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Oxford Uni won't use A* grade at A-level in its offers

just saw this on bbc here

they won't be basing their conditional places on the A* grade, at least initially which is probably quite good news for oxbridge hopefuls who will be the first year of a*s....

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Reply 1

Joeyiie

I finish my A2 in 2010, what does it mean? xD

Reply 2

clallen2

that you'll be able to get an A* grade at A Level if you score 90% or more. So they are just adding another grade.

Reply 3

__Katy

I must admit, I am very glad I complete mine in 2009.

Reply 4

studyboy

This is indeed good news for future oxford applicants, but obviously not so beneficial to the high achievers.

Reply 5

587

No, they won't say you need an A* they will just not offer places to people who won't get 80% overall xD

Reply 6

SylverStrike

I'm relieved, yet at the same time, ever so slightly surprised- when I visited Bath, the applications advisor there said that if I were to take an A2 in my third year of Sixth Form, because A* grades will have then been introduced, the offer to me would be A*AA. I guess Bath does have a high amount of applicants, though this means that other universities could actually have higher grade requirements than Oxford and Cambridge, which would be weird.

woohoo!

I see.... but hang on, don't you need 80% to get an A?

Reply 9

Makaveli_The_Don

Bad news for the ones that get A*'s. Good news for the ones that will be getting A's.

Reply 10

Clickers

chris1200

Not quite that simple sadly...

You need to get 90% at A2, but you only need 80% overall.

Thus:

89% at AS and 89% at A2 = A
70% at AS and 90% at A2 = A*

It's stupid, I know.

Huh? that doesn't make sense 70+90/200 x100 =80% which is an A not an A*
89+89/200 x100 =89% which is an A. You need an average of 90% to get an A*.

Reply 11

Draconis

clallen2

I see.... but hang on, don't you need 80% to get an A?

To get an A*, you need 80% overall in your AS and A2, but also 90% in A2.

Reply 12

Draconis

sharp910sh

Huh? that doesn't make sense 70+90/200 x100 =80% which is an A not an A*
89+89/200 x100 =89% which is an A. You need an average of 90% to get an A*.

An average of 90% at A2.

Reply 13

Mr Nonsense

good news even for the high acheivers i think. Teachers at school (a high ranked independent school) were saying that it will be very difficult to get 3/4 A*s at A2 and that very few will. I think it is better that they base their offers on As only and then if you are predicted and get A*s all the better as it will allow you to shine, but the pressure of the offer won't be there. (i.e. you won't be needing to get 4 A*s to complete your conditional offer)

Reply 14

rkd

Yeah - this isn't really an advantage or a disadvantage to the high achievers, since the tough part is getting the offer in the first place.

Reply 15

UltimateJ

chris1200

89% at AS and 89% at A2 = A
70% at AS and 90% at A2 = A*

It's stupid, I know.

Thats just soooo silly. Why? Just why? It is as if a 5 year old came up with that...

Whats wrong with just having 540/600=A*; it brings in a "new standard" and is much more fair.

Anyway, on topic, although I can understand why Oxford are not introducing the A* in their offers for a while, it is quite ironic as they are one of the main Unis complaining about the A grade not being good enough...

Reply 16

clallen2

chris1200

No... you're wrong. Where have you got this from?

It's not just another grade add-on at 90%.

It's a reward for doing well at A2 ONLY. So you only need 80% overall still, you just need 90% at A2.

Oh right...i get it now

Reply 17

clozet

so would it be fair to say, if oxford wont give offers inc A* grades, then cambridge wont either?
i dont blame them to be honest - its very difficult to see whats going to happen with the A*, and until the first lot have gone through, its impossible to tell if an offer of A*AA would be more 'appropriate' than A*A*A or whatever.

Reply 18

TimeLady

Its fair enough that they aren't using it straight away. See how it pans out in the first year or two makes a lot of sense. I would be interested to know, though, how many people get in this year with 80-90% in their A Levels, and how many people get in with 90-100%. I've always thought that the majority of people who get in would have over 90% anyway, A* or no A* - Be interesting to see whether i'm wrong thinking that.

Reply 19

Ed.

Well it makes sense.

Oxford Uni won't use A* grade at A-level in its offers

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