I would say don't worry too much about the exams - obviously if you can do the vitals like maths and english via a different route without too much difficulty, then go for it...my son really shone in his GCSE's, and went on to college to do his 'A' levels.
He was one of their top students in History, and chose to apply to do a History degree at a London University.
When the 'A' level results came in, he only got a 'D' in History, and the rest of the students on the course did worse. A re-mark of the paper (£37.....
) made no difference.
Fortunately, he had done well enough in his other two subjects (Maths and Physics) to get enough 'points' to join his chosen degree course at Uni.....
That was in 2000, fast forward three years and myself and Mrs.Nopax sitting at the Degree Awards ceremony, proudly watching son collect his 2.1 in History.
Now he has that qualification, the 'A' levels don't mean much anymore.
So, the moral is exams don't mean a lot once they are in the past; you've already acheived a lot by the sound of it, look ahead with confidence and don't dwell too much on the past.
The distance learning sounds like a good idea, as it won't gobble up too much time.
Good luck
