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The Big "Are My Grades Good Enough for Cambridge?" Thread (Mk1)

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Gooj

Maths, Government and politics, psychology, and Business and Economics - i know the last one is a bad choice but the only place i could study economics pure is 4 miles from my house.

But by writing that in my personal statement, is that still ok?

I would have that written in your UCAS reference to leave more space to talk about Economics in your personal statement, but in answer to your original question - yes, you are very likely to get an interview. :smile:

Reply 181

Gooj

alex_hk90

Thanks a lot, that sounds fantastic. :biggrin:

Reply 182

thenewromance

AS results:

Maths: 285/300 (100/100 for C1 and C2, 85/100 for S1. One I was mainly pleased about was C3 though: 96/100)
Physics: 266/300
Economics: An awful 222/300 (unit 1: 53% Unit 2: 90% Unit 3: 78%)

Thing is, I'm applying through special access due to a head problem and was ill through the majority of my exams though mainly maths mechanics and economics; core maths not so much thankfully. So there is that, but also, Unit 1 of economics I partly believe is because I missed the first term so 4 months worth of lessons which may've made things worse.

They're explaining the majority of this in my reference. OCR also don't give any special consideration to illness like edexcel do so I was screwed there.

But I'm wondering, even if there are legit reasons, is there even any point now? I'm partly considering a maths degree now even

Reply 183

msvf

Got the old envelop open, scrambled for the AS statement of results, and what do you know five A's and one B.
Now here i am trying to decide which unis to apply to. would be a waist of an option to apply to Cambridge with only four A*s at gcses and As ums scores that average out to only 85% in most subjects? Got 97% ums but that was in Persian AS which i don't think is worth much.

Is it worth a try?

Reply 184

mdhey89

A*s aren't even in effect yet, so why are you baseing your decision on whether to apply to Cambridge on whether or not you achieved these non-existent A*s?

Reply 185

epitome

Persian AS sounds very interesting and awesome. Keep it up if you can (that has nothing to do with Cambridge entry: just general educational interest).

Your grades are absolutely fine, and you should go for it if you like the course. :smile:

Reply 186

msvf

Who came up with the idea that you could only apply to oxford OR Cambridge? Oxford isnt as good at engineering but im told it's easier to get an offer, Cambridge is the best but its harder to get in. omg the confusion, its killing me.

Reply 187

Jiajun

trayder

Its simple, go to your exam officer at your school, and tell them what modules you would like remarked. You have to pay a fee it is usually around £40 per module. Good Luck

cool... thanks! i see ur applying to cambridge :biggrin:

im having doubts for nat science phy as my physics ums arent 90% or more... so unfortunately i think i might be a little better going for ox as they dont see the units... what u reckon??

and what about u?

Reply 188

NoPurposeTortoise

Sk1lLz

Well, all of the seem to be over 90%, which is the Cambridge average. If I were you, I'd give it a go!

Hold up a sec..I was under the impression that the 90% average A level score for Cambridge students was based on raw grades!! Is that what you meant, or have I got it wrong?? If so :biggrin:

Reply 189

alex_hk90

NoPurposeTortoise

Hold up a sec..I was under the impression that the 90% average A level score for Cambridge students was based on raw grades!! Is that what you meant, or have I got it wrong?? If so :biggrin:

Any average score given would be based on UMS marks, not raw marks.

Reply 190

Sk1lLz

NoPurposeTortoise

Hold up a sec..I was under the impression that the 90% average A level score for Cambridge students was based on raw grades!! Is that what you meant, or have I got it wrong?? If so :biggrin:

I don't know, but I don't that they' base the average on raw marks, as people work on UMS marks...

I have never heard that they used raw marks before, only UMS...

Reply 191

kjc_us

Right, I'm applying for French and German. I got As in all my modules, except for one German module which I royally screwed up and got a big fat C. The reason being is that I didn't realise there was a strict word limit for the writing section, I just thought it was a guide line. So I wrote DOUBLE the word limit, which, to cut a long story short, meant I lost a HEAP of marks, which is so unfair because it's not at all reflective of my ability. :frown:

Will this seriously affect my chances? If Cambridge look at my marks and see the big fat C is this going to stand me at a serious disadvantage? I got almost full marks in my other 2 units and every other AS unit across the board, so will they realise something has gone majorly wrong? I'm really worried. :frown:

Reply 192

thenewromance

Again, can someone help me? Please?

Reply 193

alex_hk90

thenewromance

Again, can someone help me? Please?

Make sure that your UCAS reference explains the situation; that's all I can think of unless you want to contact the college directly, but I don't know if that's such a great idea. Also, if predicted grades are still used then make sure that you are predicted an A in Economics.

kjc_us

Perhaps consider retaking it since it really doesn't reflect your ability. Again, make sure that you are predicted an A in German and consider having it explained in your UCAS reference (although whether or not telling them that you misread the instructions is a good idea is debatable).

Reply 194

Paulwhy

thenewromance

Check out this thread for what offers unis give for econ and what the successfull students are like:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=619184
I think in order for you to have a good chance at a top uni you would have to show not so much it affects your actual AS-level exam reuslts(did you get aab?) but rather:
i) it effected your ability to do a volume of work. i.e. doing only 3 As-level is rare these days and for cambridge 5/6 would be typical. (In last available year on unistat 05/06 42% of successful cam econ students had above 600 ucas points).
ii)that you were much better now and hence the issue would not effect severly your uni performance.

Finally on a positive note if your interest in maths (or maths+econ) warwick give standard maths offers to "all" applicants.

Reply 195

Isometrix

hey, what AS average UMS % does the average cambridge medic have?

Reply 196

kjc_us

alex_hk90

I'm predicted an A for A2 so that's fine. I'm definitely retaking it, no question, but the uni. applications go in before retakes which isn't so fine. :frown:

Would it be best to just leave it and hope they'll notice something went seriously wrong?!

Reply 197

Zoedotdot

kjc_us

I'm predicted an A for A2 so that's fine. I'm definitely retaking it, no question, but the uni. applications go in before retakes which isn't so fine. :frown:

Would it be best to just leave it and hope they'll notice something went seriously wrong?!

On the CAF last year they had a little box to tick if you were planning on retaking the module, but obviously everything's going on the SAQ this year so I'm not sure if it'll be the same. Your other module grades will probably get you an interview and you might be asked about the rogue one at interview, but then again you might not be... I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Reply 198

Pingy

Hello there, I'm thinking of study engineering in Cambridge next year. Can everyone who got offer tell me what subjects you do, and what UMS mark did you get for AS-in order to get a conditional offer. :confused: