FAQs about A level retakes

The main reason why it can be worth the trouble, time and expense of retaking is to get onto a degree course which needs better A-level grades than the ones you’ve got. Going to university is expensive and it’s important to make sure that the money you will pay out for three years of higher education gets you the best possible degree. Students often comment that pride is involved too: “I don’t want to compromise my plans and I want to prove that I’m better than the grade I got”.

Retaking A levels is a serious option if you haven’t got the grades for the course of your dreams, and you are confident you can improve on the results you’ve already got. Our page on retake courses gives a detailed guide to how to decide whether retaking makes sense in your own case.

Universities are allowed to admit more students with high grades. If you can get those grades your prospects of getting a place at a very good university have never been better, and the benefits of retaking become greater.

Yes, in almost all cases. A few will increase their standard offer, but most appreciate that students who retake are highly motivated and, because they have overcome disappointment, retake students work harder.

Getting an offer as a retaker is tougher for very competitive courses – medicine for example, or law at Russell group universities. cife colleges can give you objective advice on what is and isn’t possible, and on how to submit an effective new UCAS application.

As a first step, ring up the admissions officers for the degree courses you want, and ask them whether they would consider you with retakes. Be ready to discuss why you missed the grades and why you know you can do better. They should welcome your enquiry and give you an honest answer.

Most students who retake A levels improve, and it’s not uncommon for a student to get several grades higher.

If you know why you didn’t get the grade you wanted (for example, you were ill, or you didn’t work hard enough, or you panicked during the exam) you can make sure that doesn’t happen again when you retake. If your teachers tell you you’ve got the ability to do better, you probably will. Our page on retake courses goes through how to work out whether retaking will bring you better grades.

It might help to get an independent opinion too. Take examples of your work to a cife college to get a frank and independent view of your potential.

There are pros and cons to asking for a remark: you might upgrade, but you might go down as well, and even priority remarks take time. Visit our page on getting a remark of an A-level or GCSE exam for full details of whether to ask for a remark. You’ll also see how to get copies of your exam scripts. If you retake it is definitely worthwhile doing this: the marked scripts will help you sort out what went wrong, which is the first step to improvement.

You can only take A level exams in the summer, when all subjects are available, and (unless you sat a modular A level in summer 2019 – see below) you have to retake the whole A-level exam. The only exception to this is coursework, which you won’t be forced to redo – you can ask for your old coursework mark to be ‘carried forward’.

It’s true that the exams are only available in May / June, but it’s entirely possible to take time out for a few months and then start studying in 2020. That will cost you less and enable you to enjoy some GAP year benefits, but you’ll be short of time to do the thorough overhaul needed for a substantial improvement. You will lose knowledge and study habits during the layoff, and getting back into study-mode will take at least a couple of weeks. Easter 2020 is likely to be too late to get back on track and make the improvements you want.

Each person’s case is different, and the pros and cons of retaking can be difficult to work out. cife colleges are happy to talk options through to help you map out your best strategy.

One thing is really clear: you need to come up with a plan as soon as possible after you get results. As mentioned below, UCAS applications need to be made well before Christmas 2019, even if you’re not starting study again until 2020.

‘Modular’ (or ‘unitised’) A levels have now been replaced by ‘linear’ ones (see our article on the new A level and GCSE exams). In June 2020 the only modular exams which will be available are resits for students who completed a modular A-level exam in 2019 in one of the very few ‘modular’ subjects left (minority languages such as Bengali, Hebrew, Polish etc see ‘new A level exams’ for a complete list).

If you sat a modular exam before summer 2019 and you want to retake it in 2020 you will need to switch to a ‘linear’ A level in that subject. You will need to take the whole of the linear exam – there’s no credit for past module results, and although the content of linear syllabuses is similar to the old modular ones in many cases, there will be differences which could be considerable. You will definitely need advice on what’s involved.

Joining a cife college course specifically designed for retakers is likely to be a better option that just repeating your last year at school. An effective retake retake course should take you back through all parts of the syllabus, not just the second-year work. Furthermore, in a new environment, with different teachers, you will see your work through fresh eyes and feel you are moving forward again.

That is what cife colleges are all about.

If you join a cife college, it will deal with exam entries for you, but if you are studying on your own you will need somewhere to actually take the exams. You can’t enter for the exams just by contacting the exam board: you must enter via a ‘recognised centre’. Your old school may be willing to enter you for the exam (but don’t just assume they will), and most cife colleges can help by entering you as a ‘private candidate’. Exam entries need to be made early, by mid February 2020 for the summer session. You may be able to enter later than this, but it can get very expensive.

When you retake a linear exam you’ll get a new grade which is decided entirely by the marks you get in the retake exam – there’s no ‘carry forward the best mark’ option as there was for modular A levels. You can ask for internal assessment marks (eg practical endorsement grades) to be carried forward so you that you only have to redo the written exam papers when you retake a linear A level.

In linear A-level subjects, AS doesn’t count towards your A-level result at all, so retaking it won’t help improve your eventual A-level grade. Linear AS exams do count towards university entrance, but not if you’ve already got an A level in the same subject. All in all, the case for retaking linear AS exams is pretty difficult to make.

If you have taken AS exams at the end of the first year, and the results are a mess you will face a real struggle in upper sixth, and you may even find that your school insists you change your programme in ways you’re not happy with. In that case you might have to consider restarting the sixth-form, or changing to a college which will provide the extra support you need (see our page on final-year A-level entry to cife colleges).

To be effective your UCAS reference needs to cover your past, to explain why the grades you got were not the best you are capable of, and it needs to justify better grade predictions for the future. It may be that your old school can do all this for you, but the most effective reference is one in which your old school and your retake college co-operate in writing a new reference with information from them both. cife colleges are very experienced in facilitating this, and it’s certainly something to ask them about if you visit to discuss retakes. Check out our ‘Six top tips for an outstanding UCAS form‘ for more about references.

Obviously your new college can’t write a reference if it hasn’t taught you at all. This poses a particular problem for students who want take time out and start retake work at their new college sometime in 2020. Putting in a late UCAS form isn’t a good idea, so you will still need to apply for university in autumn 2019, using your old school for the reference. It’s vital to know that the reference they give will be supportive and that they are happy to predict the grades you need. Do discuss this with a cife college if you’re worried about it.

There’s no in-principle problem with taking an A level in one academic year, and there are quite a few subjects you can study from scratch alongside retakes. It’s difficult to do this in less than three terms though. For further details look at our information on one-year courses. Our pages on individual A level subjects includes information about taking a subject from scratch in one year

You can resit GCSE exams in November 2019, but only in English Language and Maths. If you want to retake any other GCSEs you will have to wait until summer 2020.

All GCSE subjects became linear years ago, so you will have to take the whole GCSE exam, not just the bits you need to improve. Re-submitting old coursework is possible, subject to conditions.

Just to complicate matters, GCSE exams have been changed to introduce new grading systems, less coursework etc (see our article on the new A-level and GCSE exams). The only old-style GCSE exams sat in summer 2019 were in minority languages, and while the government has promised one last retake opportunity in those GCSE specifications, you must check with the exam board to confirm this.

Check out our page on GCSE courses for more information about GCSE retake courses.