GCSE

I want to apply to Cambridge to study medicine, and feel that getting all 9's will almost guarantee me a place

as we don't take AS level and our predicted grades are based on our GCSE's

I want to apply to Cambridge to study medicine, and feel that getting all 9's will almost guarantee me a place, as we don't take AS level and our predicted grades are based on our GCSE's. Also very few people in the country will get all 9's.

I wanted to ask how long people spent revising for each individual subject, to get full or almost full UMS in the specific subject?

What can i do to get almost full marks (grade 9) in all my subjects?
I take 9 subjects.

Chemistry
Biology
Physics
Maths
English lit & lang
Geography
French
Art

I want to apply to Cambridge to study medicine, and feel that getting all 9's will almost guarantee me a place, as we don't take AS level and our predicted grades are based on our GCSE's. Also very few people in the country will get all 9's.

I wanted to ask how long people spent revising for each individual subject, to get full or almost full UMS in the specific subject?

What has art got to do with medicine?

No, no, and finally, no.

what if ur final piece is to do with human anatomy bby

What can i do to get almost full marks (grade 9) in all my subjects?
I take 9 subjects.

Chemistry
Biology
Physics
Maths
English lit & lang
Geography
French
Art

I want to apply to Cambridge to study medicine, and feel that getting all 9's will almost guarantee me a place, as we don't take AS level and our predicted grades are based on our GCSE's. Also very few people in the country will get all 9's.

I wanted to ask how long people spent revising for each individual subject, to get full or almost full UMS in the specific subject?

get cgp workbooks for all your subjects, and make it so you do x amount of pages 100 days before your exam.
ie maths is on 24th may, I have 606 pages of practice (excluding practice papers, but is including the extra pages that you can usually skip), and if i start at 23rd feb I do 6 pages a day up until around 6th June (the last exam is the 12th) and this will mean i have completed them

I cant speak for other subjects, but in maths you need to do atleast 30+ specimen papers, some cost money and some are free, dont bother doing past papers as there are so many for the new spec its just pointless

No, no, and finally, no.

1) They don't base predicted grades on GCSEs, I've never ever seen that occur before, most schools around our area don't base it off GCSEs, any that does is clapped, you will likely have internal mocks if your school hasn't signed you up for external AS exams.

2) By all means give it your all, but to say all 9s will put you at the edge for medicine is a lie. Which medical school will reject you on the basis of your geography GCSE grade? I've known doctors who've gotten in on As and Bs.

3) They only care if you have good grades in the subjects that MATTER. Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Physics maybe, English Language, no university could care less about your French listening exam, just keep your eye on the ball.

4) Medical Schools want people who can think for themselves, and can think outside of the curriculum, and have transferrable skills, perhaps from schemes or placements, there are several people who get rejected with all A* grades simply because they couldn't expand themselves outside of the curriculum and were confined to a textbook.



what if ur final piece is to do with human anatomy bby

getting all 9s will NOT guarantee you a place, especially at cambridge which barely looks at gcses. Also, if your year of entry will be 2020 unis will not differentiate between an 8 and 9, so in scoring your gcses an 8 or 9 will be worth exactly the same (however, I think in 2021 this may change). For places which score your gcses the best 9 are used so, yes, your gcse in art may matter for these ones.

Obviously you will do more research later and will most likely come to this conclusion yourself, but medicine is competitive anywhere and a degree from cambridge will not be of any more value than one from lancaster or liverpool or dundee etc. etc. Basically you should do more research ! And forget about prestige when applying.

Anyway, getting all 9s is a great (but very difficult) thing to aim for, regardless of future goals!
How long you revise doesn't matter; it's all about how well you revise. Past papers or making your own questions and answering them are the best way to revise for any subject. Also, as gcse is mostly memorising, I would recommend getting up the specification and learning it as best as possible- I'm not saying to memorise the whole thing, but you need to know very specific information if you're looking at getting 9s (this especially applies to science).

