Hopeless for Cambridge?

7

I got 3B's in my mocks - I did well with A's and A*'s in psych and English lit all year round basically , but History I got usually B's as well, though in my mock I was close to an A. Do you think there's hope of being AAA*. If I get predicted AAB or AAA, can any imporvements in September help my case, or is this improvments too late for early applicants? Cheers!

Reply 1

Jaa_

14

Original post

by EuphrosyneOp

I got 3B's in my mocks - I did well with A's and A*'s in psych and English lit all year round basically , but History I got usually B's as well, though in my mock I was close to an A. Do you think there's hope of being AAA*. If I get predicted AAB or AAA, can any imporvements in September help my case, or is this improvments too late for early applicants? Cheers!

Hiya!

For what course do you think of applying to? If you think you can bump your predicted up to the minimum offer, there's no reason you can't apply and as they say, if you don't apply you'll never get in. A Cambridge professor gave a talk I attended, where he basically said the same thing. If you're on the fence as to apply or not, might as well go for it.

If you show to teachers that you are capable, maybe by giving them extra past papers or questions etc, they may be more inclined to predict you the grades you want.

With that being said, It's important to note the the chances of getting an offer won't be sky high - but when is it with Oxbridge. Below are what UCAS have on their page for History & Politics at Cambridge as an example. As you can probably deduct, It's incredibly competitive.

Screenshot 2025-06-16 221050.png

To provide a personal anecdote, I won't be applying to Cambridge with my A*A*A* Year 12 Mock grades as I'd prefer to use the space for a different Uni, such as Durham, that I'd be marginally more likely to get an offer from due to my substandard GCSEs for elite Unis.

Hope this helps - lmk if you have any other questions!

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Original post

by EuphrosyneOp

I got 3B's in my mocks - I did well with A's and A*'s in psych and English lit all year round basically , but History I got usually B's as well, though in my mock I was close to an A. Do you think there's hope of being AAA*. If I get predicted AAB or AAA, can any imporvements in September help my case, or is this improvments too late for early applicants? Cheers!

By the sounds of things, you have grounds to strive for anywhere between AAA- A*AA PGs- if you have a series of evidence of you’re ability to perform at an A/A* level in Psychology, you could try and persuade your way to an A* PG, as a B-A* will be more than possible in this subject.

For English Literature, particularly if you’re school uses OCR, an A* PG is unlikely with a B in the mock, given the significantly high grade boundaries, however there’s definitely scope for that to be pushed up to an A.

For history as you mention, consistent Bs throughout the year leaves you with a maximum of an A PG, based purely on the potential to increase one grade in a whole year.

Many schools use mock grades to allow for a potential increase of one grade for PGs, depending on the subject, individuals yearly performance, and proximity to grade boundaries. This can allow for potentially 2 grade increases, sometimes none, and often 1 for each. With a B, Cambridge is unlikely, and so is AAA most likely, so I’d really push for that A* in Psych to allow for A*AA, which will be more competitive.

Hopeless for Cambridge?

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