UCAS Points and Universities

Hi guys,

I have a few questions regarding UCAS Points and universities...

Firstly, I am wondering whether the majority of universities in the UK care more about UCAS points, or about what your grades are for individual A-level subjects. By this, I mean, do the majority of universities look at the total UCAS points you have gained through your A-levels, or do they care more about your grades i.e. if I have ACCD from 4 A-levels but somehow I have a good number of ucas points, will they be fussed that I have a C and two Ds, or is the ucas points overal more important to them?

Secondly, I live in Turkey and I am going to an international school. I took my IGCSEs last year, and I got a distinction for my International Cerficate of Education but unfortunately it appears that these don't give any UCAS points. Does anyone know of any useful, not too difficult qualifications which I could attempt and would be useful in gaining more ucas points? Are there any interesting qualifications which unis might appreciate and/or would give me good ucas points and are available to be taken online? Any advice is welcome...

Thank you

That really depends on the university. Those that are of poor up to mediocre quality seem to desire UCAS points rather than actual grades whereas the better ones will want grades usually over 3 A levels.

Looking at your IGCSEs it seems you'll possibly be looking at better universities so I would advise completing 3 A levels to a standard that doesn't deviate much ie; ABB, AAB or perhaps AAC.

Thanks for your reply...I am working hard but I must say I am finding some of the A level content hard, I am taking Maths, Physics, English and Applied ICT, and I am particularly concerned with Math...Hopefully I can work my way up to higher grades...

On a side note, I have heard that IGCSEs are one grade higher in GCSEs (i.e. a grade B at IGCSE level is a grade A at GCSE level and so on) - teachers in my school who seem to know what they are talking about have told me this. Could you verify this?? Thank you!

Thanks for your reply...I am working hard but I must say I am finding some of the A level content hard, I am taking Maths, Physics, English and Applied ICT, and I am particularly concerned with Math...Hopefully I can work my way up to higher grades...

On a side note, I have heard that IGCSEs are one grade higher in GCSEs (i.e. a grade B at IGCSE level is a grade A at GCSE level and so on) - teachers in my school who seem to know what they are talking about have told me this. Could you verify this?? Thank you!

UCAS Points < Grades

Hence why when you start getting out of the top 20, universities offers entail UCAS points as opposed to specific grades