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Cambridge Modern Lang with my grades AAB

Hi there I recently got back my As results and it was fairly ok until my Economics paper 2 here are my marks :

accounting 277/300
business studies 197/300
economics 143/200(p.s 95 in unit 1 and 48 in unit 2 I plan to retake for a 90+)

So will cambridge take a liking to most of my papers have a above 90% marks or it does not matter at all

I also plan to take sociology and psychology next year which I think I will achieve an A with a Ums of 85-95%

Do you think it's possible or not because of my economics 2
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 1
Just curious...the title of your post indicates that you want to study MML but you don't seem to be taking any languages. I think that would cause a bigger problem than your UMS marks. It's not impossible that you'd get an offer, but it's probably unlikely - having said that, I got in for Education with MML (French) with AACC at AS which I bumped up to A*AAB at A2. I'd say if you're not taking any languages and you have AAB and no fourth AS, it seems unlikely you'd get an offer.
Reply 2
As suspected, quote from Cambridge website: "You need to be taking at least one modern language at A Level or equivalent and would be expected to achieve at least an A grade in that subject." So I think your only chance of getting in to Cambridge would be to take up a modern language next year and get at least an A at A2.
Reply 3
Original post by RosieEPQ
Just curious...the title of your post indicates that you want to study MML but you don't seem to be taking any languages. I think that would cause a bigger problem than your UMS marks. It's not impossible that you'd get an offer, but it's probably unlikely - having said that, I got in for Education with MML (French) with AACC at AS which I bumped up to A*AAB at A2. I'd say if you're not taking any languages and you have AAB and no fourth AS, it seems unlikely you'd get an offer.


Ahh thanks for the reply, I suppose I'll apply for Classics this year and perhaps take an european language as well.
R
egarding the AS levels , I would take 2 more AS levels this January, having said that If I apply for cambridge with my current grades would it put me to a disadvantage for not having the other 2 subject's grades as well?

Or do i need to clarify that im taking two more subjects, so that they dont think I'm only taking 3? and immediately reject me.

Oh and for the B grade, I had one paper 95 and the other one at 48 which I messed up really bad but I'll retake it and it should be an A

Thanks for the info btw, greatly appreciated
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by NoobandBad
Ahh thanks for the reply, I suppose I'll apply for Classics this year and perhaps take an european language as well.

Oh regarding the AS levels , I would take 2 more AS levels this January, having said that If I apply for cambridge with my current grades would it put me to a disadvantage for not having the other 2 subject's grades as well?

Or do i need to clarify that im taking two more subjects, so that they dont think I'm only taking 3? and immediately reject me.

Oh and for the B grade, I had one paper 95 and the other one at 48 which I messed up really bad but I'll retake it and it should be an A

Thanks for the info btw, greatly appreciated


I thought the government scrapped January exams? Or perhaps you're not in the UK? You would need to declare all the exams you have taken and intend to take on your UCAS form. They might wonder why you didn't take a fourth AS with your others, as I think they generally expect students who are good enough for Cambridge to be academic enough to manage 4 AS levels at the same time. But maybe the extra 2 will make up for that, I don't know. Cambridge say they understand that everyone can have a bad day and therefore don't mind people resitting a couple of units, so I think they should be able to see that you just had a 'bad day' when you got 48 on that paper :smile:
Reply 5
Original post by RosieEPQ
I thought the government scrapped January exams? Or perhaps you're not in the UK? You would need to declare all the exams you have taken and intend to take on your UCAS form. They might wonder why you didn't take a fourth AS with your others, as I think they generally expect students who are good enough for Cambridge to be academic enough to manage 4 AS levels at the same time. But maybe the extra 2 will make up for that, I don't know. Cambridge say they understand that everyone can have a bad day and therefore don't mind people resitting a couple of units, so I think they should be able to see that you just had a 'bad day' when you got 48 on that paper :smile:


Oh thats great, and yes I'm not from the UK which is why I could still have Jan exams.(I suppose this is quite unfair :P)

