With A level results due out in just over a week, past experience would show that panic is about to set in.

So, what if you have not done as well as you wanted to, and what about the dreaded concept of resits. If you havn't done as well as you wanted to, ask yourself why. Then ask yourself if you did enough work! There is a huge transition between GCSE and AS, and the good memory that got you through GCSE doesn't work at A level. You have to do some graft. Many students who fail the first module admit to doing very little work in preparation for the January exam. This situation is much easier to rectify than the student who works hard but still finds biology very difficult.

I am not a great believer in resits. Studying for resits takes valuable time and resources away from current modules. My advice at this stage is not to try and sit that January module again this year but to put all of your effort into doing well in the summer module. The January module can then be worked over the summer in detail, so that in September, you are free to work on the A2 syllabus. If you think AS is hard, A2 is even trickier. A good knowledge of the syllabus can then be topped up in December with lots of practice exam papers.

This time of year I am asked to take on new students, and space is now limited. It is impossible for me to rectify a bad year at school (or should I say, pull round students who have not done enough work) in about 10 hours of private tuition. We can concentrate on the resit or concentrate on the new module, but not both!

The bottom line is that good grades need effort! There is no quick fix.