How are cGCSEs calculated? (Oxford PPE)

https://www.ppe.ox.ac.uk/images/PPE_admissions_2019-20_information_for_applicants_FINAL.pdf

The statistics include a graph for cGCSE distribution; I'm assuming these are contextualised GCSE scores but would like to know how the numbers are calculated? Cheers

Hiya,

Are you applying this year? Just curious

I don’t know with certainty but I believe that the type of school you go to, socio-economic area, and general performance of your school is considered in the GCSE score. It’s about how many A*s you have, but relative to others in your year and your school’s average performance. For example, I think that if you got 8A*s from a state school in a poor area that had a low rate of people passing GCSEs or getting good grades, your contextual GCSE score may be higher than someone with 10A*s from a top private school.

This guide is from the E&M thread but explains more about contextual GCSEs and the E&M admissions process, some of which I assume will be very similar to PPE:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=872214&d=1578499308

Good luck!

Ah thanks - I knew what the contextual factors would be but was a bit stuck on how they assigned quantitative values to them

Oh and to answer your question - I probably will not apply to PPE this year but I am likely to apply there if I don't get medicine offers from my 3 unis when I apply this year (I'm in year 12 so would apply to PPE after year 13 with my achieved grades) or alternatively if i get a spot on UNIQ for PPE and really enjoy it I may just apply this year.

It does explain a bit more in the guide, but no one really knows to be honest. It’s not something to be too worried about - if you’re planning to apply to Oxford for this year, you can’t change your GCSEs at this point so just focus on the TSA and lots of wider reading and super curricular activities (as well as your A Levels of course). Good luck!

hey I wondering where you found the admission stats for this year?

Yeah; i got 8 9s and 2 8s and a 7 but my school is fairly high achieving for GCSEs but not A-levels (we're a grammar school in the north so have much better scores than any other school in the area but still not quite the southern grammar schools/private academies) I made honour roll for my gcses so they are way above average for my cohort but I wanted to know what cGCSE it would get me to

Ah right. It’s difficult to say really - I imagine that your GCSEs would be good for PPE and fairly good for Medicine, but really the entrance tests are crucial, as is the interview. And predicted grades too of course (but realistically, both courses are so competitive that A*A*A* is needed in an ideal world). Best of luck though and if you work at the entrance test you have every chance of getting an offer!

Thank youuuuu - also, I know that applying with achieved A-levels is better than predicted ones but do you know what the rough weighting between them is? Lets take Oxford PPE where the requirements are AAA - is applying with A*A*A achieved stronger than A*A*A* predicted? If so what extent does it reach, is A*AA achieved more favourable than A*A*A* predicted too?

Hi again,

Not really sure to be honest - I hold an offer for E&M but don’t know too much about PPE and the difference between achieved grades and predicted grades. I think to some extent, your chances can be higher if you apply post A Levels with strong results, as grade inflation can mean that people predicted A*A*A may come out with A*AA or AAA. But you can’t really predict it to be honest as it will very much depend on the cohort of that year you’re applying. My best advice would be, once you’ve picked your course and applied, hopefully you’ll get an offer, but if you don’t, then request feedback. If it’s something specific you can work on (eg entrance test) then it may be worth reapplying, but if it’s more general then do consider why you were rejected. If you get rejected prior to an interview, but do go on to get 2A*s and an A or above, then it may be either the entrance test or your GCSEs that let you down - if you think you could do better on the entrance test and would do well in an interview it could be worth reapplying. If you did go for PPE and we’re predicted 3A*s to begin, but didn’t get an offer and entrance test/interview went pretty well, realistically there may be point in applying again even if you do achieve 2A*s and an A or above, as there may not necessarily be something you can ‘fix’ per se. For Oxbridge, by interviews everyone is bright enough that it just comes down to personality and who the tutor would like to teach. There’s a bit of luck involved for sure.

Good luck!

Damn congrats on the E&M place - that's the most competitive course in terms of applicants to places at oxford right? Thanks for the advice I'll definitely take it on board!

Thank you - yes it is haha, I still can’t really believe it but need to get the grades now!

You’re most welcome - they’re both wonderful degrees and best of luck with your decision! And, if you do decide to go for PPE, feel free to tag me or send me a DM if you need any advice or help with the TSA. Good luck with everything!

Also, I definitely recommend that you begin prepping for the entrance test sooner rather than later - the BMAT and TSA have some similarities, so even if you haven’t fully decided yet I’d recommend beginning to think about question types and practice questions. This BMAT question guide is helpful and apart from the data/science questions, it’s relevant for the TSA too:

https://www.admissionstesting.org/images/324081-bmat-section-1-question-guide.pdf

ah thank youuu; my brother did pretty well in the BMAT when he did it and we have a few sources to really bang it out when time comes ; BMAT dates are delayed this year by 1 month for each test date, I originally planned on doing practise in January but with the way my school does predicted grades I really gotta focus on my a level subjects since they are the keys to everything - I have a critical thinking book that I read a bit of from last year (its my brothers A-level book) so i have some proficiency in doing the whole flaw and premise identification and mirror argument stuff - its just the problem solving stuff I reckon can be a major issue since they're hard to prepare for; since you're doing E&M you must be very good at maths right? Do you have any resources for exam questions and stuff (aside from specimen papers, physics&maths tutor, madasmaths) thanks for all the help and once again - really well done man E&M is no easy feat.

Thanks. Do you mean resources for the problem solving questions or for A Levels (and yep - I like to think I’m a decent mathematician - I take Maths and Further Maths as two of my A Levels).

For A Levels, I’ve only used the resources you mentioned (usually just use the textbook lol and have a good memory). For the problem solving questions - I used ‘So You Think You Can Think’ and another book by Oxbridge Admissions (it was called something like the ultimate TSA guide with 300 practice questions). The main thing I did was all of the TSA past papers and a handful of the BMAT ones. Then any questions I got wrong, I’d go through with a maths teacher. It’s really about learning tricks to eliminate options and save time (you learn this through practice and also the above books are helpful, although less for BMAT). UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge papers may also be helpful too.

And yes - I definitely agree that A Level predictions are vital. I was predicted 4A*s and I know that there is variation in what people are predicted, so it can be a discriminating factor when they have lots of amazing candidates, so each extra A* does count I reckon.

Good luck with it all! And as mentioned, feel free to PM me or tag me over the next few months if you think there’s something I could try and help with.

Thank youuuuu - also, I know that applying with achieved A-levels is better than predicted ones but do you know what the rough weighting between them is? Lets take Oxford PPE where the requirements are AAA - is applying with A*A*A achieved stronger than A*A*A* predicted? If so what extent does it reach, is A*AA achieved more favourable than A*A*A* predicted too?

Hi, in answer to this - I was told by multiple PPE tutors on the open day that AAA achieved > even 4A*s predicted