The Student Room Group

how good of gcse grades do i need to get into oxford or durham university?

i really want to go to either oxford or durham university to study modern foreign languages. also, i am only just starting year 10 so I have a lot of time to revise and improve. i am going to list at the, very worst, what gcse grades I think I’m going to get in all my subjects:

english lang: 6
english lit: 5
maths: 6
chemistry: 6
french: 8
german: 8
spanish: 9
history: 6
music: 7

i am aiming to get at least 7s in all my subjects but as you can see i’m quite doubtful of most of them. i don’t know if these are good enough. as for my extra-curriculars which i know play a part, i go to one “thing” but i go three times a week and i do different things each time if that makes sense so i don’t know if this would be enough to get into one of my dream universities.

i’m sorry if this didn’t make much sense. (:
Try and push yourself to get an 8 or higher in everything. You can do it. You have 2 years
At least for oxford youre probably going to need better grades as oxford is more strict on gcse grades than cambridge. I'd say the minimum you'll need for oxford is 5 8/9s and the rest as As/Bs. As for durham I don't think it's that big of a deal but still you should aim to get as good grades as possible. It's hard to predict your grades now so you might well get a lot higher than you're predicting. You should try and work hard to fix whatever is going wrong with your worst subjects (mainly English lit) as English lit is very similar to languages as language degrees are basically English lit but for other languages. Try and work hard in the subjects you're worst in and try and get those 6s up to 7s and you should be fine.
Reply 3
i’m not awful at english lit it’s just i’m not very good at writing essays which is a large part of what it’s about. i’ve been set my first english lit essay of the year to do this weekend so we’ll see how well i do in it.thank you for replying
Original post by es0408
i really want to go to either oxford or durham university to study modern foreign languages. also, i am only just starting year 10 so I have a lot of time to revise and improve. i am going to list at the, very worst, what gcse grades I think I’m going to get in all my subjects:

english lang: 6
english lit: 5
maths: 6
chemistry: 6
french: 8
german: 8
spanish: 9
history: 6
music: 7

i am aiming to get at least 7s in all my subjects but as you can see i’m quite doubtful of most of them. i don’t know if these are good enough. as for my extra-curriculars which i know play a part, i go to one “thing” but i go three times a week and i do different things each time if that makes sense so i don’t know if this would be enough to get into one of my dream universities.

i’m sorry if this didn’t make much sense. (:


GCSE's don't matter much. Most uni's look at a level results. A*A*A is needed for most courses at Oxford.
Reply 5
Original post by Your Local Dog
GCSE's don't matter much. Most uni's look at a level results. A*A*A is needed for most courses at Oxford.

well i think they kinda say this to emphasise that we should do well on our gcses but they tell us that universities dont look at a levels because of the fact you dont have your a level results when you’re applying which is true but they’re obviously still going to look or else what would be the point in a levels?
Original post by es0408
well i think they kinda say this to emphasise that we should do well on our gcses but they tell us that universities dont look at a levels because of the fact you dont have your a level results when you’re applying which is true but they’re obviously still going to look or else what would be the point in a levels?


wut
The top unis will look for a few 8s or 9s so try and aim for them - ultimately so long as you work hard and get the best you can then that's all you can offer. They will look at you as a person overall.

Try not to be demoralised if you don't do as well as possible in your mocks, these are deliberately challenging to try and prepare you for the worst case scenario. Just make sure you review what you did well and, more importantly, not so well in to implement improvements next time.
Reply 8
basically at my school they tell us that universities don’t even look at a levels because of the fact you dont have your a level results by the time you apply which is true but they’re ovbviously still going to look at them when you get them
Original post by es0408
basically at my school they tell us that universities don’t even look at a levels because of the fact you dont have your a level results by the time you apply which is true but they’re ovbviously still going to look at them when you get them


They look at your predicted grades for A levels. Most universities make you a conditional offer which means you need to get certain grades to be accepted. A week or 2 before results day your results are sent to the universities you've applied to and they can choose to accept or reject you.

A levels are much more important than GCSEs.
Reply 10
Your A-levels matter far more - if you get all 9s at GCSE but get predicted ABB at A-level it's pointless - although Oxford do use GCSE grades as a factor when shortlisting for interview. More so than Cambridge.
Your extra-curriculars do not play a part if they're irrelevant to your chosen course. All they care about is that you're enthusiastic and capable.
Learn and revise effectively. Your gcse grades probably won't be anything like your list and it's pointless trying to be a soothsayer at this stage.
Reply 12
Original post by Sinnoh
Your A-levels matter far more - if you get all 9s at GCSE but get predicted ABB at A-level it's pointless - although Oxford do use GCSE grades as a factor when shortlisting for interview. More so than Cambridge.
Your extra-curriculars do not play a part if they're irrelevant to your chosen course. All they care about is that you're enthusiastic and capable.

i’m not at all doubting you because clearly you have more experience with it than i do but according to all the teachers and that at my school (not denying that they might just say this for the sake of getting us to join clubs) universities and colleges want to know that you aren’t just a brain and you have a character to you
Reply 13
Original post by es0408
i’m not at all doubting you because clearly you have more experience with it than i do but according to all the teachers and that at my school (not denying that they might just say this for the sake of getting us to join clubs) universities and colleges want to know that you aren’t just a brain and you have a character to you


I think it should be an 80-20 split between academic and EC. You're probably going to have spare room and you may as well show that you can manage other commitments while studying, but really, keep it brief.

Quick Reply

Latest