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GCSEs taken early ????

Hi
I want to do medicine and I am currently in year 10. On quite a lot of medical school's websites it says they cannot accept qualifications taken early. I'm doing GCSE maths this year and my other GCSEs next year. I will still be doing either AS or IGCSE maths next year. Will this be a problem? Will my maths GCSE not count?

Reply 1

Harantony

Hi,

I, like you, took my Maths GCSE in year 10 and started my AS in year 11. Unfortunately, most medical schools don't look at Maths as an early GCSE (however, they don't look at GCSEs that much) and they won't look at the Maths A-Level as part of your grades.

Some universities' requirements are AAAe for A-Level, for example, and they will allow the Maths to come under the E at AS (lower-case E). The reason is that they want to see you can sit three A-Levels in one sitting and not spread it over two separate years. Although it's nice now that I have one less subject, it isn't the most ideal scenario. However, it may differ for you. Personally, if I can go back in time and make a decision about fast-track Maths, I would have still taken it - it didn't affect me that much in application and I still have offers.

A judgement you should make is that you must be confident that you will get an A or A* in your GCSE Maths and if you take AS you must be prepared to get an A at AS to be competitive.

Good luck! :smile: