Worried About A-Level Results?

18 August 2011, 05:00

The Thames Valley's universities are telling students waiting for their A-Level results not to panic.

The advice from the University of Reading is not to keep calm.

Dr. Christina Edgar is their Head of Admissions, she told Heart students should be proactive.

"If you haven't got the results you were expecting this isn't the end of the world, there's plenty of options still for you. The first thing to do is go on to UCAS track and see if your university's been able to confirm your place.

"That's your first port of call. After that you'll be able to see what options you've got available to you - hopefully you've met the offer and you're all sorted and don't need to do anything.

"If you can see on track that they haven't been able to confirm you yet, then it'll show if they cant make a place for you and then you need to follow the instructions for clearing."

The University of Reading have said they're not likely to take part in clearing, as they've seen an increase in applicants third year, especially in vocational subjects.

"We've seen a 7 percent increase in applications this year both from home EU students and overseas students. We've seen particular increases in European Studies, Management, Agriculture and Chemistry so areas where people are seeing a good career ahead of them."

Both Oxford University and Oxford Brookes have reported a record year for applicants. One reason for this could be the impending fee rises for students starting university courses next September, 2012.

Buckinghamshire's advice service Connexions are telling students there's lots of options out there for people who achieve higher or lower than their expected grades.

Pauline Risk is their Communities Manager.

"A blip in the exam results need not be the end of the world for young people, with students waiting to find out if they've achieved their expected grades, but, it's not a disaster if they don't! Our advice and support service is there to help young people whose results are higher or lower than expected, and we're also here for those who don't yet have final plans."

The trend of people going on to further education after their A-Levels is expected to continue.