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Do oxbridge look at GCSE results much?

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Squishy

Hmm...I would seriously not recommend any Oxbridge application with less than 5A's at GCSE (bare minimum). The grades may not be vital, but if you can't get at least those grades, then you probably aren't the material they're looking for (unless you're an international-standard rower or something).

I got under 5As (4) and i got an offer :smile:

Reply 41

Unregistered

They had no decent reason for doing badly other than f-it so i really doubt any admissions tutor is going to be sympathetic to them.

To be honest with you(the original guy) i think your gcse's wll let you down and i doubt you will even get an interview, simple as that. Re-sitting is a very good plan of action.

Reply 42

Squishy

goldenbarnes

What if......'someone' :rolleyes:

............was predicted to get all A*s at GCSE, and be the saviour of the College, the one who gets in all the newspapers for being the cleverst kid in the world ever and stuff, but they decided they didn't like all the hype and pressure so thought to themselves 'f*** it' - did no revision whatsoever and no work towards the end of the year at all.....coming out with 1A* 4A 4B 1C?

Will the fact they were predicted to do a lot better be an advantage or a hinderance to the Oxbrdige application process?

That just shows the kid can't cope with pressure, which would not be a good thing at a competitive university (or any competitive environment). I can't see why it would be regarded as a positive thing.

aliel

I got under 5As (4) and i got an offer :smile:

Congrats.

What college/subject?

Reply 43

faa

Well heres my reason for crappier GCSE's-

My chemistry teacher insisted there was 100mm in a metre
My physics teacher was always in Key stage 5 meetings instead of lessons
We HAD to do one language (though i did two, my thinking was if i screw up terribly, i can always do Business studies at A Level)
and in biology, our teacher was great- but couldnt control some of the class, and this was in a grammar school!!!

To be honest guys, although this sounds silly- i dont thibk there are any certain criteria that means you are guaranteed a place. If i go ahead with doing 3 more A Levels next year, when i apply will have 6 A Levels, which isnt far off what some people have in GCSE's. Plus i know three of them are atleast ABB, albeit shitty subjects (Business Studies, DOuble-AVCE ICT), whcih is why im so tempted to do maths, physics and further maths.

I bet oxbridge just look at every single thing you write- to build an image of you before they judge- afterall, no one wants someone with 13 A*'s, 5 A grade A levels, and the most boring personality in the world!

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Reply 44

Chubb

faa

Your school sounds like mine! You should have seen the technology class - that was actualy dangerous - one lesson someone threw an axe across the room (furtunatly it didn't hit anyone) and the techer did nothing. Most of my year were idiots really.

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Reply 45

aliel

Squishy

What college/subject?

History- Pembroke

Reply 46

sixthirtythree

faa

Well heres my reason for crappier GCSE's...

Like Amrad said, E&M is Oxford's most competitive subject that has an intake of over 50 people (the very small History joint honours schools have about 12% acceptancy).
I have never heard of a single E&M applicant with less than 3A*s - but it's nice to meet the first. :smile:

Just be cautious of what you're getting yourself into...for E&M, it's very likely that 75%+ of people will have at least 7 or 8 A*s at GCSEs.

faa

I bet oxbridge just look at every single thing you write- to build an image of you before they judge- afterall, no one wants someone with 13 A*'s, 5 A grade A levels, and the most boring personality in the world!

You haven't visited Merton yet, have you? :tongue:

NB: I don't follow this view at all, but there are a few people from there I know who are slightly...not very interesting shall we say. Sigh.

Reply 47

username9816

If the interview is important, which it obviously is, then confidence is everything.

You need that to have any chance of getting in, along with the rest. Go in scared, timid, too uptight etc. and you're fighting a losing battle.

Reply 48

BossLady

Chubb

We were told that you didn't have to declare them but it was best to because if you don't then they think you are hiding something so even if you've done badly still show them.

This is rubbish......the majority of people don't declare their AS grades on their ucas form.

NOBODY in my school declared their AS grades and we had 47 out of the 89 people who applied get an Oxbridge offer this year...you would be right in assuming pretty much everyone else got many top uni offers. Clearly oxbridge and most of the other unis didn't think anyone was hiding something!

Reply 49

username9816

Put it this way, if I didn't declare my grades on my UCAS Form (i.e. via my reference), then I am fully expecting Oxbridge to be wary and suspicious of my grades; I could imagine them thinking "hiding his grades is he?".

Reply 50

BossLady

deianra

Yes but that's your school's policy and your school is widely known as a very, very good school which Oxbridge trusts. However, some schools have a policy to cash in ASs (my school does this) and when you don't declare your AS grades then, it does look like you're hiding summat.

