The Official Cambridge Offer Holders Thread 2017 Entry

Just out of curiosity, are GCSE and AS grade boundaries done in the same way as the A-level ones - ie the top, say, 10% get an A* ??

That's a vastly oversimplified way of thinking about it, but yes GCSE/AS/A-level boundaries are all set in the same way. This article (page 2 onwards) gives a full explanation about how it works and I'd recommend that everyone who's curious about these things read it. It applies to all UK exam boards.

But in short, if your AS exams had grade boundaries of 64% and 58% for an A, you can expect the A-level papers to follow the same sort of trend. You certainly won't be needing 90% raw marks to get an A* unless there's a radical shift in difficulty!

Thanks for that link, it's certainly made things a lot clearer. So therefore theoretically, if we all got the top GCSE and AS grades, we should be the ones to get the top A-level grades as well??

Yep. That's how the system *should* work...

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Good to hear 😂😂 that's me desperately trying to be positive enough about this to firm Cambridge and not take the easy (unconditional if firmed) option elsewhere

Only firm the other offer if you would genuinely have also firmed it even without it being Unconditional. It's a complete marketing scam that benefits the university not the student.

Only firm the other offer if you would genuinely have also firmed it even without it being Unconditional. It's a complete marketing scam that benefits the university not the student.

On a similar note- say a uni has offered me this and i put it as an insurance- then miss said offer.

Hypothetically they don't have to accept me though is it likely that they would anyway if you're close say AAA rather than A*AA? as they're only imploying this tactic to try and get more numbers?

Most universities accept a one or even two grade miss for most courses. Obviously this depends on the popularity of the course and how well everyone else has done.

Even Cambridge will sometimes accept a very small miss (1 or 2 UMS).

Less than 10% of all applicants to all universities end up at their Insurance.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Only firm the other offer if you would genuinely have also firmed it even without it being Unconditional. It's a complete marketing scam that benefits the university not the student.

There's no way i would firm the other uni over Cambridge if it wasn't unconditional - it's just my little security blanket. 😂😂 so then the right thing to do here IS to firm Cambridge, right? I ideally want to do it tomorrow morning because I don't want to get moaned at in chem tomorrow afternoon 😂😂 but I'm only 99.99% certain.


I guess everyone has some doubt though, right??


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Yeah I have some doubt... It's been so long since the Cambridge open day for my subject (it was last March) that I'm sort of forgetting what it was that made me choose Cambridge specifically, whereas Sheffield (my insurance) is really clear in my mind as the open day was last Wednesday and it sounded amazing. I do remember being really excited about the Cambridge course though so it should be fine! 😅

What course and college is your offer from? I know what you mean about it being ages ago - I did college open days in the spring and then the main open day in June but then applied to the college I stayed in on summer school last year because I loved it - and my mum hasn't ever been there 😂😂 I'm really excited about my course at Cambridge, in fact I prefer it to the unconditional by a long way, it's just the entry grades for Cambridge that worry me


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My offer is Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Japanese) at Selwyn. I didn't really get chance to look around the college as I decided on it last minute in the week before the UCAS deadline! And I'm away for the main open days in July so next time I go (unless I go another time) will be in October I really want to go and visit Cambridge in the Easter break but train tickets will be so expensive now lol *cries*

Tbh the module descriptions for my course are pretty vague (also you don't get to choose anything in first year) so it's hard to see what I'll get to do, but I guess it's Cambridge so it should be very wide ranging. The thing about Sheffield I do like is the open modules although that being said I doubt I'd use them much!

Which course and college are you, and what made you like the Cambridge course?

Natural sciences at Queens'. I must say I made my final college choice only three weeks before the deadline, having looked at 5 and loved 3 of them. Could you not contact Selwyn and ask if you could go and have a look at some other point? I don't know how long it would take you to get there, but it might be an option. The module descriptions for my course are relatively vague as well, but it looks very interesting! The uni which has offered me an unconditional if I firm has a very very open course structure but I almost think it's too open. Tbh if it wasn't unconditional, I'd have firmed Cambridge by now... Which I guess tells me what I need to do, doesn't it? Have you firmed yet?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Yeah I firmed last week after the Sheffield open day, I was sure about firming Cambridge but not about my insurance choice.

I could probably do that but then there's convincing the parents to either give me a lift, insure me on the car so I can drive or shelling out for train tickets haha

I live in Chester so it's the Chester to London tickets that would be expensive really :/

My offer is Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Japanese) at Selwyn. I didn't really get chance to look around the college as I decided on it last minute in the week before the UCAS deadline!

Genius decision though, it's the best College by far! The cherry trees are in blossom now outside the front of College and it looks glorious. The gardens are fantastic, and it's a nice homely College, just far enough out of town to be off the tourist trail, but it takes no time to pop into town. You probably need to allow about 3 minutes to get to AMES after you've rolled out of bed - you could hardly be closer. Don't worry that you don't know about Selwyn, it's a fantastic place, it'll just seem all the more exciting to discover it yourself come the autumn

How can they know how close you were though if you are doing new Linear A levels?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Haha thank you - it was partly the people on here that recommended Selwyn to me. Do you by any chance have any personal connection to it 😂