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Cambridge uni and gcse grades

Hi,
I'm in year ten (my current grades are below) and I am hoping to do History, English literature, and politics at a level.
I am then hoping to study history and politics at university and then have a career in law.
I am kind of confident that I will do good in levels as I am good at the subjects that I'm hoping to pick. But I find maths difficult (I have dyscalculia and dyslexia). I have kind of good grades in everything except maths and my science grades are average.
I want to study at Cambridge. But will these grades be enough or will my maths score let me down? I also do a few extracurriculars (History ambassador, journalism club and I also volunteer in the school library)

MY PREDICTED GRADES
English Lit and Lang: 9,9
History: 9
Sociology: 9
Maths:5/6 (it's not my strong suit)
Sciences: 6,7
Art:9
Religious Studies:9

Pls, be as honest as possible, thanks x
Original post by Anonymous
Hi,
I'm in year ten (my current grades are below) and I am hoping to do History, English literature, and politics at a level.
I am then hoping to study history and politics at university and then have a career in law.
I am kind of confident that I will do good in levels as I am good at the subjects that I'm hoping to pick. But I find maths difficult (I have dyscalculia and dyslexia). I have kind of good grades in everything except maths and my science grades are average.
I want to study at Cambridge. But will these grades be enough or will my maths score let me down? I also do a few extracurriculars (History ambassador, journalism club and I also volunteer in the school library)

MY PREDICTED GRADES
English Lit and Lang: 9,9
History: 9
Sociology: 9
Maths:5/6 (it's not my strong suit)
Sciences: 6,7
Art:9
Religious Studies:9

Pls, be as honest as possible, thanks x

It’s probably a bit too soon to say whether those GCSE grades are accurate or not- you may improve in the next year in your weakest subjects. I wouldn’t worry massively about them tbh.

Just remember that your A level predictions, entrance exam results (if his/pol has any entrance exams at Cambridge) and interviews will be more important than your GCSE results.
Reply 2
Original post by TypicalNerd
It’s probably a bit too soon to say whether those GCSE grades are accurate or not- you may improve in the next year in your weakest subjects. I wouldn’t worry massively about them tbh.

Just remember that your A level predictions, entrance exam results (if his/pol has any entrance exams at Cambridge) and interviews will be more important than your GCSE results.

Thanks for replying,
Do you know if they care lots about gcses if I get high grades in my alevels?
Original post by Anonymous
Thanks for replying,
Do you know if they care lots about gcses if I get high grades in my alevels?

I have heard that Cambridge tends to be more forgiving of GCSEs but more demanding of A levels, so presumably yes.
Original post by Anonymous
Hi,
I'm in year ten (my current grades are below) and I am hoping to do History, English literature, and politics at a level.
I am then hoping to study history and politics at university and then have a career in law.
I am kind of confident that I will do good in levels as I am good at the subjects that I'm hoping to pick. But I find maths difficult (I have dyscalculia and dyslexia). I have kind of good grades in everything except maths and my science grades are average.
I want to study at Cambridge. But will these grades be enough or will my maths score let me down? I also do a few extracurriculars (History ambassador, journalism club and I also volunteer in the school library)

MY PREDICTED GRADES
English Lit and Lang: 9,9
History: 9
Sociology: 9
Maths:5/6 (it's not my strong suit)
Sciences: 6,7
Art:9
Religious Studies:9

Pls, be as honest as possible, thanks x


"There are no GCSE (or equivalent) requirements for entry to Cambridge. GCSE results are looked at as a performance indicator, but within the context of the performance of the school/college where they were achieved."
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/entrance-requirements
Reply 5
Original post by Anonymous
Hi,
I'm in year ten (my current grades are below) and I am hoping to do History, English literature, and politics at a level.
I am then hoping to study history and politics at university and then have a career in law.
I am kind of confident that I will do good in levels as I am good at the subjects that I'm hoping to pick. But I find maths difficult (I have dyscalculia and dyslexia). I have kind of good grades in everything except maths and my science grades are average.
I want to study at Cambridge. But will these grades be enough or will my maths score let me down? I also do a few extracurriculars (History ambassador, journalism club and I also volunteer in the school library)