For english lit, WATCH MR BRUFF. I owe my 9 to him- his technique and ideas were brilliant. Make sure you're forming an argument in all of your answers, giving two sides to your points and using analysis of language/ structure/ form for evidence.
For lit and lang, make sure you are unpicking every quotation in immense detail. You need to be giving different connotations for every word and really going into depth into word type etc. Do not forget about structure and form !!!

For maths, the only thing to do is practice. Also, have confidence in what you're doing- this is so so important.

Art is a very subjective subject so it's difficult to give advice on. However, you should go above and beyond what is being asked of you- I'm not saying do 7 artists when you only need 3, but really try and experiment with your ideas however you can, do multiple applications of an artist's technique, taking photos of the process/ showing it in your sketchbook and writing about them. This experimentation is absolutely vital in getting top marks- it's not about every page looking pretty (but make sure some do lol). Don't just follow exactly what your teacher is saying, but be freer in your ideas.

Although i didn't get 9's at GCSE, i did get a good set of results, and have quite a few friends who did get 9's and A*'s, and the main thing that we all did to get the most amount of marks possible, was past/practice papers. If you don't get an answer right, use the mark scheme to then learn what you should have put, so you can later improve on it. For English, learning the quotes can be especially difficult, so try learning quotes that can link to loads of themes and characters. Personally, the subjects i was doing worst in at this point last year was biology, and maths, and knew i needed to improve to get the set of results i desired, so i spent hours specifically on those 2 subjects, whilst leaving the subjects i was going better at, to low priority. Whilst this mean i got an 8 in maths, and an A in biology, it did leave my other grades to suffer slightly, as i went down to a B in physics, so try and work on the subjects you struggle with the most, but don't slack off on/forget revising other subjects

Thank you so much that's some great advice! However, I do strongly disagree with you as going to prestige university is much better than going to an average university. That's he whole reasons why unis have rankings for each course; because some unis are better than others and get more out of you. Also you will get a good job more comfortably and almost instantly in some cases if you cam out of Oxford compared to Liverpool. I know this because my mum's friend is a doctor and she said herself that doctors that went to prestige unis are valued more and talked more of than other doctors from average unis.

I say forget about prestige for two reasons: going into medicine for prestige will get you nowhere, and applying to any medical school is extremely competitive. Applying is a very long and rigorous process- you might not realise it now if you’re still in year 10/11, but if you really want to do medicine you should end up mostly applying to the places you are most likely to get into, rather than the ‘most prestigious’.

All medical courses are regulated by the gmc to reach a certain standard. A student leaves medical school with virtually the same job prospects wherever they went- therefore, it really does not matter about the prestige.

Most medical students get a job instantly out of uni, regardless of the uni itself ! See here the breakdown of stats from students applying to foundation posts after uni: http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/download.asp?file=2017_Recruitment_Stats_and_Facts.pdf

What you should be considering is where you are most likely to get in, and also which course/ teaching type is best suited to you. League tables may be judged for other degrees in choosing where to study, but medicine is so competitive everywhere that league tables don’t come into it in the same way. They literally do not matter, honestly. You will learn this after more research .

Also, I really don’t think where you went will matter if you actually become a doctor, even if more people ‘talk about’ those who went to oxbridge. I’m sure you will, but remember to think thoroughly about your reasons for wanting to pursue medicine. Make sure they are not simply your competitiveness and wanting prestige, but a more genuine desire to do something you love after giving thought to what the role of a doctor actually is.

Sorry for the ridiculously long answers haha !! I hope you read and understand more about what it means to study/ apply for medicine. Please ask if you have any more questions about my reply- i am only in year 12 but have done lots of research :-)

