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Do GCSEs actually matter ?

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I've got a place at York and am waiting on UCL :smile:
Original post by Gabbyyyxxx
I’m in year 10 soon to be in year 11 but I feel like everyone is over stressing about GCSES like I do understand because I’m stressing but sometimes I come to think of it do they actually matter? Please tell me ur opinions below

As it's already been mentioned, it matters for Medicine & Dentistry.

Another thing it helps for is getting unconditional offers for university. I got an unconditional offer for the course i'm currently at because I had 8 A*'s, 3 A's and you need 7+ A*'s for an unconditional offer for most courses at the university i'm at.
It all depends on what you want to be in the future. If you want to be a street sweep, a janitor, a gardner, a refuse collector, then no GCSEs don't matter. If however, you want to become a doctor, a pharmacist, a historian, a geologist, a physcist, a psychologist, a researcher, then they matter a lot.

The better your GCSEs the better your future prospects so far as jobs and careers are concerned.
Original post by Pinkisk
It all depends on what you want to be in the future. If you want to be a street sweep, a janitor, a gardner, a refuse collector, then no GCSEs don't matter. If however, you want to become a doctor, a pharmacist, a historian, a geologist, a physcist, a psychologist, a researcher, then they matter a lot.

I wouldn't say it's as clear cut as that. Many STEM careers don't require GCSEs if you have higher qualifications yet many basic jobs want applicants with GCSEs but no higher qualifications.

Medicine and dentistry are the difficult university courses to get into without GCSEs but plenty of universities will accept applicants for law without GCSEs. It often helps if you already have A Levels when applying to university if you don't have GCSEs. It's commonplace for universities to judge applicants on their GCSE grades if they haven't taken their A Level exams now that students no longer take AS Levels then A2.
Original post by Arran90
The answer, is yes.

There have been cases in recent years of home educated kids who have decided to pay an extra £9000 to do a foundation year at university to bypass GCSEs and A Levels. After graduation there have been several cases of employers 'biting' them by demanding GCSEs in addition to a degree or asking for their GCSE grades. It has put them in a dilemma whether to lie about their GCSEs or tell the employers that they did a foundation year instead and potentially lose out on the job offer - which is what tends to happen.

Many basic public sector jobs demand 5 GCSEs but won't accept A Levels or degrees as a substitute.

There has been discussion in the home education community about whether the government should legally make a foundation year at university an alternative and equivalent to 5 GCSEs when it comes to employment.

I totally agree. GCSEs were important to me so I made sure I did as well as I possibily could. You wouldn't want to miss out on job opportunities because of poor GCSE results. If someone decides to apply for jobs/work experience/insight days/summer schools etc. after GCSEs, they will find it harder to get accepted if they didn't do well in their exams. People are more likely to select students with higher grades because there isn't much else to judge us on right now
GCSEs are a good indicator to Unis of how an applicant is likely to perform at A level, and they will look at them in conjunction with predicted grades and to a lesser extent, Personal Statement.

There are always exceptions but generally speaking, students who perform the best at GCSE go on to perform well at A level, and students who can't be arsed to work hard for GCSEs don't normally develop a strong work ethnic just because they have joined sixth form. So although some Unis will look holistically at someone's application, I believe that they will always assign some weight to their GCSE performance
Original post by barror1
I genuinely think the reason that I didn't get into Cambridge was my GCSE grades. I had no A grades at GCSE, which completely messed me up when I was pooled. Nevertheless, A-level predictions are always going to be more important when applying to university.

I want to apply to Oxbridge but I'm worried about getting rejected. There are people with all A*s at GCSE who still don't get an offer
Original post by x.emilye
I want to apply to Oxbridge but I'm worried about getting rejected. There are people with all A*s at GCSE who still don't get an offer


tbh just going through the process it worth it. You have nothing to lose from applying!
Tend to give a minor age on super comepetitive uni courses, and are useful for getting into colleges/sixth forms. You need a couple of Cs in English and maths to qualify for most university courses (or whatever the C equivalent is now) but that's not particularly hard.

