The Student Room Group

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Check out http://www.oxbridge-admissions.info/

Also, in the first post in http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=503543, there is an attachment with a list of the 2008 TSR Offer Holders with their stats.

Your GCSEs are probably below average for a Cambridge applicant, but there has been people who have been accepted with less and rejected with more. It depends on the other parts of your application - GCSEs are only one (presumably relatively minor) part. Concentrate on getting high UMS in your coming AS exams instead.
Reply 2
greenwaytph

Im just kind of crapping myself because I have 3 A*, 7 A and 1 B

Good luck with that.

EDIT: Hey, this is me from three years in the the future. If you guys can't take sarcasm, perhaps you should reconsider your choices in life. :rolleyes:
(edited 12 years ago)
11A*, 1A. But your grades are fine; I know people who got in with less. It really doesn't matter how good your grades are. Admissions tutors know better than anyone that GCSEs are meaningless.
epitome
Not true.
GCSE grades *do* matter, though they are unlikely to be the life-or-death of an application.

1. Your grades are assessed in the process -- including GCSEs on their own.

2. GCSEs remain a respected (though of course not flawless) indicator of degree performance. Better than AS/A Levels for this purpose.

They may mean more or less to different interviewers/admissions tutors, but they are *not* officially negligible, and higher marks will *always* be a benefit (if not in the first round, most certainly in the Pool).

jcb914
Absolutely not true. GCSEs are an important part of the admissions process, but like all aspects of an application, their value varies between colleges. For example, apparently one college rejects all applicants with fewer than 5A* grades, irrelevant of other circumstances.

Sigh. Yes. Of course GCSEs matter. But they don't matter to the extent to which the OP has been brought to believe they matter; the OP's grades are good, and easily sufficient to get them into Cambridge, other factors allowing. In fact, GCSE grades are the least of the OP's worries. If the OP has got GCSE grades so low that Cambridge won't look twice, then the chances are he'll have got similar A-level grades, and if there's a major discrepancy, most colleges would assess him on the basis of how he's doing now rather than how he did two years back. Look at Craghyrax's grades, for example; but they're irrelevant, because she's easily intelligent enough to be studying SPS at Cambridge.

I know plenty of people in Cambridge with grades lower than the OP's. The admissions tutors know grades are of little significance more than anyone. Sure, they need to base their offer on something, and grades aren't a bad indicator, but if some of the people in this thread with sub-amazing GCSE grades got into Cambridge, then ten times as many people with similar grades will have also had interviews. Goes to show how little they care.

Jcb914: can you find evidence for this on that college's website or some other official statement by the college, please? If not, it's probably the same bull**** rumours that float around all the time about Cambridge, because some people see it as the holy grail and think you need to have 50 GCSEs, 12 A-levels, 4 trophies for different sports and be well spoken and posh to get in. A lot of crap goes round; unless the college says it, it's probably not true.
Ahhh this 'less-that-5A*' business is really scaring me - I have 4A* and 6A's and want to do theology. How disadvantaged am I? :frown:
Reply 6
T-o dore
Ahhh this 'less-that-5A*' business is really scaring me - I have 4A* and 6A's and want to do theology. How disadvantaged am I? :frown:

Not very, as there are many more factors to be taken into account (personal statement, AS marks, interview performance, etc.).
Hi. I just finished my AS and would love to apply to the physical Nat Sci course. I am really confident to get the 3A in my Physics, Chemistry and Maths A-levels (with good UMS) but I put a lot of hard work and effort into it. Do you think I would struggle with the workload if I do get into Cambridge? For current Nat Sci students, how did you find your A-levels? Did you put a lot of work into it or did you find it very easy? Did you get good UMS score with very little effort?

Thanks in advance.
Reply 8
Go for it.

And don't worry too much about how other people find it. Often (though not always) it's very difficult to measure amount of work. Some people work very hard, but actually needn't; others don't think they're working very hard, but are doing more than they realise; others aren't working hard, but *think* thhey are (or they're working long hours doing the wrong kind of thing, so putting in lots of effort but wasting their time).

