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Do I have a chance of studying Law at Cambridge University?

I am currently in AS levels:
My GCSE grades are as follows:
Religious Education: A*.
Media Studies: Distinction*(A* equivalent).
English speaking and listening: Distinction (A equivalent).
English Language: 7 (A equivalent).
English literature: 7 (A equivalent).
History: A.
Health and Social care: A.
Science (Double award): BB.
Mathematics: (B equivalent).

My predicted for AS level are BBB (as generated from primary an GCSE level) however, I am already exceeding these, getting A's in psychology and business and currently at a B level in History (History only takes one exam in A Level, therefore, is only a rough estimate).
what are my realistic chances of getting into Cambridge University studying Law?

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Seems odd your school would only predict BBB based on your GCSEs, given you aren't taking any science subjects now. However this may be a cause for concern for the university - the GCSEs themselves aren't of great interest, but a low prediction at A-level, unless explained in your reference that these are somehow generated arbitrarily and your referee can convince them that you are going to get A*AA+ , you may well have difficulties getting an interview invite (even excelling in any pre-interview assessment alone may not suffice).

If you are fixed on Cambridge Law, you might want to consider the possibility of taking a gap year and reapplying once you have your A-level grades (at, or ideally above, A*AA). However if you do get good reference as above and good performance in any relevant pre-interview assessments may get you an interview, after which it's all in the air. Just be realistically about the possibility of it not getting to that stag - I would recommend doubling down on your academic work and trying to do as well as possible in those (especially History).
Reply 2
Original post by artful_lounger
Seems odd your school would only predict BBB based on your GCSEs, given you aren't taking any science subjects now. However this may be a cause for concern for the university - the GCSEs themselves aren't of great interest, but a low prediction at A-level, unless explained in your reference that these are somehow generated arbitrarily and your referee can convince them that you are going to get A*AA+ , you may well have difficulties getting an interview invite (even excelling in any pre-interview assessment alone may not suffice).

If you are fixed on Cambridge Law, you might want to consider the possibility of taking a gap year and reapplying once you have your A-level grades (at, or ideally above, A*AA). However if you do get good reference as above and good performance in any relevant pre-interview assessments may get you an interview, after which it's all in the air. Just be realistically about the possibility of it not getting to that stag - I would recommend doubling down on your academic work and trying to do as well as possible in those (especially History).

Thank you for your response, the only issue I have with a gap year is that, the website states that retakes are often put at a slight disadvantage, and do not want to be in this position. However, thank you for your efforts to reply.
Original post by artful_lounger
Seems odd your school would only predict BBB based on your GCSEs, given you aren't taking any science subjects now. However this may be a cause for concern for the university - the GCSEs themselves aren't of great interest, but a low prediction at A-level, unless explained in your reference that these are somehow generated arbitrarily and your referee can convince them that you are going to get A*AA+ , you may well have difficulties getting an interview invite (even excelling in any pre-interview assessment alone may not suffice).

If you are fixed on Cambridge Law, you might want to consider the possibility of taking a gap year and reapplying once you have your A-level grades (at, or ideally above, A*AA). However if you do get good reference as above and good performance in any relevant pre-interview assessments may get you an interview, after which it's all in the air. Just be realistically about the possibility of it not getting to that stag - I would recommend doubling down on your academic work and trying to do as well as possible in those (especially History).


A lot of schools use this ALPS system of predicting grades in Year 12 where they add up all GCSEs, assign a value to each grade and then divide by the number taken to get a mean. They then use this mean to get a prediction and no matter what A Level subjects you do, this is the prediction you'll have, even if you took the subjects you did the best at and ignored the ones you did bad at.

My school had this, it ended up with a lot of maths and further maths students getting much higher than their predictions since they were great at maths, but irrelevant GCSEs damaged their predictions. It doesn't matter though, it's only Y12 predictions
Original post by skaurax
Thank you for your response, the only issue I have with a gap year is that, the website states that retakes are often put at a slight disadvantage, and do not want to be in this position. However, thank you for your efforts to reply.


You don't need to take a gap year. Those Y12 predictions are meaningless.

Your school will either derive your UCAS predictions from AS levels you do, or from internal exams at the end of the year.

As long as you do well in those, you'll get the required predicted grades and hopefully your place at Camb
They're certainly not bad GCSEs in any way, a few Bs there which might hinder things slightly but as you're not applying for science or maths should be alright. As said above they are not so concerned with GCSEs, and actually not with AS predictions either, just actual AS grades or A-Level predictions. In truth they won't ever know your AS predictions. Do well in your summer exams (whether internal or external if doing any AS), and you should get good A-Level predictions which is what they look for. A good personal statement and score in the admissions test will definitely benefit this, and an interview would be a good chance to shine. Basically no need to be overly concerned, plenty of time to get those grades at AS and good predictors for A-Level, and lots of other factors that Cambridge take into account other than GCSEs!
Unless you are disqualified for a specific reason, yes, you have a chance. Good luck!
Original post by skaurax
Thank you for your response, the only issue I have with a gap year is that, the website states that retakes are often put at a slight disadvantage, and do not want to be in this position. However, thank you for your efforts to reply.


