GCSES for cambridge

Hey all, i’m hoping someone could help me!

I have always dreamt of going to cambridge and studying natural sciences. I have just started year 12 and i’d just like some guidance on whether i could get in or not.

For context, i went to a regular state school in the north east of england.

I got 999999886

9s were in all 3 sciences, DT, maths and history
8s were french and english language
6 was in literature (i was expecting an 8)

here are my extracurriculars so far:

help to run a running support group
i’m a food van organiser for my estate
completed an orbits scientific research project
got my school headteachers award 2023
got a school end of year chemistry award 2024
attained a BPhO Bronze award
attended spectris work experience
attended a pharmacy masterclass
library volunteer for 2 hours each fortnight
part of the school netball team (year 8 - year 10)

thanks in advance !!

Reply 1

Bluefoxy09

Hey, you are absolutely on track to get into Cambridge, your grades are amazing and you are doing so much in your spare time. Keep it up and keep up the volunteering :smile:

Reply 2

melancollege

Universities Forum Helper

Original post

by Anonymous

Hey all, i’m hoping someone could help me!
I have always dreamt of going to cambridge and studying natural sciences. I have just started year 12 and i’d just like some guidance on whether i could get in or not.
For context, i went to a regular state school in the north east of england.
I got 999999886
9s were in all 3 sciences, DT, maths and history
8s were french and english language
6 was in literature (i was expecting an 8)
here are my extracurriculars so far:
help to run a running support group
i’m a food van organiser for my estate
completed an orbits scientific research project
got my school headteachers award 2023
got a school end of year chemistry award 2024
attained a BPhO Bronze award
attended spectris work experience
attended a pharmacy masterclass
library volunteer for 2 hours each fortnight
part of the school netball team (year 8 - year 10)
thanks in advance !!

Just to note that only supercurriculars which are directly related to your degree with convey any benefit in admission.

Your science awards and research project will absolutely be relevant, but your volunteering, netball and support group will not make any difference in terms of Cambridge admissions. That's not to say not to do them for your own sake but they won't be relevant to your application.

Reply 3

ellieswellies

Original post

by melancollege

Just to note that only supercurriculars which are directly related to your degree with convey any benefit in admission.
Your science awards and research project will absolutely be relevant, but your volunteering, netball and support group will not make any difference in terms of Cambridge admissions. That's not to say not to do them for your own sake but they won't be relevant to your application.

okay - thank you so much !

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Original post

by Bluefoxy09

Hey, you are absolutely on track to get into Cambridge, your grades are amazing and you are doing so much in your spare time. Keep it up and keep up the volunteering :smile:

thank you so much - you have honestly no idea how much that means to me!

Reply 5

Anonymous #2

Original post

by Anonymous

Hey all, i’m hoping someone could help me!
I have always dreamt of going to cambridge and studying natural sciences. I have just started year 12 and i’d just like some guidance on whether i could get in or not.
For context, i went to a regular state school in the north east of england.
I got 999999886
9s were in all 3 sciences, DT, maths and history
8s were french and english language
6 was in literature (i was expecting an 8)
here are my extracurriculars so far:
help to run a running support group
i’m a food van organiser for my estate
completed an orbits scientific research project
got my school headteachers award 2023
got a school end of year chemistry award 2024
attained a BPhO Bronze award
attended spectris work experience
attended a pharmacy masterclass
library volunteer for 2 hours each fortnight
part of the school netball team (year 8 - year 10)
thanks in advance !!

helloo! you are doing great! you’re results are absolutely amazing and i am sure cambridge would agree with me 🙂 don’t give up! id say do lots of extra reading around your subject. this website here may be a good starting point: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/super-curricular_suggestions.pdf

after reading some of the books listed and making a record of your thoughts and opinions on them, branch out and start to specialise within your interest within natural sciences and find more books about them, for example maybe after reading a broad book on natural sciences you find yourself drawn to fungi, so you start reading books, research papers or articles on them and record your thoughts about certain aspects of what you have read in a google doc/notebook. i heard that cambridge loves it when people are niche because it shows that you know exactly why you love your subject (anyone - please correct me if i’m wrong 😭😭)

Reply 6

Anonymous #3

Hi, a year 10 here, and I had a couple of questions for you.
Firstly well done on achieving such amaizing grades.
Secondly, I really want to go to Cambridge as well. I was wondering if you had any advice on how you got such high GCSE grades? I don't know my predicted grades yet, but I know they aren't nearly as high as yours.
Also, I was wondering what sorts of extracurriculars you advise I do?
Thank you for reading this, I hope you can help and good luck on getting into Cambridge.

Reply 7

ellieswellies

Original post

by Anonymous

helloo! you are doing great! you’re results are absolutely amazing and i am sure cambridge would agree with me 🙂 don’t give up! id say do lots of extra reading around your subject. this website here may be a good starting point: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/super-curricular_suggestions.pdf
after reading some of the books listed and making a record of your thoughts and opinions on them, branch out and start to specialise within your interest within natural sciences and find more books about them, for example maybe after reading a broad book on natural sciences you find yourself drawn to fungi, so you start reading books, research papers or articles on them and record your thoughts about certain aspects of what you have read in a google doc/notebook. i heard that cambridge loves it when people are niche because it shows that you know exactly why you love your subject (anyone - please correct me if i’m wrong 😭😭)

Thank you so much! I’ve just started doing some wider reading and i’ll try to find some little things i enjoy and i love the idea of making notes on what i learn!! i wish you the best of luck for the future 😊

Reply 8

Anonymous #1

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi! My biggest advice is just exam questions. It’s really the best way to almost learn mark schemes so you can truly understand what the question is asking you. For history i found flashcards were very helpful when learning events and dates too! Just make sure you work consistently - not just for tests but looking at the bigger goal in it all.

For extracurriculars - see what your school has to offer and particularly look for things which are linked to the course you would like to study. You can also find this information online as there are many different free virtual work experiences out there.

Best of luck and i hope this helps 😊

Reply 9

Anonymous #3

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your help 😊

Reply 10

thegeek888

Original post

by Anonymous

Hey all, i’m hoping someone could help me!
I have always dreamt of going to cambridge and studying natural sciences. I have just started year 12 and i’d just like some guidance on whether i could get in or not.
For context, i went to a regular state school in the north east of england.
I got 999999886
9s were in all 3 sciences, DT, maths and history
8s were french and english language
6 was in literature (i was expecting an 8)
here are my extracurriculars so far:
help to run a running support group
i’m a food van organiser for my estate
completed an orbits scientific research project
got my school headteachers award 2023
got a school end of year chemistry award 2024
attained a BPhO Bronze award
attended spectris work experience
attended a pharmacy masterclass
library volunteer for 2 hours each fortnight
part of the school netball team (year 8 - year 10)
thanks in advance !!

I wonder if you're taking Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Biology or Physics? 😧 Cambridge Natural Sciences especially for the Physical route is highly mathematical and interview questions can be based on A-Level Further Maths content?!

Reply 11

TheSturmanator

Stop being silly, they barely care about GCSEs. You know you can get in, so don’t look for validation from others. Have some confidence. Next thing is that I would focus on learning the most about your subject, because that’s all they care about. Your extra curriculars look good but when it comes down to it, they want to see a good physicist/chemist/biologist. For physics, I’d look at doing Isaac Pgtsixs and getting into the senior physics challenge, a free summer school for the top 50 students in the country. Dm me if you have any questions about it, I got on last year and i would say it’s been the biggest benefit for my application to natural sciences.