Peterborough student's dream of becoming vet shattered after receiving A Level results
An A-level student from Thorney near Peterborough says she can't "just pick myself up" after losing her place at a top Veterinary School.
22-year-old Nina Bunting-Mitcham received her A level results last week.
She was predicted ABB, but was devastated after receiving three D grades.
Nina says she had her heart set on going to the Royal Veterinary College and was looking forward to moving to London.
When exams were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers were asked to assess what they thought each pupil would achieve. They were then asked to put each student in rank order with each grade boundary.
Those marks were then standardised by the exam regulator Ofqual based on:
Previous results in that subject
Prior attainment of the year group
Results of the school or college in recent years.
Nina studied Biology, Chemistry and Psychology at New College Stamford.
She said she felt confident ahead of results day after getting As and Bs in her mock exams.
During BBC Radio 4's Any Questions, Nina told Schools Minister Nick Gibb that she was distraught and that the results had ruined her life.
Mr Gibb said it was "rare" for students to be downgraded three grades from their predicted grades. He promised a "robust" and "swift" appeal system which should see challenged grades addressed by September 7th at the latest.
He told her: "It won't ruin your life, it will be sorted I can assure you."
"I do feel for you. This should not have happened to you. We don't want you to have to go through this. We have introduced a very robust appeals systems that the schools will trigger for students like Nina. Those appeals will happen very swiftly."
"The universities have said they will hold offers open until September 7 and we're working through that now to make sure those appeals happen very quickly."
Mr Gibb added pupils can also sit exams in the autumn and "many universities are holding places open to start in January".
Nina has since received support from her friends and family and has now come to terms with her results.
She plans to appeal her grades to regain her place at university.
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