Otherwise, they don't do a whole lot. They're certainly not the life or death matter that people make them out to be at the time. I wouldn't stress yourself out tooo much about them.
If anything GCSE's help you to get into the correct studying frame of mind ready for A levels which you will need if you wish to go to Uni. My best advice is to treat them seriously and study well. If only I could turn the clocks back and revise properly. Because of how poorly I studied at GCSE's, I struggled to get used to the amount of work required for A level and as a result have done not too well.
I wish you all the best in your future. :-) x
Reply 30
Original post by Gabbyyyxxx
I’m in year 10 soon to be in year 11 but I feel like everyone is over stressing about GCSES like I do understand because I’m stressing but sometimes I come to think of it do they actually matter? Please tell me ur opinions below

I'm in Year 11(haven't finished GCSE's yet), so I can't give you the best opinion out there, but from all the research I have done regarding where you go after GCSE's(I have done a lot), GCSE's seem to be extremely important.

GCSE's on there own are not really that important, but it's where GCSE's get you(which A levels, apprenticeships, IB courses or other), that really matters. The GCSE's don't decide where your going in life entirely, but they decide the thing's you do which will decide where your going in life, if you get what I mean. Universities also look at GCSE's(although they care more about A-levels), which also makes them important.

I stressed myself out a lot in Year 10, did a lot of revision, and it got me quite a good set of mock grades, and I know many people who did the same, so I wouldn't exactly say that stressing in Year 10 about GCSE's is a bad idea, but still, you have still have a year, so don't get so stressed about them that you can't think about anything else at all. Well, that's my opinion. Good luck, hope this was useful :smile:
If youre not applying for oxbridge or doing medicine then a plain jane 4 or 5 in maths and english will get you into any russel group uni pretty much but if your planning on doing maths, physics, comp sci or engineering then going for a higher tier grade is wise
Original post by Iasonas
People have been rejected from loads of the top unis due to poor GCSE grades. There are no more AS levels, and tbh if you get poor GCSEs, you have three questionable predictions to hold you up on uni applications. It’s easier just to do the hard work now imo.

If the school still does AS-levels, the applicant will have those. I wouldn't call predictions based on those results 'questionable'.
Original post by Tolgarda
If the school still does AS-levels, the applicant will have those. I wouldn't call predictions based on those results 'questionable'.

But lots of people don't sit AS level exams anymore, so GCSEs will be the most recent objective evidence of their academic achievement to date
Original post by harrysbar
But lots of people don't sit AS level exams anymore, so GCSEs will be the most recent objective evidence of their academic achievement to date

Some universities have admission assessments that will definitely give them a more recent picture of their academic ability. Apart from that, GCSEs have a little more weight now that most don't sit AS exams.
Original post by Tolgarda
Some universities have admission assessments that will definitely give them a more recent picture of their academic ability. Apart from that, GCSEs have a little more weight now that most don't sit AS exams.

Very few do that apart from Oxbridge/medicine/some law courses at top unis...
Original post by harrysbar
Very few do that apart from Oxbridge/medicine/some law courses at top unis...

If the OP is aiming for a top university, then the most recent objective evidence for their academic ability will be the admission tests. If the university isn't a top university that doesn't use this screening process, then I don't see why they might be worried about grades, as universities in the lower ranks probably won't require high ones.
Reply 37
Original post by x.emilye
I want to apply to Oxbridge but I'm worried about getting rejected. There are people with all A*s at GCSE who still don't get an offer


That's because there's more to an Oxbridge application than just GCSES.

Which course are you considering? And what is your GCSE profile?
Original post by Tolgarda
If the OP is aiming for a top university, then the most recent objective evidence for their academic ability will be the admission tests. If the university isn't a top university that doesn't use this screening process, then I don't see why they might be worried about grades, as universities in the lower ranks probably won't require high ones.

The vast majority of top Unis don't do admission tests for subjects outside medicine and (less often) law. OP didn't mention applying to Oxbridge but even if they are, GCSEs will still be of interest to the the Admissions officers (especially Oxford, but the average Cambridge applicant still has mostly A*/A grades at GCSE)
Original post by harrysbar
The vast majority of top Unis don't do admission tests for subjects outside medicine and (less often) law. OP didn't mention applying to Oxbridge but even if they are, GCSEs will still be of interest to the the Admissions officers (especially Oxford, but the average Cambridge applicant still has mostly A*/A grades at GCSE)


GCSEs will be of interest for top universities, but if there is an admission test, which Oxbridge and other top universities have for competitive courses, then that will probably have priority in terms of evidence of academic ability. It will be the most recent and directly related to the course that the applicant wants to study.

I'd say that GCSEs are a little more important than they were previously, provided the applicant isn't applying for competitive courses at top universities. If the applicant is, things are just about the same as they were before. They are important, but they really don't matter all a big deal if you can show that you have improved and matured over the last year if you apply for competitive courses that require further screening.
(edited 5 years ago)

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