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I see. Sorry that I've got two more question.

Currently, two of my friends who are in the same school as mine are planning to apply for Cambridge as well, one for Econ (same as me) and the other for Law. We are planning to apply for the same college as we worked hard together and we are best friends. However, there are rumours that one college will not accept two or more students from the same high school, especially for the same subject. May I know if this is generally true or not? Should my friends and I go for different colleges in Cambridge?

Thanks.

Martin from Peterhouse Admissions here! Just to chip in with some personal anecdotes. When I was applying, my school told me I couldn't apply to my favourite College as someone else from my school was already applying there (different subject). I ignored them and we both got in. My wife was told the same thing by her school, listened to this 'advice' and applied to another College. She ended up pooled to the College she wanted to go to in the first place, with both of the applicants from her school also getting in! Must have been fate...

Reply 201

Doones

Original post by Peterhouse Admissions

My wife was told the same thing by her school, listened to this 'advice' and applied to another College. She ended up pooled to the College she wanted to go to in the first place, with both of the applicants from her school also getting in! Must have been fate...

Aww

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Reply 202

mackie1212

I was wondering if during Medicine interviews applicants are ever required to graph functions or differentiate/integrate equations or are asked to do anything Physics or Mathematics heavy? Or are interview questions mainly Biology and Chemistry based? Does this differ for mature and non-mature students or those that are or aren't taking a gap year? I'm a mature student currently taking a gap year and am just wondering what to go over since it's a bit tricky for me to find a lot of time for revision at the moment :/ Thank you!

Reply 203

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by mackie1212

I don;t think so no. The questions will be mainly based around biology and chemistry. I've not sat in a scientific medicine interview (I've done general interviews for the subject) but I doubt that students are asked those types of questions.

Reply 204

profileradian

aww martin thanks for sharing your experience :smile:

so my friends and I will apply to the same one and let fate decide..

Reply 205

profileradian

I am rather worried about the economics admission test. Since there is only one specimen paper, I don't know where and how to revise. To be honest, I find the essay in the specimen very challenging and I can hardly understand the passage and write a proper essay. There is no sample answer to the essay question as well. How would you suggest me and other economics applicants to prepare for it?

Original post by Murray Edwards Admissions

A lot of schools give this advice and I can understand it as they don't like the idea of their students being in direct competition with each other. I don't think they need to worry, as if the students are good enough then they'll both be accepted and the pool means they may well end up in different colleges anyway.

I've certainly accepted several people from the same school in the same year and people from the same school in the same subject too. I've even accepted people from the same family in the same subject!

The assessments are going to be part of the decision making process both pre-interview and at decision time. Decisions won't be solely made on the basis of results in it so if you do badly it doesn't mean that your chances are 'crushed'. That said, the better you do the better as its good to excel in as many parts of the application as possible.

Reply 206

username1865079

Original post by profileradian

Do you do much reading on economics apart from the materials your economics teacher uses in class?
One of very important things you can do to be a successful applicants to Cambridge (for any course) is explore your subject beyond and above what a school covers in their standard lessons, and reading books on the subject and thinking critically about what's written is one of the most important and easiest things you can do. Super-curricular like that is something Cambridge appreciate very much.

I understand you're an international applicant (based in UK). Do you think it's mainly because of your English level you found it difficult to understand the sample essay or is it the content itself you find it too difficult ?

Reply 207

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by profileradian

The assessment is supposed to be challenging so do not worry about that. The way someone described it to me is I think very helpful. This is the first test that you will have taken that is designed for your ability level. What this means is that GCSEs and A Levels are designed to test across a whole range of abilities, whereas these assessments are designed for those at the top of the ability range and to differentiate between them. Because of this you are expected to find it hard and challenging.

Once you've done the sample assessment and looked at the specification there isn't much more preparation that you can do other than thinking about how you might approach sources similar to those in Section 2. We don;;t want you to be spending hours and hours preparing for the assessments, exploration of your subject will help you more than hours of practice.

Reply 208

davozgenius

Hello
I sent of my application to ucas, and Cambridge even sent me my SAQ(and even recived one of my offers) but I just picked up another Alevel (I did the As last year and dropped it this year but changed my mind now) so i added the course and my prediction to that(A*) to my application by emailing ucas and the universities I've applied to, including Cambridge. does this disadvantage me in any way?
Thank you for your time

Reply 209

Omgaf

Hi,

My GCSEs were average (maybe slightly above for my school - ALIS average 6.8). My AS grades were quite disappointing as well (ABBD). Would I still be able to make a competitive application for Law with 3A*s at A Level?