This is not retake - you just get your exam results, then do something for the year after while applying.

Unless you are actually resitting the exam (which the above does apply for, and again in this case you do not actually have your final grades, so it's still based on predicted grades) you should be fine. What you do in this year is up to you - it need not be academic, as long as it is "productive" in some way, such as simply working a job near where you live to save some money. As long as you don't just go "travelling" and spend the year drinking fruity cocktails on a beach :tongue:
Reply 8
Original post by artful_lounger
This is not retake - you just get your exam results, then do something for the year after while applying.

Unless you are actually resitting the exam (which the above does apply for, and again in this case you do not actually have your final grades, so it's still based on predicted grades) you should be fine. What you do in this year is up to you - it need not be academic, as long as it is "productive" in some way, such as simply working a job near where you live to save some money. As long as you don't just go "travelling" and spend the year drinking fruity cocktails on a beach :tongue:

Thank you for this suggestion, it has been extremely useful.
Reply 9
Original post by Kyber Ninja
You don't need to take a gap year. Those Y12 predictions are meaningless.

Your school will either derive your UCAS predictions from AS levels you do, or from internal exams at the end of the year.

As long as you do well in those, you'll get the required predicted grades and hopefully your place at Camb

Thank you for your help; the information you have provided has been extremely useful to myself :smile:
Reply 10
Original post by whycantwerun
They're certainly not bad GCSEs in any way, a few Bs there which might hinder things slightly but as you're not applying for science or maths should be alright. As said above they are not so concerned with GCSEs, and actually not with AS predictions either, just actual AS grades or A-Level predictions. In truth they won't ever know your AS predictions. Do well in your summer exams (whether internal or external if doing any AS), and you should get good A-Level predictions which is what they look for. A good personal statement and score in the admissions test will definitely benefit this, and an interview would be a good chance to shine. Basically no need to be overly concerned, plenty of time to get those grades at AS and good predictors for A-Level, and lots of other factors that Cambridge take into account other than GCSEs!

Thank you for providing your very useful information. The advice given will seriously motivate me to thrive. :smile:
Reply 11
Original post by yudothis
Unless you are disqualified for a specific reason, yes, you have a chance. Good luck!


That is is nice to hear!!! Thank you for the motivation, means so much. :smile:
Reply 12
Original post by skaurax
I am currently in AS levels:
My GCSE grades are as follows:
Religious Education: A*.
Media Studies: Distinction*(A* equivalent).
English speaking and listening: Distinction (A equivalent).
English Language: 7 (A equivalent).
English literature: 7 (A equivalent).
History: A.
Health and Social care: A.
Science (Double award): BB.
Mathematics: (B equivalent).

My predicted for AS level are BBB (as generated from primary an GCSE level) however, I am already exceeding these, getting A's in psychology and business and currently at a B level in History (History only takes one exam in A Level, therefore, is only a rough estimate).
what are my realistic chances of getting into Cambridge University studying Law?


Call me Optimistic but I only got one A in my GCSE's and I feel i could get into Cambridge for Law if I really wanted to.
Original post by Cxesar
Call me Optimistic but I only got one A in my GCSE's and I feel i could get into Cambridge for Law if I really wanted to.


I was going to call you something else, but sure. Why not optimistic.
Reply 14
I guess I seem cocky lool which wasnt the aim but I just wanted to show anything is possible
Original post by Cxesar
I guess I seem cocky lool which wasnt the aim but I just wanted to show anything is possible


I honestly do not know what to say.
Original post by skaurax
I am currently in AS levels:
My GCSE grades are as follows:
Religious Education: A*.
Media Studies: Distinction*(A* equivalent).
English speaking and listening: Distinction (A equivalent).
English Language: 7 (A equivalent).
English literature: 7 (A equivalent).
History: A.
Health and Social care: A.
Science (Double award): BB.
Mathematics: (B equivalent).

My predicted for AS level are BBB (as generated from primary an GCSE level) however, I am already exceeding these, getting A's in psychology and business and currently at a B level in History (History only takes one exam in A Level, therefore, is only a rough estimate).
what are my realistic chances of getting into Cambridge University studying Law?


no. not unless you get 100.0% in your LNAT.
No, he showed us anything is possible. Not mere hope but real-life demonstration. Magical.

Original post by CollectiveSoul
no. not unless you get 100.0% in your LNAT.


I surely hope OP can manage to get 100% on their LNAT. It should really assist with their application to Cambridge.
he's not going to Cambridge.
Don't assume too much good faith. The investigation is still ongoing.

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