Ask an Admissions Tutor X: 20 September - 21 October

Hi,

I have a question about declaring grades. If I have taken AS exams for Further Maths and Maths, do I then enter them both as pending A-levels and then under each one write the module grade for three modules each? The results were given on my sheet separately for each module and my school won't be certificating or cashing them in as I am continuing both to A2. Therefore, I can't enter them as AS grades.

Hi Dr Spencer,

GCSEs did not go well for me. I only achieved 3 A*s, 7 As and a B. However, at A-level I achieved an A* in mathematics fast track (The A-level is done in one year instead two) and 2 As in Chemistry and Biology. This means I am predicted 3 A*s for Biology, Chemistry and Further Maths.

Do I still stand a chance bearing in mind my GCSE results?

Cambridge doesnt value GCSE grades that much based on what I know. Therefore, you are completely fine.

Hello and thank you for your questions and good to know of your interest in History. You don't have to be interested in Murray Edwards to ask!

1) Yes, UMS is considered (where it is available) for the whole A Level, not just for AS or A2.

2) Yes, falling away from AS to A2 is a little bit of a concern. It's not unusual, however, for this to happen as A2 is significantly harder than AS. You have done very well in History and sustained your strength there for the most part so that will be a good thing in your History application.

3) No, I don't have data on that. Most successful post A Level applicants, however, will have exceeded the offer.

4) The admissions assessment will be used in conjunction with the rest of the application. It won't be used as a filter in the same way as the HAT and other Oxford tests to reduce the field to 2.5-3 applicants per place. We are committed to interviewing a similar proportion to that in the past (c.80%). As it has never been used yet, it's impossible to say how every college in every subject is going to use the assessments but the important thing to stress is that all will use it in sensible conjunction with other information. There's certainly no cut off mark.

5) I would say that your chances at Cambridge are not bad but you aren't going to be one of the stronger candidates on paper. If you do well in the assessment and the interviews (which you are more likely to get at Cambridge) then I can certainly see you getting an offer. If these elements of the application match your achieved results, however, then you would be marginal for a place if that makes sense. I'm reluctant to say too much about Oxford as I can't speak for them. I expect, though, that your performance in the HAT will be an important element and so you need to think about how you feel you'll do in that. Your A Levels are good but not so good that they will feel they can disregard a poor performance in the HAT.

6 & 7) The format doesn't change greatly between colleges. The accepted pattern is two interviews, one based on your submitted essays and PS and the other on a source or sources.

I hope this helps and best of luck in your decision and application.

Hello again TSR. My name is Dr Andrew Spencer and I am the Admissions Tutor at Murray Edwards College in Cambridge. Welcome to my tenth Ask an Admissions Tutor thread, this time in my new guise as Murray Edwards Admissions. The @Christ's Admissions profile, which I ran for the last three years, will continue under my successor but for the next month before the application deadline for Cambridge, I'll be answering your questions here so please fire away.

Normally you get offers based upon As to A level. However I am self teaching and since its maths, further maths and additional further maths, I will either have An A level and an AS or 2 A levels/1 A level and two AS How does that work with Cambridge would that still get an offer? because If I have A*A* surely the offer would literally be just A/A* would that hurt my chances or is that fine.

Could you clarify what you mean? Are you saying you're not yet sure how many exams you'll be doing in year 12? Or that the modules can be arranged in various ways? If it's the second, I don't think you're correct. It's not possible to have A-level Maths, AS Further Maths and AS Additional Further Maths; Additional Further Maths is just made up of extra modules not included in full A-levels of Maths and Further Maths.

I am a mature student who is entirely self taught I am sitting some exams this year and some next so you might define me as year 12 if you like.

I just realized yes it is not possible to get AS in both additional maths and further maths I checked specification and realized some modules I thought don't count as further modules do. My bad. Okay so if I had either A* A level and as in further maths or A*A* in maths and further maths then I would maybe get offer of A*A*or A*?

would that be unusual or would that be how it works considering I already have an A* or A*A* in this scenario can that hurt the offer if I only need to do one A level in the second year? would the offer be higher in this scenario?

I'm not sure what offer you would get (I think an overall offer of either A*A*A or A*A*A* is possible) but in any case it probably wouldn't matter if you failed to get the third A*, provided you met the the STEP offer.

Yeah I am not worried so much about the 3rd A* been asked for I mean If I got high enough scores to get an offer I would have a 95%+ average considering that Edexcel shuffle units between maths Further maths and additional maths the Aggregate at that point would put me in a strong position to get the third A* regardless.

the thing I would worry about is been asked for distinction or distinctions (I may or may not sit 1-2 step papers this year depending on how ready I feel) in the step exams in this scenario.

Will there be any way for you to know raw marks from reformed AS results? Are they going to be part of the SAQ or is it up to students to ask a teacher to mention it in a reference?

Hi Dr Spencer,

I am considering applying for mathematics at Cambridge.

My AS results were as follows:
Mathematics - A
Further Mathematics - A
Physics - A
Chemistry - A
Electronics - A

And my individual module scores for maths were:

Maths (293/300) 97.7%
Core 1 - 93
Core 2 - 100
Mechanics 1 - 100

Further Maths (295/300) 98.3%
Further Pure 1 - 99
Statistics 1 - 99
Mechanics 2 - 97

Extra Modules:
Decision 1 - 96
Mechanics 3 - 93
Mechanics 4 - 66

I am predicted A*A*A*A* for the end of A2.

My concern is the Mechanics 4 score will count against me. How much could this hinder my application?

Many thanks,
Cryptokyo

Hi Dr Spencer,

My question is regarding predicted grades and the use of them for Oxbridge. Are those with higher predicted grades looked on better than those who have just scraped the entrance requirements? I am currently predicted A*A*A* but was wondering how important this is. Many thanks

I have some more questions on the COPA and UCAS:
Under Qualifications on the COPA, should I list regents examination scores? Regents are exams administered only in New York state, and they are much easier than their Advanced Placement Equivalent. Therefore, I only listed my AP and ACT scores.
Under Education for question 3.1, also for the COPA, do I need to list courses that are not advanced placement or above? Like Studio Art and French to satisfy graduation requirements.
Also for question E3.1, should i select "other" for subject and input the title of my course? Because I don't know how to assign subject for most of my courses.
For the UCAS form, should I include regents examination scores for my education?
Many thanks.