Does the new A* grade at A Level spell out an end for GCSE obsession?

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Don't see how I'm wrong... and also your two sentences don't add up, you need 90% you say then say 89% will do? Anyway, someone else's opinion on the matter would be appreciated though dare I say I'm pretty confident you R DA WRONG 1.

100% over all your AS modules and 89% average over you A2 modules is an A.
100 and 89 as 2 A2 modules averages over 90%, so would be an A*(so long as your last mark was 81 or higher).

Edit-apologies, quickly read through, and you'd stated the first case I said here, when I thought you'd said something else.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 21

Rahul.S

candidates aiming for the top unis and those passionate will aim to get a* in both gcsez and a levels. but yh a* in alevels is more worth than an a* in gcse which to a certain extent has ended the GCSE obsession of A* =/ as students will rather look to get a* in alevels than in gcse...birmingham uni however use the gcse obsession in picking their students after all, only those apparently with 7 or more a*'s in gcse can go there :s-smilie:

Reply 22

tripodd

Original post by Slumpy

ah cool :]
hopefully the question never came up in OS92's Cambridge interview :P

Reply 23

milkytea

I hope not. Having good GCSEs is the only thing that's relaxing me before January. :tongue:

Although perhaps if it puts an end to the thousands of threads on TSR along the lines of "I only got 9A*S, CAN I STILL GO TO OXFORD!?!?11!?" then maybe it won't be so bad.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 24

Josh-H

Original post by OS92

WRONG. 90% average across all A2 modules. 100% and 89% would give an A*.

They were referring to an average of 89% across A2, and 100% across AS. So in that case, they would get an A grade, not an A*.

Reply 25

Complex Simplicity

Original post by Sani-Insanity

Okay this is worrying me. I got 6 A*'s and 4 A's in my GCSE's which I thought was really good, but I want to go to a top uni and do medicine. Does that mean I have ZERO chance.

Don't apply to Birmingham everywhere else you have as good a shot as anyone else. Main thing is write an amazing personal statement.

Reply 26

Complex Simplicity

Original post by Slumpy

The A* grade was introduced in September 2008 for higher education entry in 2010, and is awarded to candidates who achieve an A in their overall A-level, with a score of at least 90% at A2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GCE_Advanced_Level

Wikipedia I know, but the point is that it's a 90% average over the A2 units, and overall 80% average.

This is correct. If there's still confusion read the following link from ofqual:
http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/help-and-support/94-articles/301-a-at-a-level-faqs

Reply 27

Filoux

Original post by Complex Simplicity

Don't apply to Birmingham everywhere else you have as good a shot as anyone else. Main thing is write an amazing personal statement.

Out of curiosity, are Birmingham as strict as they are for courses like English, history or classics as they for medicine? In terms of GCSEs I mean.

Reply 28

Organ

Original post by Sani-Insanity

Okay this is worrying me. I got 6 A*'s and 4 A's in my GCSE's which I thought was really good, but I want to go to a top uni and do medicine. Does that mean I have ZERO chance.

Pray, what are these 'top' medical schools?

Original post by Filoux

Out of curiosity, are Birmingham as strict as they are for courses like English, history or classics as they for medicine? In terms of GCSEs I mean.

Obviously not.

Reply 29

Complex Simplicity

Original post by Filoux

Out of curiosity, are Birmingham as strict as they are for courses like English, history or classics as they for medicine? In terms of GCSEs I mean.

Medicine and Dentistry. It's mostly a combination of being a big city uni, where there's no other alternatives in these specific subjects (Aston doesn't do either)

English and history are notorious for being oversubscribed nationwide, so expect competition but nothing like Medicine/Dentistry.

Reply 30

tiny hobbit

Original post by Sani-Insanity

Okay this is worrying me. I got 6 A*'s and 4 A's in my GCSE's which I thought was really good, but I want to go to a top uni and do medicine. Does that mean I have ZERO chance.

When universities decide who to give offers to, they do not know what your A level grades will be. As said above, predicted grades are too variable to give too much weight to - some schools will automatically predict top grades if their pupils are applying to top universities, others are more realistic.

If schools choose not to cash in the AS grades, the most recent evidence that the university gets is your GCSE grades. So if your AS results are brilliant (in the 90s?) but not cashed in, make sure that your school mentions your totals in your reference.

Geoff Parks, the man in charge of admissions at Cambridge, argued against Michael Gove's idea of doing away with ASs altogether for this reason - Cambridge ask for all of your module scores so are not messed about by schools who don't cash in ASs.

As far as medical schools go, some ask you to do BMAT, some ask for UKCAT, some such as Birmingham don't ask for either. If your GCSEs are not sparkling (yes a mere 7 A*s is counted by Birmingham as not sparkling), apply to medical schools which use one of the tests so that you have another chance to show your ability.