Does repeating reduce the chance of getting into Cambridge

Irish Leaving Certificate

A typical offer for the Irish Leaving Certificate is AAAAA at Higher Level. Applicants may be required to achieve A1 in the subjects most relevant to the course applied for.

So whilst not outstanding you have met the minimum offer for a course which is not one of the most competitive. If you apply they are going to judge you on these results.

"Resits
A student's application is unlikely to be adversely affected by their resitting one or two modules – we appreciate that even very capable students may have a 'bad day' when an exam does not go quite to plan.

On the other hand, there would be concern about an applicant's potential to be successful at Cambridge if they need to resit numerous exams, particularly where only a marginal improvement could be achieved. This is because once at the University, students are regularly assessed by examination and there is no opportunity to resit any exams.
Applicants should indicate their intention to resit any exams in their SAQ. Where there are particular reasons for underperformance in qualifications it is useful if these can be outlined in the school/college reference."

This statement is primarily aimed at people who are resitting AS exams in their A2 year, but the comments about resitting numerous exams and explaining under-performance do apply to you. So you have to decide if you have extenuating circumstances to explain your under-performance or did you have a large number of bad days? Will your school state in your reference that your work had suggested a better set of results were expected?

There is no way that you can just go back, resit the whole lot and then be judged on an equal footing with somebody who did better first time. But if you interviewed well and the school said they had expected better an unconditional offer is not impossible.

Thank you for replying . I know they would not treat my application equally if i go repeating. I was thinking of applying this year and redoing the LC exams next June too. For extenuating circumstances I do have something to say- my grandmother was sick and was not in ireland at that time, I was very worried. But i don't think they would believe this has caused my under-performance.. Btw as far as i know in Ireland you can't resit only one or two modules, have to redo everything again.

There doesn't seem to be much point in you repeating the year. (Of course I might be wrong, talk to your teachers!) Presumably what you've already got is enough for other universities? It would be nice to have higher grades, but once you've been to university, nobody will care about these results!

If you want to do some more subjects, for fun, in your 'gap year' then go for it, but just repeating for the sake of it will I imagine just be more depressing.

To be honest I would mention the Grandmother-although I hope she is better. Extenuating circumstances are you being in hospital or a parent dying or the teacher leaving abruptly in the last term and not being replaced and so on. The assumption is that all exam candidates are worrying.

I think you are right to apply, but apart from your own satisfaction I don't think resitting will help. The decision will either be unconditional or no offer.Will your school support the view that you were expected to do better? Again, its not as if your result are bad!

I believe it is:
"Where students are successfully taking qualifications early, we would still want to see evidence that they can cope with a workload equivalent to three A Levels taken simultaneously."

It is stated even more definitively on the Oxford, Imperial & UCL websites. My LSE offer also discounted my early A-level.

What did UCL say and do you mind providing a link?

Hi,

I'm curious that if i was lucky enough to get an offer this year, why should it be unconditional? Is it possible that I will get a conditional offer? I was thinking if i go repeating they would think i still have space for improvement. I don't know if this idea makes any sense?

Many thanks !

I was afraid that they might think my result is not good enough so if i go repeating they would give me a chance to improve my result ie.conditional offer with higher grades on specific subjects. Without repeating they would simply turn me down.

Hi,

I'm curious that if i was lucky enough to get an offer this year, why should it be unconditional? Is it possible that I will get a conditional offer? I was thinking if i go repeating they would think i still have space for improvement. I don't know if this idea makes any sense?

Many thanks !

If you tell them you'll resit things (or take new things) then they're quite likely to make it conditional. If you tell them you're not taking any more exams, then any offer you get would be unconditional (because there's no exams for you to meet the conditions in).

That's certainly possible, it's hard for us to know, since we're not the tutors making the decisions.

Because you are applying post-qualification. So you either are good enough, in which case you have already met the offer, or not.

Compare it with somebody who has applied with A*AA. They will either get in or not. They won't be told "If you resit and get A*A*A* you can come". The reason being that most A*AA candidates could improve to A*A*A* after another year's study. They want the ones who are up to it after two years. They do take a few A*AA candidates post-Q, but to be "competitive" you are advised to have A*A*A. Those with A*AA who get offers are to the ones who convince them at interview that they will do well. They then get unconditional offers.