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No A*'s at GCSE but Medicine!

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Original post by GCSE 9
@RedGiant and @Ex-pert guys calm down, I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do, no ones opinion will change that.


Sorry about that boss
Original post by RedGiant
Good luck, try and get As in your AS exams (if you're still taking them despite the A Level reform).

I'm taking mock exams, the 'internal exams' but I don't know if you can still declare these exams to universities 'AS'.
Original post by GCSE 9
I'm taking mock exams, the 'internal exams' but I don't know if you can still declare these exams to universities 'AS'.


Well you can't and don't declare mocks on UCAS, as they're not public qualifications. But nevertheless they're still very important for UCAS predicted grades.
Original post by RedGiant
Good luck, try and get As in your AS exams (if you're still taking them despite the A Level reform).

Although what I was discussing was not a matter of "opinion", it was about the truth.

Also, you posting all these negative things, while you do evidently have a point, will not change how hard I'm going to work, we'll just have to see (obviously not a huge chance but a very slim one as I'm not taking 'AS' exams. But, just letting you know that your opinions don't affect me.
Original post by RedGiant
Good luck, try and get As in your AS exams (if you're still taking them despite the A Level reform).

Although what I was discussing was not a matter of "opinion", it was about the truth.

It was not the truth overall, because you were telling the truth about the majority of applicants having A*'s, but you don't take other things into consideration e.g. BMAT, Interview as I spoke to Cambridge and what they said was different to what you said
Original post by GCSE 9
It was not the truth overall, because you were telling the truth about the majority of applicants having A*'s, but you don't take other things into consideration e.g. BMAT, Interview as I spoke to Cambridge and what they said was different to what you said


I never said (or implied) that a single aspect of an application will break it or make it. I in fact said the opposite, reflecting the entirely holistic view of Cambridge (and Oxford)'s admission process. Which is why it's arguably one of the fairest admissions system there is.

Original post by GCSE 9
Also, you posting all these negative things, while you do evidently have a point, will not change how hard I'm going to work, we'll just have to see (obviously not a huge chance but a very slim one as I'm not taking 'AS' exams. But, just letting you know that your opinions don't affect me.


Maybe the truth is negative, but that doesn't make it my opinion. I never said you had no chance, but you don't have AS MUCH of a chance, relatively speaking. I'm not out to hurt your feelings or anything, I'm simply stating the truth regarding the highly competitive nature of Medicine, let alone Oxbridge. Do your best, and you never know, you might get in, alright? :smile:
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by RedGiant
Maybe the truth is negative, but that doesn't make it my opinion. I never said you had no chance, but you don't have AS MUCH of a chance, relatively speaking. I'm not out to hurt your feelings or anything, I'm simply stating the truth regarding the highly competitive nature of Medicine, let alone Oxbridge. Do your best, and you never know, you might get in, alright? :smile:

I'm not like that, if something is the truth I accept it and now I don't have a chance because as I said before I spoke to my school and said that we don't take AS exams (external) we take internal mock exams (questions gathered from past papers), so I have no chance because if they don't know your AS (which I might have done very well in considering the amount of effort I put in) they look at your GCSE'S and you know the answer now :smile:
But, the teachers said I could 'choose' to take the AS exams but no one has ever done that before for the linear exams?
Original post by GCSE 9
I'm not like that, if something is the truth I accept it and now I don't have a chance because as I said before I spoke to my school and said that we don't take AS exams (external) we take internal mock exams (questions gathered from past papers), so I have no chance because if they don't know your AS (which I might have done very well in considering the amount of effort I put in) they look at your GCSE'S and you know the answer now :smile:
But, the teachers said I could 'choose' to take the AS exams but no one has ever done that before for the linear exams?


People have been doing linear AS for the last 2 years, and people will still be doing them in the future. It was really UMS that was emphasized with AS Levels (for Cambridge), as Cambridge have done their own research to show that high UMS correlates with good tripos performance. So overall, no linear AS will not really make that much of a difference. And Cambridge have stated that you will not be advantaged over another candidate who has NOT done linear AS - because it wouldn't be fair that way. Finally, a large reason for having admissions assessments in most subjects now is to make up for information lost from AS/UMS. So you don't need to worry, just focus on doing well in your mocks, and building up work experience, BMAT practice (eventually) and the rest :smile:
Original post by RedGiant
Also, I joined on 23/10/17. You joined on 4/6/17. I've only been a user on TSR for just over a week, and I have 1 less rep gems than you. Which doesn't awfully support your case.