Its great I could delare all those stuffs sorry I just lack information and thought might find someone helpful to answer few questions.Thanks for that.I dont want to lose my competitiveness or be rejected immediately because I did not take a the 4th and 5th AS at the same time as my other 3 subjects.
Reply 6
Original post by RosieEPQ
Just curious...the title of your post indicates that you want to study MML but you don't seem to be taking any languages. I think that would cause a bigger problem than your UMS marks. It's not impossible that you'd get an offer, but it's probably unlikely - having said that, I got in for Education with MML (French) with AACC at AS which I bumped up to A*AAB at A2. I'd say if you're not taking any languages and you have AAB and no fourth AS, it seems unlikely you'd get an offer.


Just out of Curiosity.

Which 4 A levels did u take
Reply 7
Original post by NoobandBad
Hi there I recently got back my As results and it was fairly ok until my Economics paper 2 here are my marks :

accounting 277/300
business studies 197/300
economics 143/200(p.s 95 in unit 1 and 48 in unit 2 I plan to retake for a 90+)

So will cambridge take a liking to most of my papers have a above 90% marks or it does not matter at all

I also plan to take sociology and psychology next year which I think I will achieve an A with a Ums of 85-95%

Do you think it's possible or not because of my economics 2


I'm afraid you have little chance of an MML or a Classic place with these AS. For a start Accounting & Business studies are regarded as "soft subjects" and the combination of all three are strongly overlapping. You have no subjects at all that indicate aptitude or interest in languages. Your average with the current grades is 76.5. Even if you had scored 95 on the other Economics paper it would only have been 84.3 which is still below the interview cut off of 85. I think they may equally regard the 95 as an outlier as the 48.
The typical applicant score 90% and I can think of no circumstances given wrong subjects & low grades that are going to give you a chance of an offer against them. Sorry.
Reply 8
Original post by Colmans
I'm afraid you have little chance of an MML or a Classic place with these AS. For a start Accounting & Business studies are regarded as "soft subjects" and the combination of all three are strongly overlapping. You have no subjects at all that indicate aptitude or interest in languages. Your average with the current grades is 76.5. Even if you had scored 95 on the other Economics paper it would only have been 84.3 which is still below the interview cut off of 85. I think they may equally regard the 95 as an outlier as the 48.
The typical applicant score 90% and I can think of no circumstances given wrong subjects & low grades that are going to give you a chance of an offer against them. Sorry.


Actually which is why I'm taking sociology and psychology next year oh btw it's a typo in business it's 197/200
If i do manage to get 95 in Econ paper 2 I'll get approximately 93% do I still lose out on an opportunity despite taking 2 more subjects ?
Original post by NoobandBad
Actually which is why I'm taking sociology and psychology next year oh btw it's a typo in business it's 197/200
If i do manage to get 95 in Econ paper 2 I'll get approximately 93% do I still lose out on an opportunity despite taking 2 more subjects ?


Can you take something more rigorous than sociology and psychology? If you want to take Classics or MML, why not take Latin or a modern language? Also, when it comes to resitting economics, I wouldn't count on getting a 95. If you take the extra subjects and apply post you might have a chance, but as it is you would almost certainly not get an interview.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by NoobandBad
Just out of Curiosity.

Which 4 A levels did u take


I took Psychology, RS, French and an EPQ. You might want to consider an EPQ actually, a relevant one looks good on your application for Cambridge and other Unis. Is there a reason you can't do a language next year? Or Latin/class civ if you're looking at Classics?
Reply 11
Original post by magicmuggle
Can you take something more rigorous than sociology and psychology? If you want to take Classics or MML, why not take Latin or a modern language? Also, I think they don't count resits in the average so your average would not be 93%. If you take the extra subjects and apply post you might have a chance, but as it is you would almost certainly not get an interview.


I suppose I'll take A levels English language and As spanish and Chinese if that helps?
Original post by NoobandBad
I suppose I'll take A levels English language and As spanish and Chinese if that helps?