Reply 210

username1865079

Original post by Omgaf

What subjects are you doing in A-levels?
Are you applying post-qualification with 3A*?

FYI, GCSE isn't that important for Cambridge application as they only look at it as a contextual data. Especially so if you're applying post-application.

And upward-trajectory of your performance is a positive thing for your application.

Reply 211

Friskaaaay

Original post by Murray Edwards Admissions

Thank you for your questions. If you have a strong improvement from GCSE to A Level, which 90+ in all modules would certainly represent compared with your GCSEs (which are not bad at all, though a little below the Cambridge average), then you will find yourself in a strong position on paper as we like to see upwards trajectory in applicants where this is possible.

I would not recommend students taking reformed stand-alone AS Levels out of school - students should do what their schools advise. We would like to see students taking them where their school decides this is possible but those who do not because their school has decided that it isn't possible will not be disadvantaged.

Thank you for your answers but I have just a few more questions, if that's ok?
Since some people don't have AS levels, would there be a higher weighting on GCSEs?
And finally, if gap year applicants were taking another A level, is it likely that the college would make your offer conditional on that A level if the the qualification was relevant?

Thank you so much again.
-F

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 212

stens

Hi!

The teachers at my school (in my country) don't provide predicted grades. Should I just ask my reference to explain it, or send a mail directly to the college I'm applying to?

Reply 213

AlexFrangos

Original post by Murray Edwards Admissions

Hello and thanks for your question. It sort of depends on how you did those three A Levels. If they were done in Year 12 (maths) and Year 13 (FM and Physics) then it's not a problem and not that unusual. If you did it in a different way then it might be seen as a problem but I'd need to know more details before saying for sure.

We do value the Apolytirion but not as much as A Levels and we will be looking more closely at them than at your Apolytirion scores.

In year 12 I did the whole A level in Maths plus 2 papers from Further Maths and AS Physics. In year 13 I did A2 Physics and 4 papers from Further Maths. Maths was certificated in June 2015, Physics in January 2016 and Further Maths in June 2016. So will it be seen as a problem?

Reply 214

Fbiemad

Hello once again @Murray Edwards Admissions,

I have already done A-Levels and got A*A*A*AB in Maths, Further Maths, Persian, Physics and Economics. I had an offer from LSE for Economics and I missed it by 0.5% or 1 mark (since Economics was 1 mark off an A).
I was wondering if my college mentions in my reference the fact that I missed my LSE offer by 1 mark last year would disadvantage/advantage my Cambridge application (or universities in general) in any way?

Reply 215

MCPClark

Hi, I'm hoping to apply for Classics and wondered if my current module scores of 100 for AS language and 92 for literature would be viewed well or poorly? Thanks

Reply 216

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by davozgenius

Congratulations on your first offer, well done! Good luck with filling in the SAQ. There's no reason why taking up another A Level, especially one where you've done the AS, is going to disadvantage your application.

Reply 217

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by Omgaf

A strong improvement from GCSE and AS Level to A2s will be taken as a good sign. Of course a lot of applicants will have stronger results at GCSE and AS but 3 A*s at A2 is a very strong performance and will certainly make you competitive. Good luck! :smile:

Reply 218

Murray Edwards Admissions

Official Rep

Original post by Friskaaaay

GCSEs have always been a useful part of the application but, just like all parts of the application, they are not weighted in our considerations. We take them into account along with everything else. We will be missing a key data element with the loss of modular AS Levels but we are quite used to dealing with applicants without results in Year 12, so it's not a question of weighting one part of the application more highly compared to the others now that AS Levels are disappearing.

We will continue to look at as much data as we can and we will have a new piece of information this year with the introduction of admissions assessments (though these are not to be regarded as a direct replacement for AS Levels).

Reply 219

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by stens

Hi!

The teachers at my school (in my country) don't provide predicted grades. Should I just ask my reference to explain it, or send a mail directly to the college I'm applying to?

If they do not provide a prediction the college should contact them to ask for one, so you need to ask them to do it. We appreciate that predicting grades is not normal in certain countries, but it's important for our processes, to ensure that students are indeed on track to achieve the type of grades that we regard as necessary for entry to Cambridge.