The Official Cambridge Offer Holders Thread 2017 Entry

I did better in A level maths than GCSE, go figure

I've found A level better than GCSE as well - maths has much more logical meaning to it at A level whereas GCSE felt like a numbers game with some random circle theorems 😂

I think that being able to go in depth into why and how maths things work really helps at A level. It helps me to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing, and is something I think is significantly lacking in GCSE maths lessons (although that might have changed with the new spec)

Well I can do some maths really well. Algebra and things like that, and I can do lots of philosophy involved in undergraduate studies which is more heavily maths based. I could always do the A* questions in a GCSE revision book, and not the easier ones. I've got a weird brain.

I'm fairly sure that you (and most of the general public) have a very different idea of what maths is from mathematicians. GCSE questions are more about pushing mindless algebra around rather than any actual maths.

If you're interested in finding out more, reading 'A Mathematicians Lament' by Lockhart (a short PDF) or 'A Mathematicians Apology' is a recommended read.

Hello everyone. In pre-emption of a decidedly uncertain results day, does anyone know or have any experience with how likely you'd be to still get in if you missed your grades by, say, getting an A instead of an A*? Just asking for a friend...

Hello everyone. In pre-emption of a decidedly uncertain results day, does anyone know or have any experience with how likely you'd be to still get in if you missed your grades by, say, getting an A instead of an A*? Just asking for a friend...

Is there a Facebook group for 2017 offer holders ?

Is there a Facebook group for 2017 offer holders ?

There isn't going to be an answer to this. It depends on how close the A is to an A*, how many people have met their offers, what context the application is in, how their interview went, the quality of the cohort, what college, what subject, and I can keep listing reasons. tl;dr nobody knows how likely it is. Loads of people who miss their STEP offers for maths still get in, otherwise not many people (but a non trivial mount) miss their normal offers and get in.

How many exams has everyone got left? Just had my 2nd day with 2 exams (both biol + politics exams were scheduled on the same days lol).

Just one more for me, on the 26th. I think Physics is the last exam of all? (on the 27th)

how did people find C3? Thought it was quite difficult, one of the harder papers there's been definitely, probs got borderline B/A, feeling less confident about meeting my offer now (needed an A)

(and yes im not doing maths/science, in before i get shot down with "C3 is so trivial, how are you this retarded etc etc")

How many exams has everyone got left? Just had my 2nd day with 2 exams (both biol + politics exams were scheduled on the same days lol).

Just one more for me, on the 26th. I think Physics is the last exam of all? (on the 27th)

how did people find C3? Thought it was quite difficult, one of the harder papers there's been definitely, probs got borderline B/A, feeling less confident about meeting my offer now (needed an A)

(and yes im not doing maths/science, in before i get shot down with "C3 is so trivial, how are you this retarded etc etc"

How would you say it compared with 2016? @Steliata

I found it hard too! There were a few questions I just didn't get, which meant I had very little time to check my answers. I think I've made a few silly errors which won't help my mark either. Just hoping for low grade boundaries and a good C4 paper really, I was originally aiming for the A* in maths but maybe I'll have to hold out hope for my other subjects instead :/

same, made silly mistakes and confused myself, plus question 8 (with the damn rabbits) took me about half an hour lol. The grade boundaries were 59 for an A last year and imo this paper was far harder

do you reckon you still got an A because im really not sure i did