Well alot of my friends who attend other schools didn't declare their AS levels either....they didn't seem to suffer for it.
Saying that though, i think alot of the cambridge applicants from my school did declare their AS module results on that other form that their chosen college sent them.
On the main ucas form, I don't believe it harms your application if you don't declare your AS levels, and I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying that alot of people don't declare them. Your predictions will probably be very similar to your ASs anyway.

Reply 51

BossLady

deianra

Not true when the school puts on the reference that their policy is to declare the AS grades...bloody school. The vast majority of schools have their policy as not to declare, so very few suffer from not declaring. Unfortunately, I will be in that minority if I don't declare.

I suppose if your school has a policy to declare them, you're forced to then...otherwise it would look really weird!
If anyone gets the choice...well declare them if they are good...and obviously don't if they are awful lol. Edit: thinking about it, if your predicitions are good, the uni wont care either way

deianra

Also, Invisible has said before that his college predicts A2 grades as one grade above AS. In this case, someone with BBC is predicted AAB for A2 - a case where predictions are not quite similar.

I find this kinda strange unless the person is repeating some AS modules from all the subjects taken...

Reply 52

BazTheMoney

faa

Well heres my reason for crappier GCSE's-

My chemistry teacher insisted there was 100mm in a metre
My physics teacher was always in Key stage 5 meetings instead of lessons
We HAD to do one language (though i did two, my thinking was if i screw up terribly, i can always do Business studies at A Level)
and in biology, our teacher was great- but couldnt control some of the class, and this was in a grammar school!!!
In all honesty, I doubt those reason will hold much weight. For Chemistry they'd say you could of checked yourself, by 16 they'd hope a student knew that there were 10mm in a cm and 100 cms in a metre. Loads of people have to do a language GCSE, why should you be a special case. And for Biology and Physics, yes they were difficult situations, but many people would have experienced them. It needs to be stressed that when they say exceptional circumstances, they mean really, really serious thing like a mental illness or bullying; not just the absence of an ideal teaching climate.

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Reply 53

username9816

Faa

"My chemistry teacher insisted there was 100mm in a metre" - Work it out for yourself, esp. if you think you are oxbridge material. Anyway, what difference would it make?!

"My physics teacher was always in Key stage 5 meetings instead of lessons" - So?! Mine was wandering about half the time and we had some clueless women who can't do Maths, for about half a year.

"We HAD to do one language" - Isn't that the same at every school? It is in every school in Leeds, anyway.

"and in biology, our teacher was great- but couldnt control some of the class" - We had a shocking biology teacher, and a class who ripped the piss out of her and did no work at all, every lesson.

So all in all, what is your excuse?

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Reply 54

RxB

Invisible

"We HAD to do one language" - Isn't that the same at every school? It is in every school in Leeds, anyway.

Crucially, this is a matriculation requirement.

Reply 55

username9816

RxB

Crucially, this is a matriculation requirement.

LOL, so his school is aiding him and he's complaining! :rolleyes:

His excuse is:

1.) He goes to a grammar school!
2.) He has a couple of not so good teachers
3.) his Chem teacher told him 1 thing that was incorrect and he even knew it was incorrect (the poster).
4.) He had to do 1 language, which is necessary anyway.

If this is his excuse for doing bad at GCSE, then I'm sure the oxbridge interviewers will have many a laugh.

Reply 56

Ellie4

Invisible

LOL, so his school is aiding him and he's complaining! :rolleyes:

Certainly made me smile :smile:

Reply 57

username9816

Ellie4

Certainly made me smile :smile:

Here are his grades:

Maths A
Eng Lit B
Eng Lang B
Geography A
IT B (Even tho i did the double-AVCE and am predicted AA)
DT systems and Control B
PE B
Biology C
Physics C
Chemistry C
French C
German D

Here are his excuses:

QUOTE: "Well heres my reason for crappier GCSE's-

My chemistry teacher insisted there was 100mm in a metre
My physics teacher was always in Key stage 5 meetings instead of lessons
We HAD to do one language (though i did two, my thinking was if i screw up terribly, i can always do Business studies at A Level)
and in biology, our teacher was great- but couldnt control some of the class, and this was in a grammar school!!!"

If Oxbridge let him off with these excuses I would be very dissapointed, as i have many better ones that I'd enver even consider mentioning in a million years!

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Reply 58

Ellie4

Well exactly! We all have to do language, we all have the odd teacher that is less than inspiring, and there will always be people who distract you in lessons. :rolleyes:

The cheek of some people eh!

Reply 59

Rupes

You could always make up an excuse. Say your grandmother, who you were really close to, died in a car accident just before your exams. Comeon, how are they going to check?