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Reply 220

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by AlexFrangos

In year 12 I did the whole A level in Maths plus 2 papers from Further Maths and AS Physics. In year 13 I did A2 Physics and 4 papers from Further Maths. Maths was certificated in June 2015, Physics in January 2016 and Further Maths in June 2016. So will it be seen as a problem?

No, I can't see that being regarded as a problem.

Reply 221

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by Fbiemad

Hello once again @Murray Edwards Admissions,

I have already done A-Levels and got A*A*A*AB in Maths, Further Maths, Persian, Physics and Economics. I had an offer from LSE for Economics and I missed it by 0.5% or 1 mark (since Economics was 1 mark off an A).
I was wondering if my college mentions in my reference the fact that I missed my LSE offer by 1 mark last year would disadvantage/advantage my Cambridge application (or universities in general) in any way?

I'm not sure why you would want to mention missing the offer from LSE - it doesn't seem to be something to strengthen your application. I think it's better to look forward rather than back in terms of your applications and so they shouldn't mention it.

Reply 222

Fbiemad

Original post by Murray Edwards Admissions

Ok thank you.
LSE admissions told me to mention it, that is why I asked :smile:

Reply 223

enssow

Dear Dr. Spencer

Would you know if anyone studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge with Biology, Maths and Further Maths as their A-Level options? Do I need Chemistry to be considered seriously? I would like to follow the biological path... do you have any suggestions? I do have 3 A-Level science/maths subjects but is it more worthwhile doing Chemistry for the biological pathway?

Thank you

Reply 224

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by MCPClark

Hi, I'm hoping to apply for Classics and wondered if my current module scores of 100 for AS language and 92 for literature would be viewed well or poorly? Thanks

They are good scores and would certainly not be regarded poorly.

Reply 225

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by Fbiemad

Ok thank you.
LSE admissions told me to mention it, that is why I asked :smile:

Well, I guess that's their opinion. I suppose from their point it might be helpful, to remind them how close you got to making their offer and it might be interesting to lesser ranked universities for Economics but it won't impressive Cambridge.

Reply 226

champ_mc99

Hi

When is it worth putting your raw marks on your reference? I achieved 20 ish marks above the A boundaries for all my subjects but as overall percentages it doesnt look that impressive.

Also, if I didn't do too well in a particular odd module but got a decent grade overall would it be advantageous to say I'll retake that module for the sake of improvement?

Cheers.

Reply 227

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by enssow

Hello and thanks for your question. It is an unusual combination of 3 Maths/Sciences but still qualifies you for Nat Sci. Chemistry is an important facilitating subject for Nat Sci but it's not compulsory and you can certainly do Bio Nat Sci without it. I'd have a good answer ready, however, for why you haven't done it as you might get asked about it. Think carefully about what options you'd want to take in Part IA, that will show the interviewers that you have thought carefully about the Nat Sci course.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 228

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by champ_mc99

It's up to you and your teachers to decide whether to put raw marks in the reference but it's important to avoid focusing on percentages like one would with UMS. 100% UMS did not mean 100% raw marks.

Learning whether someone is retaking is useful to know but it's not going to impact much if at all on the result of your application as you won't get the result until August.

Reply 229

champ_mc99

Original post by Murray Edwards Admissions

Yeah I understand that. So what's a good indicator to decide whether my raw marks actually are good enough to be put on my reference if not percentages?

So in raw marks, if an A was 65% of total marks and I achieved 75%, is it advantageous to state it (or even disadvantageous)?

Reply 230

Lemuelc14

Dear Dr. Spencer

I am interested in the Cambridge engineering course however it states that Further Maths is helpful and even required by some colleges I achieved 2 A*s in maths at GCSE and am now undertaking AS level Maths Mechanics is this suitable and will the lack of FM put me at a disadvantage? Also to compensate for my lack of further maths would you recommend participating in the senior maths challenge for example?

Furthermore is there any thing you could recommend to make my application successful such as work experience and wider reading?

Thank you

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Reply 231

el.cee

Thanks so much for starting this thread! I'm from Canada in my final year of high school and applying for admission to Chemical Engineering via Natural Sciences with the following related courses and grades:

Chemistry 11 95%
Physics 11 96%
Functions 11 94%

This year I'm taking Physics12, and Advanced Functions/Calculus/Vectors and working towards similar grades.

1. I took Chemistry 12 last year to get it out of the way and only finished with 90%. I know I can do better. Should I take it again to get a better mark?

2. If I achieve a Level 5 in my Chemistry AP will that offset the 90% Chem 12 grade?

3. I'm not very interested in Biology and chose not to take the courses (grades 11 &12 ) as the trajectory of my career goals since I decided to become a Chemical Engineer a few years ago specifically headed towards chemistry and physics. Instead, I decided to study other interests (languages & music) which are actually more closely related to the turn of mind for chemistry/physics/math than biology. Will these choices adversely affect being considered for the Natural Sciences course?

Really appreciate any input from you. As an aside, I hope you can confirm that Admissions Tutors have a sense of humour as I sent an email to my college of choice using a non-derogatory slang term (1 word out of an otherwise completely respectful, proper, literate and factual message) to describe why I was drawn to the college. It was absolutely complimentary, but having done it, I'm a little worried it might be misconstrued. I mean you guys do laugh, don't you?!?

Thanks, Dr. Spencer.

Reply 232

Overses

Original post by Murray Edwards Admissions

Hello and thanks for your questions. Those who have taken APs early and down well in them will naturally be in a stronger position than those who haven't taken any yet - it would be a bit odd if that wasn't the case. However, that doesn't mean that you are in a bad position, lots of people will be in a similar situation (many of those taking A Levels, for instance) and we are used to assessing applications without results in the penultimate year of school.

You would need five 5s in the APs or 42 points in the IB with 776 in Higher Levels.

Would that be five 5s in any APs or relevant APs? I am studying CS but there is not enough "relevant" APs.

Reply 233

stens

Hi again, I have tried to contact the admissions office for this, but I haven't gotten an answer yet: COPA asks for an "awarding body" for my completed qualifications. I find no equivalent of an awarding body in my country, so what should I put there instead?

Reply 234

Doones

Original post by stens

What's the company/organisation on your certificates?

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Reply 235

stens

Original post by jneill

What's the company/organisation on your certificates?

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Says "Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training" - is that it?

Reply 236

Doones

Original post by stens

Says "Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training" - is that it?

Yep.

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Reply 237

Murray Edwards Admissions

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Original post by stens

Says "Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training" - is that it?

Then you should simply put that in the box, it should be sufficient.

Reply 238

username2641965

Hi,
I was wondering how much Cambridge will be looking at UMS marks this year seeing as not all schools will have done the AS?
Thank You

Reply 239

stens

Original post by Murray Edwards Admissions

Then you should simply put that in the box, it should be sufficient.

Great, thanks. A question about the high school transcript: Should it include all grades in the subjects that I have taken so far, or just the final grades? For example, should I include my grade in history from last year which is only temporary, and will be replaced by a final grade in history this year?