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Article: UCAS points are changing: so will it be harder to get into uni in 2017?

Here's our new FAQ on the new UCAS points that you'll be using if you apply to this September.

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/content.php?r=22715-ucas-points-are-changing-so-will-it-be-harder-to-get-into-uni-in-2017

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(edited 8 years ago)
A more manageable number lol?

Who's too stupid to add up 120 three times?
Original post by Death Grips
A more manageable number lol?

Who's too stupid to add up 120 three times?


It does sound a bit silly, but the decisions were made by UCAS, not TSR! The main change for most students will be the relative points for A-levels and AS levels, anyway.
Reply 3
The new system won't apply to students finishing a-levels this year, if I've read it right.

And the 40/60 weighting compounded by new numbers like 48 just makes the points system quite utterly stupid.
So if it's 48 does it go up by 12s I assume?

60 - A*
48 - A
36 - B
24 - C
12 - D

That makes sense considering although E is a pass, no uni wants to take a student who got 3 Es at a level.

So like 180 is the most a uni could ask for (or maybe 240 if they want 4 A levels rather than the norm 3).

The old system was better with the rounded numbers, those are easier to add up. But this new system could work. They're all even numbers at least. There isn't any need for them to be such big numbers in the first place.
Just had a look on the UCAS tool and:

E: 16
D: 24
C: 32
B: 40
A: 48
A*: 56

More manageable numbers, yes - but it'll take a while to get used to!
The main reason for the change was to streamline the process of assigning points to new qualifications.

Exam boards used to have to pay UCAS a large fee then wait years for tariffs to be assigned. That left a lot of common qualifications untariffed (which lead to students choosing other qualifications or incorrectly believing that universities wouldn't accept the qualifications for entry) including pretty much all international qualifications aside from IB.

The new scheme should allow UCAS to add qualifications to the tariffs quickly and simply without a huge fee attached. Expect to see the french bacc, the greek/cypriot apolytariat (sp?), US APs and a whole bunch of other qualifications be granted tariff points in the near future.
Original post by Death Grips
A more manageable number lol?

Who's too stupid to add up 120 three times?


You'd be surprised.

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