I am 17 years old living in England and am studying 3 A levels in 6th Form. Back in september 2014, I started off with 4 A levels; physics, maths, business and Art/Graphics. In october however, I failed the entrance exam for Maths and so I had to drop the subject. So by doing 3 subjects, I am supposed to get higher grades than the students doing 4 subjects, because I have more time.

However, mock exams just passed and I got an E in physics, a U in business and A in art graphics. My mock results are accurate to my knowledge and enjoyment of my subjects, since I love art, and so spend a lot more time on art. In university, I would like to do a graphics/VFX course as I would like to work for a company like marvel or disney or a games company like 2K games, Activision or BioWare.

My teachers have said I need to spend less time on art and more time on business and physics. However I really hate physics and business, and my teachers for those subjects don't help.

Could the Dollars community give me some advice and info please? I'd be really grateful for something that could help me deal with the next year and a half of studies. Thank you.

Why did you take those subjects if you hated them so much? Aren't there other subjects you would rather take? If so, switch to those if you can.

Other than try harder, I can't really suggest anything. I'm actually a Physicist, and I know that lots of people who struggle with it can find it easier by hiring a tutor to help them learn. I used to do it, and the kids seemed to think it was good.

Physics is the basic core. Having basic understand on Maths and Physics is important to strive in said industry. Trust me when I say this because companies these days are looking for people who are good at say 5 tasks than an expert at 1. To them it's about how to be most cost effective. You'll lack in experience so don't expect the big fish right of the bat. It is a relatively unusual threshold, that is not to say it is bad but that you'll probably have to deal with a lot of bumps along the way. Btw so which examinations are you giving now exactly? I'm an IAS student myself

Unfortunately, graphics do require at least a basic understanding of physics, which requires a basic understanding of geometry and calculus. So if math isn't your thing, I'm so sorry.
There's a website called khanacademy. It started off as a physicist helping his niece do homework over the internet, then he would post the videos to help others, now it's his own site with videos on just about anything (and it's currently the only reason I'm passing my own physics course).
As for business, it sucks, but if you want to animate and design for companies it's highly useful.
And yeah, VampirePotato is right; companies want a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, not a specialist. I would recommend a few things to learn, either formally through some school or via the Internet, in addition to some other tips:
1. How to write code. Yeah, as in computer code. If you don't like it, it's gonna be boring as hell but trust me when I say it can pay off.
2. A journalism course (not pursuing Journalism as a career, but merely taking a course). Being able to write nonfiction articles and get interviews teaches a ton of skills, from analysis skills to research skills to people skills, not to mention the design portion of making a newspaper or website (those perfect boxes and headlines don't magically appear). Especially volunteering for an online news source, as websites are the big push nowadays. Or if your school has its own paper on campus, try volunteering for that.
3. Be ungodly polite to your teachers no matter what. I don't care if they call you a bitch you smile and tell them to have a good day as you leave. It goes a long way, trust me.
4. Ask every question that pops into your mind. If you don't understand something, it's their job to fucking teach you so you make damn sure that they do. Take up the whole class to understand, ask people around you, ask for repeats and reminders.
5. Be good to yourself. For the love of everything you hold dear, if you do nothing else, do this. Those days when you just can't? When everything is too much and too loud? Just stop. Have a brownie. Spend 5 hours washing your hair. Make up stories in your head. Imagine you're flying. Look in the mirror and tell yourself that you're beautiful because you are. The world keeps spinning; 100% everything completed and done and perfect isn't possible. Love yourself above your grades; Einstein dropped out of high school (do not do this), but he still made something of himself (your grades don't define you).
6. Keep a journal or diary. Don't write in it everyday (unless you want to), but those days when you just feel amazing or desperately need someone to talk to, a journal is a pretty reliable friend.
7. Learn time management, especially for projects and essays. Get friends or family to remind you; say "hey I need x done before the week of y, so next week can you make sure i have at least q% done?" Things are much easier to handle if you have something to help you along.

Those were just tips and suggestions. As for the courses, I mean only if you have the time or opportunity, whether it happens now or in university. If you want, I'd be more than willing to share my email or something, if you want/need a study-buddy or someone to rant to. Otherwise, just believe things will be all right in the end, and if they're not all right, it clearly isn't the end.

I took physics because I enjoyed the subject during GCSE, I did well at it (A grade) and I know employers love people with physics. I took maths because I did well at that in GCSE, A again, and I know the maths helps with physics and is also popular with employers. I did business because I did well at it (A* this time) and both my parents said that because I am good at business, it makes sense to do it in A level so that I can get an easy A which will help towards racking UCAS points. Finally, I am doing art because of what I'd like to do as a career and I enjoy art.

However, while in GCSE I did well in those subjects, I could never have imagined how difficult and time consuming and stressful A levels are compared to GCSEs. I feel like an 11 year old in year 7 being put into Uni and being expected to do well. That's the jump in difficulty for me.

Come May time, I will be sitting the Physics G481 and G482 papers, Business Unit 1 and 2 and Art graphics. If I get less than an A/B/B for those exams, I won't have enough UCAS points to take the VFX course in Uni that I would like to do.

A side note: because I am doing physics, I am studying M1 (maths mechanics) with a maths teacher after school every wednesday for an hour which I think helps towards my physics.

With the physics and business, I do actually understand everything I am taught, it's just when it comes to exams, I easily forget equations and definitions (for physics), and business has a certain 'technique' to answering questions which you have to follow which makes it difficult for me to get my head round. (Although today I had business and now that the topics have been covered, my teachers said they will make the class focus on technique more in the coming weeks.)

That's some more info for you guys based on your responses. Thank you all for replying, I really do appreciate, and Kanra, I will definitely try some of those for a while. The diary idea I've heard of before so I will give that a shot now that you suggest it as well. Writing code I would actually like to do, I just think that would take too much time out of my week at the time being, especially considering my time management at the moment is pretty bad.

About the time management -- I find this very hard to get my head around. I have tried making plans, timetables, records of what I do and when in order to highlight time that I am wasting by procrastinating which I could use more constructively, and for about 3 weeks before Christmas, I did follow a timetable, but it didn't work. I get home from school around 6pm every day and (If I can) I will go to bed at 11pm to wake up at 6am. I do my art at school from 3:30 to 5pm on mon/tue/thu/fri because I have access to art supplies and iMacs at school. Then I walk home which takes an hour so I get home at 6pm. That gives me 4 hours (according to my timetable (with one hour for dinner and chores)) to spend on business and physics homework and extra study. So 2 hours per subject, which according to the school is what it should be, however when I am doing homework, it almost always takes me more than 2 hours to complete a piece of homework. This is usually because I'll come across something I don't understand or something I've forgotten and need to go through my notes and textbooks to find out how to do something. Because my work takes longer than the allotted time on my timetable, I run into the early hours of the next day, and by then I am so tired I end up sleeping at my desk. I really have no idea how to speed up my work accordingly. Weekends I spend some of Saturday exercising and the rest of it doing homework and Sunday I spend visiting extended family. --> Point being I find time management difficult.