Also, this stuff is rather different for arts & sciences. I'm never surprised when arts students say they breezed through A Levels, because the exams often have more room for fundamental creative/thoughtful flair (intelligent ********ting!). In sciences, though, you simply NEED to know the stuff in a certain way to pass. Given your hardcore science subjects, I'd expect you to have put in some serious hours to learn and understand the material. And you're still (hopefull) getting As, remember. The worry comes when people have to put in lots of work to get a B! (Please not the difference between "lots of work to get a B" and "lots of work and get a B" -- having a bad exam is not the same as not being good enough). :smile:

If the course looks right for you, and if As are realistic, then they're the basic requirements. Apply with your head held high! :smile:
Reply 9
~charmaine~
Hi. I just finished my AS and would love to apply to the physical Nat Sci course. I am really confident to get the 3A in my Physics, Chemistry and Maths A-levels (with good UMS) but I put a lot of hard work and effort into it. Do you think I would struggle with the workload if I do get into Cambridge? For current Nat Sci students, how did you find your A-levels? Did you put a lot of work into it or did you find it very easy? Did you get good UMS score with very little effort?

Thanks in advance.


Hi Charmaine :smile: - I'm not at Oxbridge nor did I take A-Levels but here's my view: I didn't have to put any work into getting very good grades while I was at school and the result at university was that I was overwhelmed by the workload in the beginning - I was so used to procrastrinating. I think people who are used to working consistently at school actually have an easier transition to university. You'll be perfectly fine, definitely go for it!
Reply 10
Well, lots of my friends worked extremely hard to get the 3As in their sciences (they were offer holders last year for the Cam NatSci course). This was partially because the level of teaching wasn't great in a particular subject and also because despite what people may think, science A levels are extremely difficult and the sheer content that is required to remember, puts a lot of pressure on the candidate. I would say absolutely work very hard, to give yourself the confidence to achieve the grade (even if you' re gifted, the extra work will mean that you can attack a difficult question with more ease) and to make sure that you do not miss the 3A grades. Good luck! :smile:
Reply 11
I definitely didn't find meeting my AAA offer easy. I ended up with an A to spare (having taken four), but was very close to missing two of them. Don't worry that you haven't breezed through -- almost nobody does.
Well, for my A-level Maths and Economics I didn't really struggle to get an A, but I still worked hard for both. However, for Politics I did. But that's more to do with the fact that my AS teacher was fairly rubbish and my A2 the complete opposite. Hence, I decided to resit one of my AS modules after getting a high mark in my A2. At the end, I got AAA.
I'm not a NatSci, but I think you have to work hard for grades at A level (in 'hard' subjects). At GCSE you can get by with little to no work, provided you're intelligent, and get quite a few A*s. But getting 9+ A*s at GCSE or all A grades at AS and A level requires work, so you should feel proud, not that you would necessarily struggle at Cambridge.
Reply 14
Nope, I got AAAAA with little effort.
Reply 15
mfb3000
Nope, I got AAAAA with little effort.


only 5?
(I haven't got my results back yet, and I sat Advanced Highers instead of A-Levels)

I was really worried about me putting in effort would mean that I'm unworthy of a place, because I don't just know things. But I suppose a lot of it's about aptitude. I was told I could get an A in my AH English "standing on my head", but that didn't discourage me from trying as hard as I possibly could, memorising all 20 poems verbatim for my exam, spending ages over my folio - because just getting an A wasn't enough, I'd still rather have earned it. And I think overall, that counts for more than just 'getting' the grades.
Reply 17
Dadeyemi
only 5?

Only 5. Maths, FM, Bio, Chem, Physics.
Reply 18
yeah same 5As...lol tbh if ur good at science those subjects pretty easy done like that
I didn't work particularly hard for my A Levels yet achieved AAA. My attendance at 6th form was awful and if i was there sometimes i didn't go in specifically to attend classes. I remember having to hide from my teachers if i saw them around the school grounds cause they'd be like 'why wasnt you in my class today?' and i wouldn't be able to give them proper answer. My teachers loved and hated me because they would ask me questions and i'd be able to answer their questions despite missing their classes (whilst i wouldn't say i worked hard i DID keep up with the work outside of class!). This wasn't a problem for A Levels but i carried this sort of attitude into uni this year and struggled because of it!

I would say if you're used to working hard for your A Levels then the transition to uni should be pretty smooth.