And I've been *active* in the Cambridge forum for 4 years: GCSEs are not that important for Medicine at Cambridge. Do I need to say it again?
Original post by RedGiant
People have been doing linear AS for the last 2 years, and people will still be doing them in the future. It was really UMS that was emphasized with AS Levels (for Cambridge), as Cambridge have done their own research to show that high UMS correlates with good tripos performance. So overall, no linear AS will not really make that much of a difference. And Cambridge have stated that you will not be advantaged over another candidate who has NOT done linear AS - because it wouldn't be fair that way. Finally, a large reason for having admissions assessments in most subjects now is to make up for information lost from AS/UMS. So you don't need to worry, just focus on doing well in your mocks, and building up work experience, BMAT practice (eventually) and the rest :smile:

But @Doonesbury said that If I do internal mocks then I will be disadvantaged instead of someone who does linear AS exams because of my GCSE'S?. But the main thing is that If I do well in mocks then if (I do get an interview in the future- again slim chance) then Can I tell Cambridge or they won't care unless it's the linear AS exams?
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Doonesbury
And I've been *active* in the Cambridge forum for 4 years: GCSEs are not that important for Medicine at Cambridge. Do I need to say it again?


Which I agree with. And of which have *tried* to reassure to the OP. Maybe my post from last week was perhaps a little ill-informed, but nevertheless I didn't say the OP shouldn't bother applying whatsoever.
Original post by GCSE 9
But @Doonesbury said that If I do internal mocks then I will be disadvantaged instead of someone who does linear AS exams?. But the main thing is that If I do well in mocks then if (I do get an interview in the future- again slim chance) then Can I tell Cambridge or they won't care unless it's the linear AS exams?


I DID NOT say you would be disadvantaged. Cambridge will NEVER disadvantage an applicant that follows their school's exam policy.
Original post by Doonesbury
I DID NOT say you would be disadvantaged. Cambridge will NEVER disadvantage an applicant that follows their school's exam policy.

But is it true because most exams are 'linear' and mainly you take 'mock exams' and because Cambridge really emphasize the importance of AS, as I won't have any, they'll look at my GCSE'S and then it's evident that i'd be disadvantaged from vice versa?
Original post by GCSE 9
But is it true because most exams are 'linear' and mainly you take 'mock exams' and because Cambridge really emphasize the importance of AS, as I won't have any, they'll look at my GCSE'S and then it's evident that i'd be disadvantaged from vice versa?


No. Approx 40% of Cambridge applicants didn't have AS-levels before the AS-level reforms. And that proportion is increasing significantly. Cambridge is VERY used to assessing applications without AS-levels..

If you do well in your mocks ask your referee to mention it.

Please stop worrying about all this.
Original post by Doonesbury
No. Approx 40% of Cambridge applicants didn't have AS-levels before the AS-level reforms. And that proportion is increasing significantly. Cambridge is VERY used to assessing applications without AS-levels..

If you do well in your mocks ask your referee to mention it.

Please stop worrying about all this.

Thanks, but wouldn't that mean that they will look at your GCSE'S then and judge based of that?
Original post by GCSE 9
Thanks, but wouldn't that mean that they will look at your GCSE'S then and judge based of that?


I think they will look at your mock exams, because they are the exams that will determine your predicted grades.
Original post by GCSE 9
Thanks, but wouldn't that mean that they will look at your GCSE'S then and judge based of that?


They look at all aspects of your application. GCSEs are not ignored, they just aren't among the most important. Doing well in your A-levels is much more important (including mocks). Doing well in the BMAT is more important. Doing well in the interview is more important. Etc...
Original post by Doonesbury
They look at all aspects of your application. GCSEs are not ignored, they just aren't among the most important. Doing well in your A-levels is much more important (including mocks). Doing well in the BMAT is more important. Doing well in the interview is more important. Etc...

You've misunderstood what I said, anyway forget it but thanks for the reply..
Original post by GCSE 9
You've misunderstood what I said, anyway forget it but thanks for the reply..


I haven't misunderstood. I'm trying to shift your focus away from GCSEs (which aren't so important and are in the past and you can't influence) to things which are.
There's a huge difference between getting into Cambridge to study an uncompetitive degree course and getting into Cambridge to study medicine. I don't know why people keep commenting that 'my friend got into Cambridge with 2 A*s'. Firstly, they got into Cambridge but they aren't studying medicine and secondly we are talking about 0 A*s here. If the minimum number of A*s last year in Cambridge for med was 2 A*s (and it was likely that these were extenuating circumstances) then isn't this thread just promoting a sense of false hope and security? Common sense tells me that if you apply with 0 A*s you will be put at a massive disadvantage whether Cambridge prefer GCSE grades or not, because statistically they use it as one of their indicators. Applying to Cambridge with 0 A*s is a massive risk that people in this thread are failing to establish; the oxbridge process is quite a long one and it may compromise the effort placed on your other uni options. Alongside this, the OP would have to take a gap year since the oxbridge deadlines have passed. Is this something you are willing to do? I don't see why this thread has dragged on for so long. Take a gamble and apply if you feel confident that you can ace other aspects of the Cambridge application process or just apply for other unis to study medicine. As you said yourself, you wouldn't mind studying medicine at any uni, as long as you're studying it.

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