The Student Room Group

Birmingham - ways round resit rule?

Scroll to see replies

PercyChatsworth
as GCSEs are pretty pointless exams anyway


Why?
Phalanges
Why?


There's little need or incentive to understand a topic when an exam is based on key words or short answers, and when you can predict what will come up and the question style with such a high degree of accuracy. There's also issues with the coursework component and the level of 'help' from teachers / parent / the internet. There are people on my course with 15/16 A* GCSEs, and one with 21 A* GCSEs- its become a bulk shopping exercise where people just load up their trolley with any old GCSE subject in the hopes that the sheer volume of A* passes will distinguish themselves from the masses. Fewer subjects, studied in greater depth is far more preferable.
Reply 22
Avatar for jpatel10
jpatel10
12
PercyChatsworth
There's little need or incentive to understand a topic when an exam is based on key words or short answers, and when you can predict what will come up and the question style with such a high degree of accuracy. There's also issues with the coursework component and the level of 'help' from teachers / parent / the internet. There are people on my course with 15/16 A* GCSEs, and one with 21 A* GCSEs- its become a bulk shopping exercise where people just load up their trolley with any old GCSE subject in the hopes that the sheer volume of A* passes will distinguish themselves from the masses. Fewer subjects, studied in greater depth is far more preferable.

Out of interest do you go to Camrbidge because there was a story about a Pakistani boy on BBC news recently who had 21 A*s and 5 As at GCSE and he now goes to Cambridge.
jpatel10
Out of interest do you go to Camrbidge because there was a story about a Pakistani boy on BBC news recently who had 21 A*s and 5 As at GCSE and he now goes to Cambridge.


I do. The guy I referred to with 21 A* GCSEs is of Caucasian and not Asian ethnicity. I know there is a guy from Pakistan here with 23 A-levels (21 A grades, 1 B and 1 C) who is reading computer science; I've no idea what GCSE results he got.
PercyChatsworth
Fewer subjects, studied in greater depth is far more preferable.


But surely that is what A Levels are for. Studying subjects in such depth and with such selectivity could be extremely limiting to someone a few years later when he properly understands his interests but cannot do the university course he wants, or the A Levels he wants to do. The optimum must be at GCSE level to give people as broad an education as possible, to give them the freedom to go on and follow their interests in depth later on in life.
Phalanges
But surely that is what A Levels are for. Studying subjects in such depth and with such selectivity could be extremely limiting to someone a few years later when he properly understands his interests but cannot do the university course he wants, or the A Levels he wants to do. The optimum must be at GCSE level to give people as broad an education as possible, to give them the freedom to go on and follow their interests in depth later on in life.


I don't think placing a limit of 9/10 subjects is overly limiting. The brighter students will read around their subjects anyway.
PercyChatsworth
I don't think placing a limit of 9/10 subjects is overly limiting. The brighter students will read around their subjects anyway.


My school has all but given up on GCSEs except in Chinese and Russian. Most do IGCSEs and some skip GCSEs all together and go straight to A-levels. The result is that you get a lot of students with 7 or 8 A-levels so they getting breadth and greater depth.
Reply 27
Avatar for misssmarty
misssmarty
PercyChatsworth
You would have no chance, sorry. This year the minimum to be considered for interview was 8 A* GCSEs. Plenty of other medical schools that you could place a competitive application for though :smile:


any in particular?

what about manchester, lancaster or liverpool?
misssmarty
any in particular?

what about manchester, lancaster or liverpool?


You've said you have 6A*'s 4A's and a C but you haven't said what the C is in. For Liverpool and Lancaster, as long as the C is not in a science, English or maths you should be okay as far as your GCSEs go. For Manchester, you should be okay as far as your GCSEs go as long as that C is not in English or maths.

Hope this helps. Always check the university's own admissions pages before applying as admissions requirements can change :smile:
Bit late to post, but I spoke to the one of the admission tutors at the Birmingham Open Day yesterday (24th June) and he said that they scale GCSE results, providing you are predicted 3A's at A2. This year - the cut-off was 8A*s, but he said that it was unlikely to go up to 9A*s as they had pretty much "hit the ceiling" in terms of academic requirements. Once it gets down to the threshold, i.e. those with 8A*s as opposed to 10 or 11 A*s, THEN they start looking at personal statements etc to sift through those who are eligible for an interview. 1000 interviews - 800 offers made.

Basically it's all dependant on how many people apply and the standard of their GCSE results. If 1000 people apply with 10A*s or more, then the cut off point will be 10A*s. It's too difficult to predict.

I'll be at the threshold (providing it remains at 8A*s) so I better make sure I have a good PS :s-smilie:
Reviving this thread... at GCSE level, would resitting just one GCSE (worth 1/2 but principle is the same I guess) make Birmingham University not even consider the applicant regardless of the other achieved grades?

I ask this because I did email the University, but I'm somewhat confused by the response of "We do not consider any applicants who have re-sat meaning we would not be able to consider them for the Medicine programme at all."

Surely someone out of all those successful applicants must have resat some modules or whole GCSEs, no?
(edited 11 years ago)

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you