Bad AS grades, worth applying for uni?

IMO A Levels are a complete waste of time. I did both AS and A2 Levels. Got absolute rubbish AS level grades and no A2 Grades, but i still got into Uni. All i did was one year foundation course, then i was able to go and an Undergradate degree course the next year
 
Milkybk said:
You think you were depressed? Then you weren't. You'd know if you were. You're just looking for excuses instead of accepting reality.

If you failed at practical and only managed C's in your written exams then you're not cut out for medicine imo.

Sometimes the truth hurts.
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When did I say I wasn't depressed:confused:

Ok fair enough, all I am asking is should I apply this year, what would the disadvantages be of me not applying this year (apart from not getting a uni placement)
 
flibbage0 said:
When did I say I wasn't depressed:confused:

Ok fair enough, all I am asking is should I apply this year, what would the disadvantages be of me not applying this year (apart from not getting a uni placement)
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It will feel like it's taking you longer to get where you want to go. Your social life will take a thump as your friends are likely to move on whilst you're left behind feeling stuck in the duckpond.

I can't tell you how life will unfold for you as I simply don't know. I can only guess at how you'll react to certain variables shifting.

The honest truth is this: You have four options.

1. Carry on, work hard every day and put things right.

- If you have no intention of putting that work in or know you probably wont, don't go down this path.

2. Aim for a foundation degree.

- Carry on as you are, go for a foundation degree at university (takes a year to bring you up to speed - however you need to consider the extra financial cost it will bring you.)

3. Drop out, come back when you're older and able to do option one and not sell yourself short.

4. Re-start all over.

- Again don't bother with this option unless you know it will pay off and are prepared to work for it. It won't be fun feeling like you're sat around not progressing. You need your studies to become your life, not just something on the side you forget about when you come home. Equally, you will become very jaded if you re-start only to repeat your current mistake and end up with mediocre results.
 
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To be perfectly honest, unless you can pull your finger out and get AAA at A2, for the moment, there's no point in applying for University. You won't get a place to study medicine.

Especially with medicine, a lot of universities are pretty strict about retaking modules. Remember, even for the foundation course you'd need really good grades, and most of the time the foundation course is for people with non science A levels. To do medicine from here, you'll have to either somehow get AAA, or get yourself a 1st or 2:1 in biochemistry or something.
 
bhavv said:
Says who? Uni is far easier than A levels are. I had two Chemistry teachers during my A levels who both had gotten D's in their A level chemistry, but back in their days that was enough to do a Chemistry degree.

One of them actually told us that A level requirements are completely unrealistic for university courses these days, and the high requirements only exist because there are too many students applying now, and not enough spaces, plus far too many more people getting high grades because of how much easier A levels are getting.
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As someone currently studying chemistry at a top University I can tell you that if you struggle with A level chemistry now, you won't have a hope of getting a degree in it.
 
Work REALLY REALLY REALLY hard, then do something like biochem, biomed etc. Then use that to get a job in that field. Then if you really feel like it, you can apply for graduate med
 
neoboy said:
Well with that attitude you certainly won't make a doctor! So you got a backup career in mind?
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You are right I am going to buckle the **** up (first time I have done that on this forum) and work my butt off.

I'm going to show those people at school that call me an idiot!
 
w11tho said:
I can't begin to describe how woefully wrong that is, or at least how wrong it should be! Studying subject X at a decent University is far, far more difficult than studying for subject X at A-Level.
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What you said is completely true.

However, studying subject X at level along with Subjects W, Y and Z is harder than just studying whatever you are best at at university.

Disco Boy said:
As someone currently studying chemistry at a top University I can tell you that if you struggle with A level chemistry now, you won't have a hope of getting a degree in it.
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No, but you would likely handle Biology or Geography easily.

What makes Chemistry and Pysics A Levels hard is the maths and calculations required, not the actual scientific understanding behind the subjects. Also at Uni, you are allowed to use Excel and other programs to do all of your calculations for you on coursework, whereas in A level Chem, we had to do calculations for our lab work under exam conditions, and on a few occasions our teacher actually broke the rules and let us take them home to spend the rest of the day working on them because he thought that it was ridiculous to expect us to be ables to manage to do them in 30 minutes.
 
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Dont bother with medcine unless you know you are going to gert AAA, my friend was headboy had a lot of extra stuff going on in and out of school and didint into medcineas he got AAB. He had to go through clearing for biomed.
 
bhavv said:
What you said is completely true.

However, studying subject X at level along with Subjects W, Y and Z is harder than just studying whatever you are best at at university.



No, but you would likely handle Biology or Geography easily.

What makes Chemistry and Pysics A Levels hard is the maths and calculations required, not the actual scientific understanding behind the subjects. Also at Uni, you are allowed to use Excel and other programs to do all of your calculations for you on coursework, whereas in A level Chem, we had to do calculations for our lab work under exam conditions, and on a few occasions our teacher actually broke the rules and let us take them home to spend the rest of the day working on them because he thought that it was ridiculous to expect us to be ables to manage to do them in 30 minutes.
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Woh, you are lucky, if that was the case for me I would have got a B/C in chemistry.
 
bhavv said:
However, studying subject X at [A-]level along with Subjects W, Y and Z is harder than just studying whatever you are best at at university.
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I think I'd still be inclined to disagree. There's *sooo* much more work entailed in studying for a degree, and the subject you're studying at University will split into many subdivisions that are likely to be even more varied than different A-Level subjects!

Degrees should be very difficult. I think it would be a massive shame to find yourself less challenged when you arrive at University, in comparison to how you found things at A-Level.
 
bhavv said:
What makes Chemistry and Pysics A Levels hard is the maths and calculations required, not the actual scientific understanding behind the subjects. Also at Uni, you are allowed to use Excel and other programs to do all of your calculations for you on coursework, whereas in A level Chem, we had to do calculations for our lab work under exam conditions, and on a few occasions our teacher actually broke the rules and let us take them home to spend the rest of the day working on them because he thought that it was ridiculous to expect us to be ables to manage to do them in 30 minutes.
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That's utterly ridiculous. Physics and Chemistry are quantitative subjects for which knowledge of basic mathematics is absolutely essential.
 
bhavv said:
What you said is completely true.

However, studying subject X at level along with Subjects W, Y and Z is harder than just studying whatever you are best at at university.



No, but you would likely handle Biology or Geography easily.

What makes Chemistry and Pysics A Levels hard is the maths and calculations required, not the actual scientific understanding behind the subjects. Also at Uni, you are allowed to use Excel and other programs to do all of your calculations for you on coursework, whereas in A level Chem, we had to do calculations for our lab work under exam conditions, and on a few occasions our teacher actually broke the rules and let us take them home to spend the rest of the day working on them because he thought that it was ridiculous to expect us to be ables to manage to do them in 30 minutes.
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A level chemistry and physics aren't hard. The subject matter isn't hard, and the maths certainly isn't hard, there's no calculus, just basic formula re-arranging and basic operations.

At university chemistry is much harder, involving complex ideas and complex maths. Yes you can use whatever resources you like for coursework, but 80% of my degree grade is based upon exams.

Biochemistry, which the OP mentioned isn't particularly difficult, it consists of learning loads of stuff. But if you aren't bothered to get more than a D at As level, then you won't put in the amount of boring required work for a biochemistry degree.
 
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