Don't let the wrong results derail your college career

SO THE worst has happened. After all that hard work - or perhaps not enough of it - your A-level grades are not what you were hoping for.

But where do you go from here? The good news is that it's not quite time to give up and apply for a job at the local supermarket. There are still a number of ways you can get your academic career back on track, and maybe even turn an unfortunate situation to your advantage.

The cheapest - and simplest - option is to head straight back to your college and ask to redo the courses. Robin Megahy, of careers advice service Connexions, says state colleges will generally offer pupils the chance to do resits in one or all of their subjects. "Someone who has messed around or not attended may be turned away, but people who were unlucky or who had other reasons [for not doing as well as expected] should not have a problem."

Jenny Lim wanted to study Biomedical Sciences at King's College London, but the three Cs she achieved at A-level were not good enough. She also decided she did not want to go through clearing and end up at a less prestigious institution. Instead, she tried again at Barnet College, one of the country's largest state-funded colleges, with 23,000 students of all ages. "I got good GCSEs, and thought I'd get good results without much effort," she says.

"When the Cs came through it was a bit of a wakeup call."

Lim enrolled on a one-year retake course, and found it much easier to motivate herself. "From the first day of term, the end was in sight. I knew what I needed to do and the teachers were brilliant."

The 19-year-old is now predicted three As and, if all goes to plan, will start at King's in the autumn. "It wasn't easy but I'm glad I did the retakes," she says.

Students who feel they need a change of scenery or more individual attention to guide them through resits may want to consider the private sector. A number of independent sixthform colleges - or "crammers" - specialise in getting grades out of pupils who didn't initially manage them and, while expensive, they work for some people. Simon Crisp (right) was - in his own words - "gutted" when he received a disappointing set of results last year, and realised Bristol University wouldn't honour his conditional offer to study mechanical engineering. He had been predicted two As and a B from top public school Winchester College, and ended up with a D in French and Bs in physics and maths.

"I had some other things going on during my exam term and I just didn't get down to the revision," he says. "But I really wanted to study at Bristol, so I decided against looking elsewhere through clearing. And it became a question of where and when to resit."

With the help of his parents, he investigated several institutions that he found on the internet. Subsequently, he enrolled on an intensive six-month course at Collingham independent college in south- west London.

"I chose to do resits as early as possible because I wanted to do some other things during what I viewed as my gap year. Plus, I wanted to get it all out of the way."

The fees at Collingham are not cheap intensive winter retake courses cost Pounds 2,330 per subject. But the college has just 250 students, and the average class size is five. Simon, now 18, believes it was the right choice, because he achieved two As and a B in January, and is due to start at Bristol University this autumn.

"The teachers were good and did everything to help me. The worst bit was having to work over Christmas, but I knew I needed the grades, and it wasn't going to last that long."

Woo Joong Kim (left) was also unhappy with his C and two Ds from a school in Leatherhead, but wasn't sure whether he could face A- levels for a second time. "My dad is a firm believer in education and he really wanted me to resit, but I couldn't make up my mind. Then I thought, 'I can do better than that'. I knew I'd messed up, and realised I could put it right."

Kim signed up to Surrey College in Guildford. As he didn't resit immediately he lost the option of enrolling on a course that finished in January. However, he says waiting for the January-June intake benefited him.

"I had fallen behind because I hadn't worked hard enough, and needed the time to catch up."

Kim's retake fees came to more than Pounds 7,500, but the money seems to have been well spent.

The 19-year-old has been predicted two As and a B, and now plans to study business economics at Durham University.

Low results may come as a bitter blow but they are not the end of the world. Many people find A-levels a far more rewarding experience second time around. The question you need to ask is: just how badly do you want that university place?

. Barnet College 020 8200 8300/www.barnet.ac.uk . Collingham 020 7244 7414/www.collingham.co.uk . Surrey College 01483 565887/ www.surrey-college.co.uk . Council for Independent Education (CIFE) 020 8767 8666/www.cife.org.uk . Connexions advice service 080 800 132 19/www.connexions.gov.uk

Demand a recount

IF you are finding an unexpectedly low result particularly hard to stomach, don't panic - getting your paper remarked is fairly straightforward.

The first step is to contact your college, who handle all communications with the exam board.

The teachers should be able to get hold of a copy of your completed paper, which may explain what went wrong.

Stevie Pattison-Dick, of Edexcel, says that, at this stage, many pupils realise that they have simply underperformed.

However, those who remain convinced they were hard done by have until 20 September to request that the paper be rechecked.

"We can look at papers in two ways, says Pattison-Dick. "There is a clerical recheck, where someone makes sure all parts of the exam script have been seen by the examiner, and that everything was added up correctly.

"Alternatively, there is a full remark, where the paper is totally re-graded by a different examiner.

That can take up to 40 days, although if you are in a rush to find out whether you can accept a university place, we can prioritise it."

Pattison-Dick stresses that grades are changed very rarely after a remark, and can sometimes be pushed down, rather than improved.

Remarks also cost a fair bit. If the college backs the request, the student will not pay a penny. If the grade is changed, there is also no charge.

However, if the college does not back the request, and there is no alteration, you will be asked to cough up.

Charges vary, but Edexcel asks for Pounds 10 to carry out a clerical recheck, and Pounds 35 for a full remark.

.Edexcel: 0870 240 9800 .Advice website: www.examzone.co.uk

(c)2004. Associated Newspapers Ltd.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.