Yes you're right! Applying to medical school for prestige is pointless and stupid. On the contrary, the matter of fact is that the majority of the world consists of mostly low and average people and achievers. People say that it doesn't matter which uni you got to and that you will get to the same place in life regardless, is utter rubbish and simply and excuse for people to not do aswell as the ought or for people who haven't achieved such goals. It is without a doubt that someone going to cambridge for medicine will have more opportunities, than a bloke attention Liverpool. Furthermore, i disagree with the fact that gcse does not matter in terms of going to cambridge. The point is, that, cambridge, being a prestige university, and medicine being a competitive course; people applying there will have mostly straight A*'s and so will the people that get in. Don't get me wrong I am only 15. However, I have done work expirience volunteering at hospitals/care homes, aswell as read subjective books, annotating and analysing them with the intension of being able to dicuss the meaning of the book further. You have to think ahead and not make any stupid excuses. If you don't get in amd you tried you best then so be it. However, you can't start telling people that Liverpool is just as good as cambridge and you'll be just as good of a doctor, if you went to either on of them. Because you'll be making a mockery of yourself and will just look like another excuse making, as well as in denial in the final analyses. I no what it takes to go to Cambridge and no many people who have attended the university each year from my school. Not one person attended the university who didn't have atleast 8A*'s at gcse level. Look at it this way. If you two people applying to cambridge had exactly the same predicted grades AS/internal mocks ums, did very similar work expirience, had great references from teachers and colleges and read very interesting books on medicine, which they could both discuss further and in detail. How will they determine who is the stronger candidate? They would go and look at there gcse results. So you can't say to me that someone who got all A's has the same chance of attending a prestigious university, compared with someone who got straight A*'s. It's unheard of. So people saying to only focus on the subject being taken for A level and scrap the rest is miss leading and unfair to those seeking the guidance. I hope you cane agree with me. Also someone taking 9 gcse's one of which isart will have more of a chance than someone taking dance, to get into medicine as getting a high grade in art talent (dance does to aha!!). However, art shows precision and care in the hands, which is ideal to be a surgeon

Yes you're right! Applying to medical school for prestige is pointless and stupid. On the contrary, the matter of fact is that the majority of the world consists of mostly low and average people and achievers. People say that it doesn't matter which uni you got to and that you will get to the same place in life regardless, is utter rubbish and simply and excuse for people to not do aswell as the ought or for people who haven't achieved such goals. It is without a doubt that someone going to cambridge for medicine will have more opportunities, than a bloke attention Liverpool. Furthermore, i disagree with the fact that gcse does not matter in terms of going to cambridge. The point is, that, cambridge, being a prestige university, and medicine being a competitive course; people applying there will have mostly straight A*'s and so will the people that get in. Don't get me wrong I am only 15. However, I have done work expirience volunteering at hospitals/care homes, aswell as read subjective books, annotating and analysing them with the intension of being able to dicuss the meaning of the book further. You have to think ahead and not make any stupid excuses. If you don't get in amd you tried you best then so be it. However, you can't start telling people that Liverpool is just as good as cambridge and you'll be just as good of a doctor, if you went to either on of them. Because you'll be making a mockery of yourself and will just look like another excuse making, as well as in denial in the final analyses. I no what it takes to go to Cambridge and no many people who have attended the university each year from my school. Not one person attended the university who didn't have atleast 8A*'s at gcse level. Look at it this way. If you two people applying to cambridge had exactly the same predicted grades AS/internal mocks ums, did very similar work expirience, had great references from teachers and colleges and read very interesting books on medicine, which they could both discuss further and in detail. How will they determine who is the stronger candidate? They would go and look at there gcse results. So you can't say to me that someone who got all A's has the same chance of attending a prestigious university, compared with someone who got straight A*'s. It's unheard of. So people saying to only focus on the subject being taken for A level and scrap the rest is miss leading and unfair to those seeking the guidance. I hope you cane agree with me. Also someone taking 9 gcse's one of which isart will have more of a chance than someone taking dance, to get into medicine as getting a high grade in art talent (dance does to aha!!). However, art shows precision and care in the hands, which is ideal to be a surgeon

top lel.
They don't give a **** about how many 9s you got in your Art GCSE. Why would they? What has art got to do with medicine? Get good grades in your main subjects and stop stressing. Every other chink apply for medicine is gonna have perfect gcses, that doesn't make them smart or good for the course. It just means they banged out **** subjects.
Your predicted grades are not based of GCSEs. I have never seen that happen before. Any school that does that is braindead.