How bad will one bad grade affect my oxbridge application?

I have a really bad feeling about tomorrow's English litt exam thinking I will get a 5/6. I'm looking to do engineering at Oxbridge. Rest of my grades are good about 8 8/9 grades (maths, fm, stats, Econ, comp sci, bio, chem, physics), probs a 7 in English lang too. I was born in the uk with foreign parents though. How bad would the English lift grade affect me? Also would doing a Russian gcse next year (deff grade 9) help me or they wouldn't care just it happened in a different exam series?

Reply 1

Egor yakubenko

OP

5

Original post by Egor yakubenko

I have a really bad feeling about tomorrow's English litt exam thinking I will get a 5/6. I'm looking to do engineering at Oxbridge. Rest of my grades are good about 8 8/9 grades (maths, fm, stats, Econ, comp sci, bio, chem, physics), probs a 7 in English lang too. I was born in the uk with foreign parents though. How bad would the English lift grade affect me? Also would doing a Russian gcse next year (deff grade 9) help me or they wouldn't care just it happened in a different exam series?

I also go to an independent school

Reply 2

xAspect

10

Original post by Egor yakubenko

I have a really bad feeling about tomorrow's English litt exam thinking I will get a 5/6. I'm looking to do engineering at Oxbridge. Rest of my grades are good about 8 8/9 grades (maths, fm, stats, Econ, comp sci, bio, chem, physics), probs a 7 in English lang too. I was born in the uk with foreign parents though. How bad would the English lift grade affect me? Also would doing a Russian gcse next year (deff grade 9) help me or they wouldn't care just it happened in a different exam series?

Hey man, I'm trying to go to Oxbridge too (for a completely different course though, Philosophy, Psychology, Linguistics), and I'm in pretty much in the same boat as you - all my grades are 8/9 apart from History. Although I'm not really qualified to answer, I doubt Oxbridge cares that one GCSE is a few grades lower than the others, especially as it has no relation whatsoever to the course you want to do. However, it could be a really competitive course, and it could make the difference between you and another candidate. As for the Russian, I really don't think that they would care about that since you're already fluent so it would not even be a challenge for you. As long as you do well in your A levels and have some strong supercurricular activities going for you when you make your application, you shouldn't have a problem. Good luck! :smile:

Reply 3

anastasiaveda9

13

Original post by Egor yakubenko

I have a really bad feeling about tomorrow's English litt exam thinking I will get a 5/6. I'm looking to do engineering at Oxbridge. Rest of my grades are good about 8 8/9 grades (maths, fm, stats, Econ, comp sci, bio, chem, physics), probs a 7 in English lang too. I was born in the uk with foreign parents though. How bad would the English lift grade affect me? Also would doing a Russian gcse next year (deff grade 9) help me or they wouldn't care just it happened in a different exam series?

As a student who moved to the UK at the age of 11 without any solid knowledge of English and who also has foreign parents, I wonder if my english lang/lit grade will impact my oxbridge application too. I'm in a similar situation as you, grade wise, so I'm also interested in the answer. From my research I have found out that people with many 7s, and some 8/9 were made offers, but I don't know their extenuating circumstances (if they have some that can explain their lower grades, then they will be made an exception). In your case, I think your english grade is justifiable because it's not your mother tongue and you also know a foreign language. So knowing lit in perfection is not expected from you, but it might be an expectation for a native english speaker. Also, GCSE lang/lit checks your ability to understand the nuances of creative writing (kind of stupid, but OK) which is not required for sciences. If they have any doubts about your english capabilities you can always take an IELTS test or something similar to prove that you know the language. But I think it's unnecessary because you have already proved that you know the language by getting high grades in other humanities where your english must be very good in order to achieve such grades. In addition, as you want to study engineering they will expect you to have high grades in STEM subjects rather than in english, so just focus on them and try your best at english. In the end your GCSEs are a part of your application so they don't weight that much; grades for a-levels are much more important. I would say that your score for the oxbridge entry exam (e.g. ESAT) and performance at the interview would have a greater weight on your application than GCSE english. I hope you found it useful :smile:

)) Good luck with your exams!

Reply 4

melancollege

Universities Forum Helper

18

I go to Cambridge for Maths and I have 5s in Drama and RS and a 6 in English Language. My other, more relevant GCSE grades were all 8s are 9s and my A-Levels were all A*s. Admittedly, I went to a state comprehensive but, at the end of the day, they really only care about your aptitude for the subject that you'll be doing

How bad will one bad grade affect my oxbridge application?

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