Ask an Admissions Tutor IX, 4th August - 2nd September

Thank you so much for your reply. Have you personally ever seen someone with pending results get fished from the summer pool? If a college sends someone to the pool and they arent taken, does the original college have the choice of fishing them back? Also if my IELTS results are very good, do you think I could be given a deferred place? Lastly, will I be told of the university's decision on the 19th or when I get my results (i.e 26th)?

Glad to have been of help. We do look slightly differently at PUMS, as we know that there is a smaller distribution of students at the very top end compared with UMS. I am not aware of any official conversion factor, in my experience it's merely something that has been raised as worthy of consideration.

Thanks for the response. I realise that PUMS isn't everything and is just one part of the whole application, but still can't help being a little concerned about it. What do you mean by results "at the very top"? For instance, if a person receives 95% in PUMS, would that be seen as being above 95% in UMS? I'm sorry about these questions Every year it seems you are swamped with a series of similar questions about UMS and this year I'm the one asking the same questions...

If you were asked to take an English language proficiency test, it would be IELTS. We don't normally accept TOEFL.

Fewer students get between 95 and 100 PUMS than 95-100 UMS, so a score in the mid to high 90s PUMS will place them above more of their cohorts than a similar score in UMS.

Try not to worry too much about it, strong performance will be well regarded and you can only influence your own application not how it will be seen compared with others.

Sorry if this is silly, but PUMS stands for "Percentage Uniform Marks" right? So how does 95-100 UMS differ from 95-100 PUMS? It sounds like you are talking about percentages in both.

Alright, guess I'll just have to wait and see if I get an offer that includes the IELTS. Regarding the NSAA necessary for natural sciences, could you recommend some resources that one could use to practice/prepare for the assessment? I've already found the specimen paper on the natural sciences tripos page, but I'm at a bit of a loss in regards to other resources I could use to prepare myself.

Sorry if this is silly, but PUMS stands for "Percentage Uniform Marks" right? So how does 95-100 UMS differ from 95-100 PUMS? It sounds like you are talking about percentages in both.

Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) don't provide UMS but PUMS which give a percentage for all the modules taken and they don't give individual module UMS in the way that other exams boards too.

When I say 95% UMS, what I mean is 190 UMS out of 200 in most Arts subjects and 285 out of 300 UMS in Maths/Science subjects.

Ah yes okay, I see, but what is it that makes fewer people get 95%-100% PUMS as opposed to the same score in UMS? I thought that exam boards basically had to make sure than a certain amount of people got A, B, C, D, etc...

Ah yes okay, I see, but what is it that makes fewer people get 95%-100% PUMS as opposed to the same score in UMS? I thought that exam boards basically had to make sure than a certain amount of people got A, B, C, D, etc...

Hello! I went into year 12 hoping to work hard and come out with 4A grades at AS, a goal which wasn't wholly unattainable for me at the beginning of the year. However things haven't gone to plan. I think I can pull the standard offer grades out of the bag for A2 but I'm looking at ABC/BCD this year (having only taken the exams for 3 of my 4 subjects). Can predicted grades save my dream or is it too improbable to consider 2017 entry?
Thank you.


Posted from TSR Mobile

I am a British citizen lived in UK for 14 years ,but for the last 2.5 years I am living abroad. My parents are still working in UK and also have an owned residence property there. I have done IGCSE board and currently doing CIE A levels. I would like to apply for English in Cambridge for my undergraduate course. I have a few questions.

-Will I be considered as a domestic student?
-I have taken English Language and English Literature papers for IGCSE which I have got A* s for. So hope I don't have to take any test like IELTS.
-While applying through UCAM how can I convert grades in CIE AS/A levels to UMS score?

Hoping to get your valuable opinion on this.

Hello and thank you for your questions. First of all, i think it's unlikely that, as a UK citizen, you'd ever be asked for IELTS. Second, you can't convert grades into UMS. CIE give PUMS in some countries (but not others) and if you are in a country where they don;t provide PUMS then you just have the grade which you can send.

Regarding the question of whether you'd be considered a domestic or overseas student for fees, that's tricky to answer without more detail. I assume you are currently living outside the EU? If you are living abroad for education while your parents are working overseas and your main address remains in the UK then you would still be a UK student for fees. If not and your main address is abroad, then you wouldn't qualify for home fee status and you'd have to pay overseas fees.

Sorry for gatecrashing! The UKCISA website is the oracle for fee status questions and is used by admissions teams.

I'm afraid you'd have to ask CIE that. They aren't bound by the same conventions as domestic A Level providers. Sorry not to be ore helpful.

That's okay.

Previously you mentioned that Software Systems Development would be unlikely to form part of my offer. I don't want to take 5 subjects next year, so either Biology or SSD will be dropped. Honestly I enjoy SSD more than Biology and have probably done better in it. Would my application be less strong if I had Maths, Further Maths, Physics and SSD, as opposed to Maths, FM, Physics and Biology for A2? (for CompSci application)