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

My school says not to apply to oxbridge with less than 8 A*s and 2 As which seems to me to be ridiculous. I have one more exam left and have been predicted:

Maths A*
English Language A*
English Literature A*
Art A*
Chemistry A*
Biology A*
History A*
Physics A
Latin A
French A

My school is pretty academic so would only give the best references to 10 A* candidates, could I still get in if I succeed in AS? (History, maths, English lit, economics)

I got into Oxford for Geography with a Science Scholarship, with 7a*s, 1a and 2bs. Your grades are fine.
It is more important to do well at AS - I got 100% in my geography AS as well as some of my History exams.
And have a good personal statement - I know someone with 12a*s at GCSE, 4A*s predicted at A-level and did not get an interview, because they didn't like her personal statement.
To be honest, I have changed university so that I could change course after Oxford, it is not the only university out there.

Hi there, this question might be asked before in different shape or form. Im in the process of doing my Fast track A levels(Maths, Further Maths, Physics). My question is if i able to achieve good grades(i.e A*A*A or A*AA) will that be enough to get in to engineering degree in Cambridge or Imperial( with my 5 years aviation engineering experience in British Army) or do i need gleaming GCSE with that as well. I did my GCSE Equivalent 12 years ago(Im 29 BTW) from India and get crap grades(BBCCC).

Any reply would be appreciated.

Thanks

x

Well, last time I took the bus from Bury St. Edmunds, but I hear driving's pretty useful too.

Hello people,

First of all, this is my very first post on TSR, so if I do something wrong, bear with me and notify me!

I am a Dutch student who aspires to study at Cambridge University (Natural Sciences). I looked up what Cambridge expects from Dutch applicants, and I found this: 'Applicants from the Netherlands would be expected to achieve an overall score of 8,0 to 8,5 with scores up to 9 in up to three specified subjects.' Currently, I have a 9 in seven subjects, and the rest are all 8. In my eyes, that is a WHOLE lot better than they ask for. I also have an FCE diploma (A) and next year I'll do my CPE (I'm expected to ace that one too). My high school is in the top 5 in the Netherlands, but I don't know if they have ever sent any students to an Ivy League or to Oxbridge, we have a lot of incredibly gifted students, however, most of them go to Dutch universities, as they aren't bad at all (TU Delft is endorsed by our school, most of you probably haven't heard of it).

My question is, what does Cambridge look at? My grades are good enough, but that can't be the only thing. I heard that Cambridge doesn't look at extracurriculars. Is that true? What DO they look at?

do some practice and be ready to wrestle questions like: 'How do you know you're in Cambridge?'

I was interviewed by two colleges and didn't have a single question which wasn't maths/chemistry/physics problem solving. The obscure questions seems to largely be a myth.

could i apply with my grades?
GCSE: 8a*'s ,6a's, and 4b's (not including btec or equivilant i have 7a*,2a and b)
AS: (UMS out of 300) maths-273, f.maths-272, physics-271, biology-252 and chemiistry-241, ICT ocr natiionals level 3-pass (pass in this is equivilant to an E at a2 )
dropped bio and retaking chem unit 1 as i got 53/90 ums (d grade), luckilly i got very high scores in unit 2 and 3 as im usually quite good at chemistry compared with my other subjects.
People who have got in from my school in previous years have had at least 280 in their as ums scores...
My teachers are okay(ish) to predict 4 A*s for me, and i wish to study maths. (i know offers are based on other things like step and ps etc, but do i actually stand a chance with these grades..)

I got into Oxford for Geography with a Science Scholarship, with 7a*s, 1a and 2bs. Your grades are fine.
It is more important to do well at AS - I got 100% in my geography AS as well as some of my History exams.
And have a good personal statement - I know someone with 12a*s at GCSE, 4A*s predicted at A-level and did not get an interview, because they didn't like her personal statement.
To be honest, I have changed university so that I could change course after Oxford, it is not the only university out there.

could i apply with my grades?
GCSE: 8a*'s ,6a's, and 4b's (not including btec or equivilant i have 7a*,2a and b)
AS: (UMS out of 300) maths-273, f.maths-272, physics-271, biology-252 and chemiistry-241, ICT ocr natiionals level 3-pass (pass in this is equivilant to an E at a2 )
dropped bio and retaking chem unit 1 as i got 53/90 ums (d grade), luckilly i got very high scores in unit 2 and 3 as im usually quite good at chemistry compared with my other subjects.
People who have got in from my school in previous years have had at least 280 in their as ums scores...
My teachers are okay(ish) to predict 4 A*s for me, and i wish to study maths. (i know offers are based on other things like step and ps etc, but do i actually stand a chance with these grades..)

There's the difference. 'How do we percieve objects?' is a philosophical question and you would be a fool not to expect something like that for a philosophy interview. For a natural sciences interview I have not met anyone who was asked anything not directly related to problem solving. The physical sciences especially only really care about maths/physics/chemistry ability.

Besides, the entire point of an obscure question is that it's something the candidate could not have prepared an answer for, instead of the far too common 'Why do you want to study X' or 'Why do you want to go to university Y?'

For Maths, the UMS Cambridge are interested in are the UMS for Maths, Further Maths and Physics, your three most relevant subjects. Biology and Chemistry UMS will not be used when calculating averages and they're not exactly low anyway. You should check how these compare against your schools averages as well; as the UMS relative to your schools average performance is arguably as important as the objective UMS score itself. Your UMS distribution across Maths modules is also important - Cambridge require access to each individual modular score and will take note where you lost the marks - if you got a high score in core modules, but were offset by relatively poor performance in applied; for example, then Cambridge would be able to see this and act accordingly.

You've got a 90% average across your three most relevant subjects, which is certainly enough to be considered - however, there will be people with higher UMS, so you'll need to ensure you have a good interview.

I partly agree with your second point - namely, 'the entire point of an obscure question' - but i strongly disagree with your first part.

(Physical) sciences - if i'm correct - are about how the world empirically is and how and why things happen. Since these questions reveal highly problematic aspects, it would be foolish to think that problem-solving skills and critical thinking aren't necessary in order to answer them correctly. If such a (wrong) belief is to be had, then i think that there is a deep misunderstanding of what science is, of its objectives and, more importantly, of its methodology.