one of my responsibilities is to support people who develop applications with our software.

Had a companies 'lead' developer phone up yesterday for help with constructing an if statement, it appears he didn't know what a logical operand was

 

[w11tho]

I have a Masters degree, an Honours degree and 2 postgrad diploma's... in a job interview, they asked for my A level results certificats - I declined and withdrew my application for the job!

Why? Were your A-Levels not very good? Companies know that A-Levels are the last qualifications you can take which compares you to others over the country on a level par. The standard of degrees, masters and diplomas varies massively.

W11tho, How is Tony Blairs suggestion of getting 50% of students into further education a bad thing? more people having a Degree and using there increased knowledge to add value to British business can only serve to strengthen the economy in the long term, and more people entering the degree market will encourage existing students to work harder and set themselves apart from the crowd by achieving a top grade.

Having 50% of people at county level at sport is a blatant waste of resources.

University used to be for the academically talented to home in on their abilities and take their education to the next level. Now, however, academic talent is not a prerequisite, and many just go to University because they fancy 3 years away from home without having to enter the big world of work. I'm all for people wanting to further their education, but I don't expect the government to massively subsidise a persons degree, who is clearly not that good at what they do. As you say, getting 50% of people to play county sport would be a total waste of time, because the majority just wont be upto it, and it wouldn't serve us any good. However, suggesting to young people that University is the only way to go if you really want to succeed in life is stupid and very misleading. That's why we have a lot of confused sociology graduates wondering why their degree from Wrexham Poly hasn't landed them a graduate job...

We all have different talents in different areas, and to suggest that for 50% of us, that talent lies in academia is absolutely ludicrous. I'd be far more in favour of the money going on vocational courses, which start at 16 and go on to remove the stigma associated with not staying in school. Yes, we need some people to stay in academia, but we also need builders, plumbers, police, armed forces, drivers, electricians etc.

 

[Lopéz]

I have very good qualifications - a professional company will see that - By asking for proof of my A levels (they had my degree certificates), gave me warnings that they were amaturish! Could prove problems in future - so avoided!

So lets view it from their perspective. 3 guys applied, all with identical excellent degree qualifications, so they decided to narrow it down by A level grade.

You got cold feet and now you look like a berk

 

[spirit]

I have very good qualifications - a professional company will see that - By asking for proof of my A levels (they had my degree certificates), gave me warnings that they were amaturish! Could prove problems in future - so avoided!

hehe I love the way people can't spell anymore

Plus loads of people lie, so why shouldn't they ask for the certificates?

 

[Vegetarian]

hehe I love the way people can't spell anymore

Plus loads of people lie, so why shouldn't they ask for the certificates?

Im dyslexsic!

But my point is whats the point showing A level certificates if you show Masters certificate....

 

[w11tho]

But my point is whats the point showing A level certificates if you show Masters certificate....

As I mentioned earlier, the level at which degree/masters/diplomas varies immensely - every Tom, Dick and Harry now has a degree, and many of Tom, Dick and Harry's friends have decided they'd also like to do a Masters.

Your A-Levels show how you compared with people all over the country, and give an indication of the level at which your higher education was pitched.