• Question: what levels did you get in your tests?

    Asked by jammiej08 to Alice JB, Andy, Barbara, James, Jo on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Barbara Guinn

      Barbara Guinn answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I didn’t do very well at school (not compared to alot of my friends and other scientists). I got five B’s and 4 A’s at O’level (like GCSE now) and two Ds, an E and an N (near miss of a grade) at A’ level. I found a University that was willing to take a chance on me (but didn’t make it too easy) and I did really well at University (Aberystwyth in West Wales) probably because I liked the way I was being taught, really liked my lecturers, got help with statistics (which I had struggled with at A’level). It hasn’t all been easy since school and it wasn’t all hard at school, but I liked being treated like an adult and that happened aalot more when I got to University. I think teachers are now really amazing at teaching and you guys learn loads of tough stuff. You are bright and brave so well done 🙂

    • Photo: Andy Norton

      Andy Norton answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Well, in GCSEs, I got 7A*s and 4As in my different subjects (like German, History, Law, Philosophy and Ethics, science etc.) – I don’t really know how, as I wasn’t very good at things like languages (my speaking exam was rubbish). For A-level I took Chemistry, Physics, Maths and General Studies, and I got 3 A’s and a B. My teachers were really great, and they worked really hard to help us through the tests – I definitely couldn’t have done it without them. I don’t think that I would have done very well at all if I wasn’t for their hard work.

    • Photo: Alice Jones Bartoli

      Alice Jones Bartoli answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I did ok at school, I got 4 A*s (all in languages) and 5 As at GCSE, and then I did the International Baccalaureate (which is brilliant), and got 36 points – sort of AAB at A’Level I think.

      I’m an Admissions’ Tutor now, and I read university applications from people with all kinds of grades – although it’s important to do well, it’s also important to choose well – and get the best advice you can before you choose your A’Level or other course options.

    • Photo: James Jennings

      James Jennings answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi JammieJ (I had a similar nickname when I was younger!). I got 1A* and 10As at GCSE, then 3 As at A-Level, in Biology, Chemistry and Maths. Its really important to choose the right courses after school, as Alice mentioned. I began taking Psychology and Computing at A-level, the first I dropped after 3 weeks, then the other I got rid of after a year because of poor grades. That’s why I’m not a computer scientist!

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