The Student Room Group
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

2021 oxford application

Hii so after my mock exams, I approached my teachers about my AS grades. They are highly likely going to be AAAB (B in chemistry)

I’m thinking of applying to oxford and wondering if this would be bad for my application. If that’s the case, should I just drop chemistry? But would 3 alevels be a disadvantage?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
Original post by Itzy
Hii so after my mock exams, I approached my teachers about my AS grades. They are highly likely going to be AAAB (B in chemistry)

I’m thinking of applying to oxford and wondering if this would be bad for my application. If that’s the case, should I just drop chemistry? But would 3 alevels be a disadvantage?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

AS Levels in themselves carry little weight in an application. But they may be critical in determining what your predicted grades for A Level will be - and these are important for most subjects.

Doing 4 A Levels is of no advantage. No subject will ask for more than 3 A Levels, and it is far better to get A*AA or whatever (predicted or achieved) than risk missing a required grade through spreading your effort too thinly.
Reply 2
Avatar for Itzy
Itzy
OP
9
Thank you for your helpful response. My chemistry teacher said our AS grades will be significant in determining our overall A Level grade, which I’m scared might be a B.

I understand that the universities say they only need 3 A Levels, however my careers teacher told me there were 2 students from my school in previous years who only took 3 subjects. Their grades were excellent (A*A*A) and others aspects of the application not bad but neither were granted interviews by Cambridge.

I wonder how many people can actually get into Oxford PPE with 3 A Levels? And if I do 4 subjects but screw up chemistry while still getting good grades in the other subjects, is it better than not giving the 4th subject a go? Thanks a lot.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by Itzy
Thank you for your helpful response. My chemistry teacher said our AS grades will be significant in determining our overall A Level grade, which I’m scared might be a B.

I understand that the universities say they only need 3 A Levels, however my careers teacher told me there were 2 students from my school in previous years who only took 3 subjects. Their grades were excellent (A*A*A) and others aspects of the application not bad but neither were granted interviews by Cambridge.

I wonder how many people can actually get into Oxford PPE with 3 A Levels? And if I do 4 subjects but screw up chemistry while still getting good grades in the other subjects, is it better than not giving the 4th subject a go? Thanks a lot.

Your careers teacher should not be advising students on which, or how many, A Levels to take on the basis of a sample size of 2!

This is what Oxford says about the general question of 3 v 4 https://uni-of-oxford.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/542/~/will-my-application-be-more-competitive-if-i-study-more-than-three-a-levels%3F

I can't answer your question about A Levels in the specific case of PPE, but in recent years, around 30% of people interviewed had 5 A*s at GCSE, so that gives some sense of the standard. i.e. very good, but not mind-blowingly amazing.

The weighting of each element for shortlisting for PPE is:

i) Pre-Interview Admissions Test (TSA Overall and TSA Essay) - High
ii) GCSE (or equivalent) profile (including cGCSEs) - High
iii) Predicted (or actual) performance at A-Level (or equivalent) - High
iv) UCAS teacher’s reference - Medium
v) S-Level module grades - Low
vi) UCAS personal statement - Low

So, as you see, a dud S level result need not scupper you, but you might want to avoid doing A Levels where your teacher prediction is less than excellent.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/720601/response/1728480/attach/html/3/letter%20FOI%2020210122%202.pdf.html

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you