• Question: How did you do in your gcse's and A-Levels?

    Asked by Emily C to Andrew, Lizzie, Nick, Sonia on 22 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by 524artc35, Hannah.
    • Photo: Andrew Phillips

      Andrew Phillips answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      In GCSEs I got As and Bs, and an A* in maths. I think that was the only one you could get an A* in when I did them. At A-level I got two As (maths and physics) and two Bs (chemistry and history).

      The main thing is to get the grades for the university course that you really want to do. Remember that the course that requires the highest grades might not be the one you really want to go to. There are lots of other reasons for picking a particular course or university.

    • Photo: Elizabeth Kapasa

      Elizabeth Kapasa answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      In my GCSEs I got 6 A*s and 4 As. I got an AS Level in Economics (A) and A Levels in Biology (A) Chemistry (B) and D&T Product Design (A).

      Note that I don’t have physics or maths A Level which is really rare for engineering. Most courses will require you to have one or both!

      I only found this out after but fortunately for my field they weren’t as strict at the time and decided that because of my GCSEs I would be able to pick up the A Level maths and physics during my degree. It was really challenging to teach myself maths and physics A Level so I would recommend looking and planning early!

      Also I agree with Andrew about grades and university.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 25 Jun 2015:

      I did O Levels and A levels, in my day entry grades were lower, but students getting grade As at levels were also considerably lower. When started university 8.4% of the population went on to higher education, in 2000 its 33%.

      So I got into university with B’s and C’s at A level. There was no such thing as AS. Similarly my emenant consultant ENT surgeon colleague got into medical school with B and 2C at A level.

      Go for a course you are interested in, and check with the university for entrance grades. For some courses the Russel group universities are not always the best. Good example is Jon Ives chief designer of Apple,, he went to Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbia University).

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