UCAS points instead of grades on CV

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(edited 4 years ago)

ajj2000

Someone I know is in the middle of a gap year, searching for some work experience in finace. However, he got a D in A level Business and a C in A level Economics. I feel like this will be a major weakness on his CV compared to his merit and distinction in BTech Politics.
He has a total of 136 UCAS points which is even higher than BBC in 3 A levels.
Can he get away with putting his UCAS points under the A Level section instead of the actual grades, so he can explain the reason for the D and C in the interviews?
He also already has some experience in the frield which is as the top of his CV.

I wouldn't. UCAS points are not very helpful as no-one understands them (they change too often) and include random, irrelevant things such as piano exams. There is a good chance that a CV without grades will go straight in the bin.

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Employers almost certainly won't know what UCAS points are, since those are only used for university admissions and not anything else, and even for that purpose not that many universities make use of them. To be honest most employers for school leaver jobs don't really care much about grades from school compared to work experience. I would also note it's BTEC, which is an acronym standing for "Business and Technology Education Council", not BTech, which is a Bachelors of Technology degree and entirely different qualification (not really that common outside of India as I understand.

Reply 3

Davinarose

Original post by artful_lounger

Thanks for the advice! Sorry, I did A Levels so I don't know anything about BTECs but thank you for correcting me.

Reply 4

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by Davinarose

Thanks for the advice! Sorry, I did A Levels so I don't know anything about BTECs but thank you for correcting me.

Just don't put grades in and hope to get the interview on the strength of the rest of the CV, but be prepared to explain grades if asked.

Reply 5

Davinarose

Original post by threeportdrift

Just don't put grades in and hope to get the interview on the strength of the rest of the CV, but be prepared to explain grades if asked.

This is actually my boyfriend I'm taking about, not myself. I thought about telling him to leave them off but that doesn't matter now since he's actually decided to retake the A levels this summer, before uni. And, will even try to study a maths one during his first year. He's very determined to fix his past mistakes so we'll see what happens but thank you for the response!

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 6

Quady

Original post by Davinarose

Someone I know is in the middle of a gap year, searching for some work experience in finace. However, he got a D in A level Business and a C in A level Economics. I feel like this will be a major weakness on his CV compared to his merit and distinction in BTEC Law.
He has a total of 136 UCAS points which is even higher than BBC in 3 A levels.
Can he get away with putting his UCAS points under the A Level section instead of the actual grades, so he can explain the reason for the D and C in the interviews?
He also already has some experience in the frield which is as the top of his CV.

I got 400 UCAS points. If I had a CV with 136 that wouldn't be impressive and I'd wonder why the heck they were quoting University and Collage Admission Scheme points at me.