The "Are my grades good enough for Maths..." Thread

GCSE: 10xA*
AS: 4xA
C1 99
C2 100
S1 94
M1 96
D1 100
FP1 75

I'm pretty sure I'll at least get an interview at Cambridge, but will my FP1 mark count against me and is it likely I'll have chance to explain my situation come interview? I'm planning to resit it, but I was ill the day before (not enough to go doctor's though obviously) and that probably affected my performance.

It's understandable that someone can have a bad day - you just have to show them that it was in fact a bad day when you're at interview. I know a guy on here who got a similar mark in M2 yet still got an offer due to the rest of his modules being high enough. I think they just asked him; "what happened in M2?"

Hello, I would like to ask for a bit of help.
I'm from Poland, I passed my final high school exam this year and currently I'm on a gap year (needed to save up some money for studies). This is how my grades look like:
Maths basic - 100%
Maths extended - 98%
English basic - 100%
English extended - 98%
English oral - 100%
Polish basic - 72%
Polish oral - 95%
History of art extended - 86%

I have no idea how to compare these grades with ones obtained in UK. Does anybody now? I haven't applied yet, but I'm thinking about Warwick, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Bath, Durham (but still not sure). I'm also worried about STEP - is it possible that for example Warwick will not require it?
Thanks!

GCSEs: ABBBCCCC
AS levels : ABBB, B in maths :s however, I'm pretty sure I can achieve an A overall by retaking.

Predicted:AABa

Also only doing AS further maths

With those poor GCSEs and AS levels, would I be able to apply for the likes of Nottingham and Manchester. I was also looking at Bristol they do a contextual offer of AAB for students from lower achieving schools. Am I way too ambitious?

They're 3 very good maths schools, and so a lot of people will have much higher predicted and achieved as's than that, and are applying there. If i were you i maybe wouldn't apply to all three. But if you are from a low achieving school, they would take that into consideration.
Maybe apply to one or two of them, but make sure you have some choices that you should get offers from.
Leeds is AAB i think, and that is a quite a good maths school, maybe look there as well?

I was originally going to apply for Manchester, Notts, Queen Mary, Brunel and City. But was tempted by the Bristol contextual offer so i guess i'll just leave Bristol then since it is quite competitive as you said. I may switch Queen Mary to Leeds, do you think thats a good decision?

And also, what do you think of the other universities I may apply for?

Hello, I would like to ask for a bit of help.
I'm from Poland, I passed my final high school exam this year and currently I'm on a gap year (needed to save up some money for studies). This is how my grades look like:
Maths basic - 100%
Maths extended - 98%
English basic - 100%
English extended - 98%
English oral - 100%
Polish basic - 72%
Polish oral - 95%
History of art extended - 86%

I have no idea how to compare these grades with ones obtained in UK. Does anybody now? I haven't applied yet, but I'm thinking about Warwick, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Bath, Durham (but still not sure). I'm also worried about STEP - is it possible that for example Warwick will not require it?
Thanks!

I think Leeds is thought of as being better than Queen Mary for Maths. although Queen Mary is good.

And as for the others, Manchester and Notts are obviously very very good and competitive, but as for Brunel and City I don't really know much about them.

Just make sure you like where you are applying for, after all, you'll have to stay there for 3/4 years.

mmm yeah quite true, I did go to an open day at Queen Mary but didn't really like the atmosphere. Are there any other good AAB universities you could recommend?

Okay, so at AS I got AABBC (A in Maths, self-taught B in Further Maths). Was so pleased and it was much higher than any of my teachers or I expected to get

Getting predicted A*AAB (A* in Maths, A in Further Maths), applying to Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester and Bristol. My maths teacher thinks I should scrap Liverpool and Leeds and replace them with Warwick and Durham. Is she right, am I not being ambitious enough?

Whether or not that is too ambitious depends on two things: your ability to do STEP and your UMS marks. Durham expect you to have at least around 90% on average across all maths modules. They might give you an offer with slightly less since you were self-taught, but anything less than high 80s would make it a very risky choice. If you have 95%+ *in theory* you should have a decent chance. With Warwick, there should be no problem in terms of getting the offer, but getting A*A*A2/A*A1 is a major challenge for the vast majority of people. Have you had a look at STEP papers at all?

Best of luck with your application, wherever you choose to apply in the end

I've taken a look at a couple of the STEP papers and Siklos' booklet. I haven't done any serious preparation but I've found the questions based on calculus, mechanics and stats alright, been able to complete a few. When you say all maths modules, do you mean just maths, or further maths too? I got 95 100 88 in maths and 80 54 86 in further maths. Doing FP2 in Year 12 wasn't a very good decision I guess Durham sounds very difficult to get into then, shall scrap that idea. I'll consider Warwick though, I believe I could get a 1 in STEP I if I worked really hard.

Thanks for the advice

Sorry for the ambiguity - by 'maths', I did mean maths and further maths I'm afraid Good luck with Warwick

GCSEs: ABBBCCCC
AS levels : ABBB, B in maths :s however, I'm pretty sure I can achieve an A overall by retaking.

Predicted:AABa

Also only doing AS further maths

With those poor GCSEs and AS levels, would I be able to apply for the likes of Nottingham and Manchester. I was also looking at Bristol they do a contextual offer of AAB for students from lower achieving schools. Am I way too ambitious?