Ask an Admissions Tutor X: 20 September - 21 October

What subjects are you doing in A-levels?
Are you applying post-qualification with 3A*?

FYI, GCSE isn't that important for Cambridge application as they only look at it as a contextual data. Especially so if you're applying post-application.

And upward-trajectory of your performance is a positive thing for your application.

Hello and thank you for your question. Admissions at Cambridge is a college matter but we work together to minimise the impact of college choice. It is true that at Churchill for Law it is rare for people with fewer than 9 A*s at GCSE to gget an offer but that is not the case across Cambridge and applicants for Law with fewer than 9 A*s might not get an offer from Churchill if they applied there but they might well get an offer from anther college. The two statements are not contradictory because the the first statement deals with the situation at one particular college in one particular subject, while the second talks about your chances of admission to Cambridge. The rate of admission to individual colleges is quite different but the rate of admission to Cambridge is not significantly affected by college choice because of the moderation processes that we run.

With 5 A*s and 5 As you have a decent GCSE profile and Cambridge should be one of the places you consider. There will be people with stronger GCSE profiles than yours but plenty of people are admitted with 5 A*s.

Ohh ok, thanks so much Dr. Spencer. Really appreciate it!

Just to note, if you choose Physics via NatSci you would have the NSAA - Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment - as a pre-interview test. There's no pre-interview test for Maths.

Thank you! How do you know all of this?

I'm a parent of a Cambridge student.

There will be a single score for Section 1. It will have been marked by Cambridge Assessments and delivered to the university and colleges. The scale is the same as the BMAT scale (1.0-9.0) but the distribution of marks will be more even than in BMAT (where there is a big grouping of marks between about 4.0 and 7.0).

Oh that's so cool! What is your child currently studying at Cambridge if you don't mind me asking?

He's at Christ's reading Engineering. But we are going off topic

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We will receive the scripts for Section 2, not sure whether we get the scripts for Section 1.

Would it be a deal breaker if I re-took year 11 as in stay a year behind to re-do GCSE's but with only 3 re-takes?

Hi,
I got 3A*s, 3As and 6Bs at GCSE. Is there any way for me to find out how I did in relation to my school so I know whether this is above average for my year? Thanks.

So will students have any idea how they've done? Will we not be told at interview or something?

might section two get discussed at interview?

No but there's no real point to retake Year 11 if you are only planning to retake three exams.

Some colleges have reserved the right to use section 2 at interview while others have decided not to use it. If you are asked at interview about section 2 you will be told beforehand and you will be sent your unmarked script.

Ok. Hypothetically, what if I did? Is this considered as a major disadvantage?

You are in Y12 (with 7A*) there is no point hypothetically going back and resiting Y11. If one of your C's is in GCSE English then it *may* be worth retaking that in Y12, but otherwise no, even hypothetically.

Ok. Hypothetically, what if I did? Is this considered as a major disadvantage?

I presume this may also vary by course? Or will a college "reserving" section 2 be doing this across all their courses with pre-interview assessments?

And I note that "explained answers" are now provided for some (all?) tests with pre-interview assessments, but only for section 1. Will they also be provided for section 2 in due course?