UCL emailed about my grade 4 in GCSE maths, please help!

So, I applied to study Law at UCL, and I am eligible for the contextual offer, so I am required to get a 5 in GCSE maths. Although I have two 8's in english GCSE, and my predicted A-level grades are A*AB, UCL still want a 5 in maths. They emailed me asking if I was either resitting maths (which I do not have the money for) or if I was impacted by mitigating circumstances. I have a few reasons, including how I was affected by COVID since my year did not fully do exams (which resulted in my teacher unfairly predicting me a 4), and through my gcse course I lived in a very crowded small house with my family, which affected me a lot. I don't know if those reasons are even valid, but is it worth a try? I really don't want to resit maths... please help me, I only have 4 days to respond to UCL's email, and they are the only university on my mind.

So, I applied to study Law at UCL, and I am eligible for the contextual offer, so I am required to get a 5 in GCSE maths. Although I have two 8's in english GCSE, and my predicted A-level grades are A*AB, UCL still want a 5 in maths. They emailed me asking if I was either resitting maths (which I do not have the money for) or if I was impacted by mitigating circumstances. I have a few reasons, including how I was affected by COVID since my year did not fully do exams (which resulted in my teacher unfairly predicting me a 4), and through my gcse course I lived in a very crowded small house with my family, which affected me a lot. I don't know if those reasons are even valid, but is it worth a try? I really don't want to resit maths... please help me, I only have 4 days to respond to UCL's email, and they are the only university on my mind.

You are in a great position, they have emailed and asked you, they could of just rejected you.

I say reply as openly as possible about your circumstances and how it impacted you, but also what you have learnt from the experience to help improve how you study in the future.

Best of luck

If you can’t afford to resit the exam then make sure that you explain that too.
It’s a shame that you didn’t take the opportunity to sit the november 2020 exams for free given you think you were given an unfairly low grade. Those exams were offered specifically for students who felt their awarded grades didn’t reflect their ability.

UCL might ask you to sit a maths test of their own if you’re unable to resit.

I had a reply from UCL about this a couple of years ago from one of their senior staff which confirmed their Maths requirement is non negotiable. There were few instances they overlooked it and those they did were mature students who had left school many years

It doesnt sound hopeful without you sitting the Maths but all you can do is your circumstances,

Can I ask what you did when they emailed you? Did you get in?