Congratulations to those who achieved their desired GCSE grades yesterday. However, it will not be a success story for all.

Dr David Crouch from Justin Craig Education, advises pupils to discuss resits with their teacher or exams officer. He said “You will normally be expected to retake the exams the same time as students sitting the new syllabuses, for example in English or Maths, but your papers will be different and only contain topics that you were expected to know for your ‘legacy’ specification. If your exam board had multiple papers, such as in English or Maths, you will have to retake all the papers for that series, meaning you will not be able to ‘bank’ the papers you did well in and just sit the ones you didn’t do so well in.

Retaking an exam can seem daunting, but you will probably find it a lot easier to succeed the following year since you may still be taking those subjects or using those skills in your AS or A Levels. Additionally, if you are not enrolled on an AS course during year 12, you will have a lot more time to prepare for these exams without the distraction of the other subjects to revise for.

If you didn’t get the A Level grades required, it is important to realise that all A Level subjects can be resat the summer of the following year. Although a few universities may increase the standard offer for retake applicants, many recognise candidates are often highly motivated and more organised than standard students – both skills that will enable them to do better at university.”

If you would like to discuss your results and potential resits, please do call our team of friendly Course Advisors on 0845 06 06 555