How Lenient are Warwick when it comes to missing grades for a physics offer?

Does anyone have any first-hand or second-hand experience when it comes to this university for this particular course. The offer is A*AA.

I'm really worried that i might not achieve these grades for reasons i don't want to delve into right now.

No one can really say due to many factors but

1. if you miss the grade in maths chances are they will reject you
2. if you miss the grade in physics there is less of a chance (1 grade only) but still fairly likely
3. if you miss the grade in an unrelated subject, if they are taking people who missed their offer, then they will most likely accept you (again 1 grade miss only)

I'm worried i wont achieve the A* though, I know i will get a minimum of A in everything (not trying to sound arrogant but just give you the facts) but i'm just too unscrupulous to achieve an A* in any subject.

Unscrupulous?

holy god, i always knew scrupulous meant thorough and attentive so i assumed unscrupulous meant the opposite...google showed me i was very wrong

It means you have a high moral standard I think?

That is one definition, the other is the one i was aware of(attentive to detail etc).

I'm worried i wont achieve the A* though, I know i will get a minimum of A in everything (not trying to sound arrogant but just give you the facts) but i'm just too unscrupulous(EDIT: i mean careless) to achieve an A* in any subject.

So you've saying you're the opposite - complacent?

take more care then?

I wouldn't say complacent is the opposite of scrupulous. Careless is more appropriate.


If i could i would. i just have the terrible habit of getting really easy questions wrong or misreading questions.

I wouldn't say complacent is the opposite of scrupulous. Careless is more appropriate.


If i could i would. i just have the terrible habit of getting really easy questions wrong or misreading questions.

Take your time and check through your work, you will potentially mess up an entire physics paper at uni by making lots of silly mistakes, its about the small details of question sometimes. small mistakes will be the difference between 2:1 and a 1st

Getting really easy questions wrong isnt a habit, it normally means you havent understood the content.

I genuinely don't believe its a lack of understanding of the content. It is usually the written questions i would get wrong because i fail to say exactly what the mark scheme wants

In which subject?

In physics, if you have understood the content then you should know how to answer the question that is testing that knowledge/recall the facts

It isnt the mark schemes fault, if you understand it you should be able to answer the question.

If you cant apply your knowledge to a unseen problem to get the right words/answer then you definitely havent understood the content and if you keep being in denial you will struggle at uni as the big questions are about application of knowledge and 'saying the right things', for physics anyway.

Though sometimes you have to be shown, not told, that you havent understood a concept/piece of maths

Look i didnt make this thread with the intention of being ridiculed for my apparent lack of understanding that you wrongfully have assumed. The last thing I really need right now is some smug stranger insinuating,even at this point, that i will struggle at uni.

Look i didnt make this thread with the intention of being ridiculed for my apparent lack of understanding that you wrongfully have assumed. The last thing I really need right now is some smug stranger insinuating,even at this point, that i will struggle at uni.

Does anyone have any first-hand or second-hand experience when it comes to this university for this particular course. The offer is A*AA.

I'm really worried that i might not achieve these grades for reasons i don't want to delve into right now.

Hi, this probably isn't particularly helpful at this point but I would urge you to take a good look at the specifications for you subjects if you haven't already. They usually contain all the essential knowledge you need to memorise, and you can use them to figure out which parts you haven't quite understood.

What you described about getting easy questions wrong and misreading questions is something I was susceptible to at school and uni. And of course if you get a question wrong due to a mental blip it can be difficult to spot the error since it's hard-coded in your brain. I think the only way I could avoid it was to treat every question, including the easy ones, with respect, and not go through with the attitude that you're great and will get everything right. That way you'll probably pay more attention to the wording of the question and make less mistakes.

Written questions at A level can be annoying because of religious mark schemes, and sometimes you're asked to describe things that are too fundamental to really warrant a verbal explanation. You just have to try and identify what the key points are. One thing you might need to pay attention to is explaining things in terms of physical principles and terminology, especially terminology as if you include it in the right context you'll probably tick the right boxes. There will also likely be some key definitions which you needed to memorise and should have memorised, such as the definition of emf. This is something that gets easier at university from my experience, since the questions tend to be more specific in demanding quantitative results, and in open-ended questions lecturers will lean towards giving full marks to those who have the right idea.

I'm afraid I don't know much about Warwick's admissions process. If you say you'll get an A in everything the A* would be the problem. My impression is that Warwick in particular wouldn't be too lenient unless your UMS scores were actually rather high but just short of the mark. I'd just focus as hard as possible on any exams you have left. Grind the everloving hell out of those past papers.

My son had an offer from Warwick and as hes worried about missing the A* too (for the same reasons) I interrogated the Head of Physics Admissions, who said he was the person who decides which of the near misses get in. He said:

No drop below an A in maths is ever accepted
Can accept a drop in grade in Physics or third subject, but he said that this is where they look at the whole application for the first time ie. personal statement, whether a fourth A level or EPQ was taken ie overall UCAS points.
He indicated that if the third A level was Further Maths that could be in your favour too, compared to a less relevant subject.

Good luck!