In good news, they would take the resit value. And that is a better subject choice (although I'd make english language the AS and take a language to A level).
Reply 13
Original post by RosieEPQ
I took Psychology, RS, French and an EPQ. You might want to consider an EPQ actually, a relevant one looks good on your application for Cambridge and other Unis. Is there a reason you can't do a language next year? Or Latin/class civ if you're looking at Classics?


I might consider that if EPQ is possible to do here since I'm not residing in the Uk

Regarding why I can't do an A level language is most probably because it's just recently that I've developed a passion for languages and I think I may just be dedicated and devoted to learn a language from scratch with hardwork.

Since I can now converse decently in spanish and give out an gcse level essay however I think the A levels might be too much for me at less than a year of knowledge of that language .

Which is why I was wondering if they allowed you to start from scratch but based on all the replies I can assume I may not even get an interview to display my passion and knowledge of them
Reply 14
Original post by magicmuggle
In good news, they would take the resit value. And that is a better subject choice (although I'd make english language the AS and take a language to A level).

I think I have a higher chance of scoring an A in English than in Chinese and spanish
Original post by NoobandBad
I might consider that if EPQ is possible to do here since I'm not residing in the Uk

Regarding why I can't do an A level language is most probably because it's just recently that I've developed a passion for languages and I think I may just be dedicated and devoted to learn a language from scratch with hardwork.

Since I can now converse decently in spanish and give out an gcse level essay however I think the A levels might be too much for me at less than a year of knowledge of that language .

Which is why I was wondering if they allowed you to start from scratch but based on all the replies I can assume I may not even get an interview to display my passion and knowledge of them


Judging from the Cambridge website, there's no point applying for MML as you need at least one language at A2, which you don't have. You could, however, apply for the 4-year Classics course, for which you don't need Classics at A-level, but you would need to prove your passion for it in your personal statement and interview. However, if you're set on languages it might be wise to remember that Cambridge isn't the only good university out there - there may well be others that would allow you to do languages from scratch (known as ab initio)
Original post by NoobandBad
I might consider that if EPQ is possible to do here since I'm not residing in the Uk

Regarding why I can't do an A level language is most probably because it's just recently that I've developed a passion for languages and I think I may just be dedicated and devoted to learn a language from scratch with hardwork.

Since I can now converse decently in spanish and give out an gcse level essay however I think the A levels might be too much for me at less than a year of knowledge of that language .

Which is why I was wondering if they allowed you to start from scratch but based on all the replies I can assume I may not even get an interview to display my passion and knowledge of them


I think you under-estimate how competitive Cambridge is. Which language do you have a passion for? Which ones do you plan on studying if you get in? I'm afraid doing a GCSE and getting an A* after a year would be very straightforward for a serious MML applicant. You should be able to get an A at A Level in a year from scratch if you are going to cope with the pace of ab-initio courses at Cambridge which go at this sort of pace.
Reply 17
Original post by Colmans
I think you under-estimate how competitive Cambridge is. Which language do you have a passion for? Which ones do you plan on studying if you get in? I'm afraid doing a GCSE and getting an A* after a year would be very straightforward for a serious MML applicant. You should be able to get an A at A Level in a year from scratch if you are going to cope with the pace of ab-initio courses at Cambridge which go at this sort of pace.


I think I will manage to get an A* in Gcse however I am quite uncertain about the A levels , at As I think I could get an A but perhaps B in A levels .

Maybe I'm just not qualified enough to apply to cambridge haha
Reply 18
Original post by Colmans
I think you under-estimate how competitive Cambridge is. Which language do you have a passion for? Which ones do you plan on studying if you get in? I'm afraid doing a GCSE and getting an A* after a year would be very straightforward for a serious MML applicant. You should be able to get an A at A Level in a year from scratch if you are going to cope with the pace of ab-initio courses at Cambridge which go at this sort of pace.


However I'm gonna give it a shot anyways

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