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

Scroll to see replies

Do i have a reasonable chance to study maths with these UMS scores?:
Maths: 581/600 (97%) A*
Chemistry:262/300 (87%) A
Physics: 251/300 (84%) A

Reply 9821

Melz0r

Original post by Sarr

Just got my AS results:

English- A - 95.5%
History- A - 95.5%
RE- A - 89%

Psychology- B - 75.5%

As is pretty obvious, I'll be dropping psychology, but will that low score affect my changes of a place? Will I still have to declare it? If it makes a difference I'm looking to read English Lit.

Thanks :smile:

I don't think your B should do too much harm, you've got good averages in 3 good essay subjects and they're not that bothered about psych anyway. You will have to declare it but I wouldn't lose sleep over it :smile:

Reply 9822

Melz0r

Original post by Phatzo

Do i have a reasonable chance to study maths with these UMS scores?:
Maths: 581/600 (97%) A*
Chemistry:262/300 (87%) A
Physics: 251/300 (84%) A

Yes, that looks good, you've nothing to lose in applying.

Reply 9823

Sarr

Original post by Melz0r

Excellent - great stuff! So glad that my ums average % is 93.333, just made it over the autopool line! :biggrin:

. Thanks for your advice!

Reply 9824

qgujxj39

I think it's probably worth applying, although it'll depend on your personal circumstances, UMS at AS, etc.

Original post by Message

However, if it makes any difference, I went to one of the 200 most underachieving schools in the country, where noone has been to Oxbridge, or any Russell Group University at all for a long time.

This will definitely work in your favour - Cambridge are very transparent about this and you can find some information in section 1.4.3 here.

Reply 9825

qgujxj39

Original post by Message

Would you mind telling me about Cambridge's resit policy? Do they mind if you retake a few modules?

Retaking one or two because you had an off day is fine, but making a habit of it won't look good.

Reply 9826

Melz0r

I'm about to go offline (would you believe, I've given myself eyestrain, what a fool) but if anyone is in need of advice or reassurance then please do PM me and I'll pick it up in the morning (or if you make the subject like 'IT'S REALLY URGENT' I might respond today) :smile:

Reply 9827

Little Wing

85% over 5 AS subjects, is it even worth it anymore?

Reply 9828

salsharifi

I'm hoping to apply for medicine

My AS results:

Biology 261/300 (87%)

Maths 289/300 (96.3%)

Chemistry 275/300 (91.7%)

Which comes to 91.7% average over all subjects ... I feel a bit deflated, especially about biology.

I also have history at AS, will they bother looking at that one? (I got an A, 84%)

Reply 9829

Zoedotdot

Original post by Little Wing

85% over 5 AS subjects, is it even worth it anymore?

Absolutely. There is no minimum UMS requirement and it sounds like your grades are solid from that average. What do you hope to study?

Reply 9830

Chief Wiggum

Original post by salsharifi

I don't know if they'll ignore history completely or not, but they'll definitely care much much more about Bio Chem and Maths.

Reply 9831

Xotol

Original post by Chief Wiggum

I don't know if they'll ignore history completely or not, but they'll definitely care much much more about Bio Chem and Maths.

Out interest, when Cambridge take an average of the 3 most 'relevant' subjects (for medicine), does Chem have to be included for this? I take Bio, Chem, Phys and Maths... I've had conflicting opinions about this when I've talked to different admissions tutors.

Reply 9832

lp386

Original post by salsharifi

Even if they did look at it, 84% in history wouldn't be a disqualification by any means (an A is a good grade, even if you didn't get full marks!) Your AS results look pretty solid to me.

Reply 9833

Little Wing

Original post by Zoedotdot

Absolutely. There is no minimum UMS requirement and it sounds like your grades are solid from that average. What do you hope to study?

Medicine

, I'm going to go for it, I feel confident in my BMAT skills, and why the heck not :P

Reply 9834

Chief Wiggum

Original post by Xotol

Hmm, I honestly don't know, and from reading posts on TSR in the past, nobody really seems to know what happens.

If you have 4 relevant subjects, they might just use all 4. In a graph online medicine showing applicants/students' UMS scores, they used "average from bio, chem, maths, phys", so it seems that if you did 4, they seem to have included all 4 (they might not do the same thing for admissions though, this was just online admissions info). I'd have personally thought that if they were to use 3, they'd definitely use Bio and Chem, then one from Maths/Physics.

Reply 9835

oli_G

97% in biology and maths, 94% in physics and 91% in chemistry. Any chance for medicine?

I was on close to full ums in chemistry but this unit 2 really brought the average down :/

Reply 9836

lp386

Original post by Melz0r

For a Cambridge student to get eyestrain is quite something, given that we're all practically full time sixteen-hour-a-day computer users. Or maybe that's just me.

I'll be hanging around this thread for the next couple of hours, so if anyone has any urgent questions, especially economics, feel free to quote me and I'll leap out of whichever pointless internet argument I've managed to get myself in :smile:

Reply 9837

lp386

Original post by oli_G

97% in biology and maths, 94% in physics and 91% in chemistry. Any chance for medicine?

I was on close to full ums in chemistry but this unit 2 really brought the average down :/

Four A levels, all over 90% and two over 95%. Sounds like a very competitive application (assuming other things like work experience are in place) and you should stop worrying and go congratulate yourself with cake :smile:

Reply 9838

Chief Wiggum

Original post by oli_G

97% in biology and maths, 94% in physics and 91% in chemistry. Any chance for medicine?

I was on close to full ums in chemistry but this unit 2 really brought the average down :/

yes

Reply 9839

Xotol

Original post by Chief Wiggum

Problem is I got low 90s for Chemistry and the rest high 90s. They all average to a bit over 95% (my chem, bio and physics average to 95% too). Not sure what happened since I thought I did well for Chemistry, but yeah.