MY PREDICTED GRADES
English Lit and Lang: 9,9
History: 9
Sociology: 9
Maths:5/6 (it's not my strong suit)
Sciences: 6,7
Art:9
Religious Studies:9

Pls, be as honest as possible, thanks x

em l think they do look at your GCSE but just do well in your A levels that is more important

But if u do well in A levels l don't see why they shoold look at your GCSE
Reply 6
Original post by Anonymous
Hi,
I'm in year ten (my current grades are below) and I am hoping to do History, English literature, and politics at a level.
I am then hoping to study history and politics at university and then have a career in law.
I am kind of confident that I will do good in levels as I am good at the subjects that I'm hoping to pick. But I find maths difficult (I have dyscalculia and dyslexia). I have kind of good grades in everything except maths and my science grades are average.
I want to study at Cambridge. But will these grades be enough or will my maths score let me down? I also do a few extracurriculars (History ambassador, journalism club and I also volunteer in the school library)

MY PREDICTED GRADES
English Lit and Lang: 9,9
History: 9
Sociology: 9
Maths:5/6 (it's not my strong suit)
Sciences: 6,7
Art:9
Religious Studies:9

Pls, be as honest as possible, thanks x

Hi, I am in year 13 and I have an offer for history and politics at Cambridge.

This is one of the smallest courses, so it is very competitive, usually only take in 1 person per college (around 30 in total!). the application process is very demanding, but I think that this is more important than GCSEs.

I got 9 (history),7,7,7,6,6,6,5 (maths - also not ma string suit). But, I go to a VERY badly rated state school (ofsted inadequate), so I think they put my GCSEs into content, where I did better than the majority of my year group. if you are lucky enough to go to private school, I do not think they would be lenient with GCSEs.
But I am also predicted A*A*A* and have A* already achieved in EPQ when I applied. I am good at history and politics, which showed in my grade 9 in history, I am just not the best at like science and maths (I also have dyslexia). I think you will be fine to get to interview or at least the entrance exam wiht those grades, but that's when it gets tough
Reply 7
Original post by Bella.3
Hi, I am in year 13 and I have an offer for history and politics at Cambridge.

This is one of the smallest courses, so it is very competitive, usually only take in 1 person per college (around 30 in total!). the application process is very demanding, but I think that this is more important than GCSEs.

I got 9 (history),7,7,7,6,6,6,5 (maths - also not ma string suit). But, I go to a VERY badly rated state school (ofsted inadequate), so I think they put my GCSEs into content, where I did better than the majority of my year group. if you are lucky enough to go to private school, I do not think they would be lenient with GCSEs.
But I am also predicted A*A*A* and have A* already achieved in EPQ when I applied. I am good at history and politics, which showed in my grade 9 in history, I am just not the best at like science and maths (I also have dyslexia). I think you will be fine to get to interview or at least the entrance exam wiht those grades, but that's when it gets tough

Firstly congrats on your offer thats incredible you should be so proud!! i definitely do not go to a private school ahah. I come from quite a low income family and my state school also was at one point (year 7-9) ranked inadequate.
Im thinking possibly to study history by iteslf if that means I have better chances, but im still thinking about it
Reply 8
Original post by Anonymous
Firstly congrats on your offer thats incredible you should be so proud!! i definitely do not go to a private school ahah. I come from quite a low income family and my state school also was at one point (year 7-9) ranked inadequate.
Im thinking possibly to study history by iteslf if that means I have better chances, but im still thinking about it

I thought about that too initially, but I really love both history and politics, and I think they can see that and they can tell if you are just applying for something else because you think you have a better shot. I think if you genuinely have a passion for both then you're better off just doing that.

History is a bigger course (so you would have a better shot in terms of numbers), but at the end of the day its about what you want to do, and you shouldn't change that just to try and get to Cambridge. You also need to consider that you will only do one personal statement, and if you want to apply to history and politics elsewhere and just history at Cambridge that can kind of mess you up.

Honestly though I wouldnt worry it for now. I only decided I wanted to apply in year 12 summer, so you dont need to fixate yourself on it now, and if anything that will just put more pressure on yourself which could end up harming your ability in interview.

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