Can I get away with a 5 in english language at unis that expect a 6?

I have quite good predicted grades for my a-levels (Chemistry, Biology and Psychology) I am predicted AAA. I worked really hard for these grades but Im having problems when looking at unis to do Pharmacy. A lot of the “better” unis are looking for a 6 in English Language GCSE, however I only got a 5. I achieved my GCSE’s during 2020 so I never actually took my exams and just received teacher predicted grades. Would unis be more lenient with GCSE grades for 2022? An example of a uni that is looking for a 6 in English Language GCSE is Cardiff, having looked at their website however it seems that an A-level taught in English where a grade C is achieved can also meet the English Language requirement? I will leave a link so you can look for yourselves and see if you agree with my interpretation. The rest of my GCSE’s are in line with or are beyond the required grades and so are my A levels for a lot of unis, seeing as I also took EPQ and will be receiving my grade soon (hoping for an A) I may be able to lower the A level grades in my offer.

Alternatively if I interpreted the table wrong could I perhaps take the Cambridge English: Advanced or Proficiency in order to reach the english language requirement? I don’t know anything about it so would it be expensive and feasible?


It’s towards the end of the page, I am going for Pharmacy so it is the middle column:

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/international/english-language-requirements/undergraduate

I have quite good predicted grades for my a-levels (Chemistry, Biology and Psychology) I am predicted AAA. I worked really hard for these grades but Im having problems when looking at unis to do Pharmacy. A lot of the “better” unis are looking for a 6 in English Language GCSE, however I only got a 5. I achieved my GCSE’s during 2020 so I never actually took my exams and just received teacher predicted grades. Would unis be more lenient with GCSE grades for 2022? An example of a uni that is looking for a 6 in English Language GCSE is Cardiff, having looked at their website however it seems that an A-level taught in English where a grade C is achieved can also meet the English Language requirement? I will leave a link so you can look for yourselves and see if you agree with my interpretation. The rest of my GCSE’s are in line with or are beyond the required grades and so are my A levels for a lot of unis, seeing as I also took EPQ and will be receiving my grade soon (hoping for an A) I may be able to lower the A level grades in my offer.

Alternatively if I interpreted the table wrong could I perhaps take the Cambridge English: Advanced or Proficiency in order to reach the english language requirement? I don’t know anything about it so would it be expensive and feasible?


It’s towards the end of the page, I am going for Pharmacy so it is the middle column:

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/international/english-language-requirements/undergraduate

From my current research if you don’t meet the requirements your ruled out straight away, straight rejection, However certain unis (Birmingham for medicine) allow one or two grades below if you received predicted grades,
Best to email the unis you want to apply to and ask directly rather than getting unconfirmed answers from websites,
Ps, I’m doing the same a levels as u in sep, any tips how to get aaa predicted as I need aaa min for med? Good luck with your research

Thanks, Ive been looking and there’s lots of other unis that will accept my grades so Im not too worried I just will apply to Cardiff as well if they accept my english GCSE. In terms of my A level subjects right now and advice I think it’s really important to stay on top of things. For my sciences Im doing OCR and for psychology Im doing AQA, so Im not sure how the course you’re doing will compare. Staying on top of everything is really the no.1 aim, throughout the year with science I felt like I forgot a lot of things or didn’t reach A’s or even B’s in my tests, this meant that coming up to my mocks I had to put in A LOT of effort to make my predictions AAA. For Biology and Chemistry make sure to revise thoroughly for each test, maths and physics tutor is really good and has lots of good questions. For Biology there’s a youtube channel called BioReach which has really good content for summarising topics and explaining them really well, this is a tool I wish I found a lot earlier. When it comes to exams make sure to do as many past papers as you can get a hold of, I found there were many questions that I had never come across or had no idea how to do, learning how to do these questions boosted my confidence and my marks, you never know a similar question may pop up in your exam. I would suggest creating a calculations sheet or booklet showing you examples of how to tackle different calculation questions as you go through your first and second year, I did leading up to my chemistry exam and it boosted my calculation skills greatly.

If you’re anything like me you won’t find Psychology too challenging, I found myself getting A’s in test with little revision or last minute revision. Just make sure to pay attention and you won’t fall behind, I got a B in my Psychology mock with revising only the day before (since I had spent so much time revising biology and chemistry) and I got a prediction of A since I had done so well throughout the year. For psychology just memorise the points in the textbook and you will honestly be fine, don’t think it will be the same story with Bio and Chem though.

Cheers, is there a lot of workload with psychology and is it interesting for the first term then boring or

I have quite good predicted grades for my a-levels (Chemistry, Biology and Psychology) I am predicted AAA. I worked really hard for these grades but Im having problems when looking at unis to do Pharmacy. A lot of the “better” unis are looking for a 6 in English Language GCSE, however I only got a 5. I achieved my GCSE’s during 2020 so I never actually took my exams and just received teacher predicted grades. Would unis be more lenient with GCSE grades for 2022? An example of a uni that is looking for a 6 in English Language GCSE is Cardiff, having looked at their website however it seems that an A-level taught in English where a grade C is achieved can also meet the English Language requirement? I will leave a link so you can look for yourselves and see if you agree with my interpretation. The rest of my GCSE’s are in line with or are beyond the required grades and so are my A levels for a lot of unis, seeing as I also took EPQ and will be receiving my grade soon (hoping for an A) I may be able to lower the A level grades in my offer.

Alternatively if I interpreted the table wrong could I perhaps take the Cambridge English: Advanced or Proficiency in order to reach the english language requirement? I don’t know anything about it so would it be expensive and feasible?


It’s towards the end of the page, I am going for Pharmacy so it is the middle column:

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/international/english-language-requirements/undergraduate

Oops I’m scared now, similar situation to you but I got a 5 in maths but I thought because I’m going down a law/English route it wouldn’t matter now I don’t know anymore

I would say to check your unis and courses asap to look at their grade requirements, lots of place are quite flexible so dont worry too much. Looking at pharmacy theres just been a few top unis that are expecting a 6. A 5 is still a pass and Im sire there’s many unis that do you course that will take a 5 in maths.

Thank you so much xx

lots of places are quite flexible so dont worry too much.

Alternatively if I interpreted the table wrong could I perhaps take the Cambridge English: Advanced or Proficiency in order to reach the english language requirement?

This is the additional English Language requirements for overseas applicants - it isnt the alternatives to GCSE requirements.