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Edinburgh Medical school Applicants 2014

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Original post by Dr. Django
You only need 7A* and 3A's for full GCse score


Ahhhh thank you this has made me much more confident :biggrin: well, added 2 points onto my score..


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Original post by Student 1
Ahhhh thank you this has made me much more confident :biggrin: well, added 2 points onto my score..


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Whoops you need 8! (Hopefully you still have 2 extra points :biggrin:)!

Nice one!
Original post by Dr. Django
Whoops you need 8! (Hopefully you still have 2 extra points :biggrin:)!

Nice one!


Yes got 10 :smile: but 2 As, one A in English so does this have to be included ?:/


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Original post by Student 1
Yes got 10 :smile: but 2 As, one A in English so does this have to be included ?:/


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Probably but makes no difference!!

I have 9A* 2A and my 2 A's are in chemistry and biology and I still get full GCSE score :tongue:!
Original post by Dr. Django
You'd get full marks as they only look at top 10 :smile: (unless your b's are in science/English/maths)


My Bs were in GCSEs I took as extra-curricular ones (stats, music, performing arts) so it's all fine I hope!


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Reply 1045
This is completely off topic but, percentage-wise, what constitutes an A*/A/B and all that in the UK/Scotland?


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Original post by hivelary
This is completely off topic but, percentage-wise, what constitutes an A*/A/B and all that in the UK/Scotland?


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In GCSE the mark for an A* varied loads, sometimes past papers were about 70% A*! Then usually 10 percentage points between eac grade, but this is very roughly speaking.

Again with A levels, it varies depending on difficultly but raw scores get converted into UMS scores. If the UMS maximum is 100, it's 80 UMS for an A, 70 for a B. Then the A* grade is if you have basically 90% of the total UMS, ie a* grade not awarded for individual exams :smile: hope this helps


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Original post by hivelary
This is completely off topic but, percentage-wise, what constitutes an A*/A/B and all that in the UK/Scotland?


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In Scotland it is:
<45% - Fail
45% - D (Fail, near miss)
50% - C
60% - B
70% - A
For higher and advanced higher. Then there are two bands for each grade - so rather than A/A* we get A2 (>70%) or A1 (>85% I think). But these don't really matter, I don't even think the unis find out our bands.

In standard grade (= to GCSE) there is a bit of a complex grading system but basically you can think of it in the same way as higher but with 2 possible grades for each exam rather than 3... Those are changing to new exams now and I have no clue how some of those will be marked. :smile:

Edit: In all exams the SQA can adjust the grade boundaries by a few percentage points according to how 'hard' or 'easy' the paper was perceived to be compared to previous exams.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 1048
I can't figure out how people know which quartile they're in/their academic score and I'd like to work mine out

Could someone tell me how to do it?
Original post by Sparticon
Then there are two bands for each grade - so rather than A/A* we get A2 (>70%) or A1 (>85% I think). But these don't really matter, I don't even think the unis find out our bands.


They do. Before starting at Edinburgh I got a letter asking to confirm my grades and it had all my bands on them :smile: But, yeah most unis don't care apart from a select few down south (Cambridge, Imperial, UCL afaik) who use bands as part of conditional offers.
Original post by Asklepios
They do. Before starting at Edinburgh I got a letter asking to confirm my grades and it had all my bands on them :smile: But, yeah most unis don't care apart from a select few down south (Cambridge, Imperial, UCL afaik) who use bands as part of conditional offers.


Ahh ok :smile: I find it really annoying that the bands aren't on your certificate. Do you know how unis find out? You don't say anything about bands on your UCAS form and as far as I was aware universities don't correspond directly with the SQA? :smile:
Original post by Sparticon
Ahh ok :smile: I find it really annoying that the bands aren't on your certificate. Do you know how unis find out? You don't say anything about bands on your UCAS form and as far as I was aware universities don't correspond directly with the SQA? :smile:


No idea, I would guess they can find out from the SQA. But for Cambridge you have to submit your Higher bands separately so maybe they can only find out from the SQA after you accept the offer :dontknow:
Reply 1052
13 days to go before March (unless they reject me in late february)! I know offers won't come out on the 1st though. Good luck everyone - we are almost there. :smile: It's been a long journey. Hope the wait is going to be worth it...
So scared, have a feeling lots of rejections will be sent out from tomorrow onwards :frown:


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Original post by Student 1
So scared, have a feeling lots of rejections will be sent out from tomorrow onwards :frown:


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I hope you're wrong!! :tongue:

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE :smile: Not long to go now!
Original post by Dr. Django
I hope you're wrong!! :tongue:

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE :smile: Not long to go now!


I hope I am too; unfortunately failure for many is inevitable :frown:
Original post by Dr. Django
This may be a little cheeky...but if you are indeed 100% sure you'll firm kings could you withdraw from Edinburgh? :tongue:
If you're still undecided than don't worry of course, but if you truly are 100% sure, please do us all a favour :wink:



Sorry, I'm not stalking you or trying to be cheeky but would you consider withdrawing from a Edinburgh now that you have an offer? Obviously, it's up to you, but you did ask this yourself.
Original post by Medic applicant
Sorry, I'm not stalking you or trying to be cheeky but would you consider withdrawing from a Edinburgh now that you have an offer? Obviously, it's up to you, but you did ask this yourself.


Haha nice one mate, fair enough really! I accept that perhaps I was a bit too eager to ask of others what I may not do myself.

Nevertheless, the difference is that they said they were 100% firming somewhere else, I am yet to decide :wink:

I admit though, it sounds hypocritical and if I decide that Leeds is definitely my firm than I will withdraw from my other choices immediately! :smile:
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Medic applicant
Sorry, I'm not stalking you or trying to be cheeky but would you consider withdrawing from a Edinburgh now that you have an offer? Obviously, it's up to you, but you did ask this yourself.


This is a concept I haven't come across other than on TSR and I find it a little ridiculous tbh. Medical schools give out more offers than they have places for a reason - they expect that some people will decline it and go elsewhere. He doesn't know which is his first choice, so he's perfectly entitled to wait it out, see what else comes in and visit them all to make an informed decision. There's nothing to say that the person who would get an offer instead of Dr Django (if indeed, he is in line for one) wouldn't decline it or miss the grades. If everyone with an offer did what you're suggesting Dr Django should do, Edinburgh would end up with far too many students and would be fined. In the future they'd give out less offers, so ultimately the same number of people would get into medical school.

Am I right in thinking you're a Scottish applicant as well? So him withdrawing would have exactly zero effect on your chances of getting an offer
(edited 10 years ago)
Ah, ok. Sorry and apologies to Dr Django for asking.

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