For students who are able, determined and have strong academic foundations, our intensive courses have offered outstanding opportunities.

Colleges such as Ashbourne are among the few who have courses which are dedicated to this purpose, and have, for over thirty years, succeeded in restoring confidence, improving grades and brightening futures.

The keys to this success are small classes, exam orientation and outstanding teaching. Most importantly, we provide almost double the customary teaching time so that students may approach their exams in a relaxed and confident manner because they have had ample time to discuss difficulties and practice with questions from previous exams.

Dealing with university entrance and UCAS are our Personal Tutors who dedicate much time on a one-to-one basis to ensure that ability and ambition are matched. Over 25% of our graduates go on to the top UK universities, including UCL, Imperial College, the LSE, Oxford and Cambridge.

Considerations
What to do if you have missed your offer
If you have missed your offer by a small margin, you should contact the admissions’ department who may be pleased to accept you anyway. If not they may be able to offer you a place on a course which is closely related to your first choice. You are likely to be very stressed especially sensitive to the frustration of constantly engaged telephone lines. Try to be patient.

Remarks
Your grade(s) might be so inconsistent with your own and your teachers’ expectations that you must consider a request to the exam board for remarking. Be aware that, even with the recent poor administration of exams, statistically it is rare for grades to change.

Clearing
If after all that you are finally rejected, you may wish to entry the clearing system. You will automatically be sent  a ‘clearing passport’ number by email. Should you wish to take up a course at another university you will use this to confirm your acceptance.
Courses which are still available may be found on the UCAS website or in the Independent newspaper or on its website.

Gap year
Taking a gap year might be for you. Travel and work experience often help to clarify your thoughts about your future and thus make the years following at university more enjoyable and productive.

Is resitting (retaking) the right option?

Contacting the university
If you have missed your offer(s) by a small margin you should contact the admissions department of the faculty of the universities to which you applied; they may still be willing to accept you. You should also ask them if they might reoffer the place after a resit and, if so, what grades they would require.

In general universities are pleased to accept (re)applications from retaking candidates. Such students demonstrate determination, perseverance and ambition.

Each university faculty may have their own policy with regard to retakes.  To know where you stand you should make contact to discover if they welcome reapplications and what grades they require.

Resitting (Retaking)
Be positive! Most universities will regard a decision to resit as a sign of determination, perseverance and ambition. Of course you should first confirm that the university faculty will welcome a re-application and what grades they might now require.
Some of the benefits of private colleges are listed below and should help you to evaluate your preparation for your previous exams.

• Small classes enable teachers to set and mark much, much more homework and present wonderful opportunities for communication.
• Lots of teaching time means that you may complete the syllabus in a relaxed and confident manner. With plenty of time for engagement and structured, supervised work in class, the intensive nature of one year courses becomes, more often than not, exhilarating.
• Specialists in intensive courses. Independent (private) colleges complement traditional independent schools because they alone have comprehensive, self-contained one-year resit or retake courses which have been refined and perfected for over 25 years.
• A fresh, more grown-up approach to education quickly renews the spirit and provides a clean break from stale mindsets and attitudes. Students’ performance is revitalized through contact with colleagues who share similar ambitions and aspirations.
• Exam practice is too often in the background at traditional schools. In any field, excellence is achieved through dedicated effort guided by inspired and inspiring teachers and coaches. Our straightforward focus on examination preparation is simple, effective and transformational.
• Individual attention, communication and feedback. The importance of small classes cannot be exaggerated but are more effective when complemented by Personal Tutors. These senior teachers encourage and guide students to  achieve their academic potential and are a reassuring point of contact in dealing with parents’ concerns. They are especially effective with UCAS applications for which they will spend as much one-to-one time as necessary to produce confident applications.

What can you expect?
Depending on your initial grade, you should expect to improve by one or two grades for each subject you resit. Thus either an E or C grade might easily improve to a B grade. On average, we expect 75% of resit grades to result in an A or B grade.

UCAS
Finally tutorial colleges are expert in the application to university and spend long hours with their candidates preparing an effective and confident UCAS form. For those students applying to more demanding and selective degree courses, We can extend this to interview practice Certainly worth considering!