how can I fulfill my dream of going to Cambridge?

Tempeststurm

Especially in maths, all Cambridge will care about is maths. In my interview (Trinity) all I was asked about was the maths problems in the pre-interview test. In fact, they didn't even ask about the books I read. With your GCSE grades, they are less important than your A level predicted grades and AS results. It would be helpful to have A/A* in maths and science, but your results in your other subjects don't really matter. If you impress them enough with your maths ability, they won't reject you because you have a C in GCSE English, for example.

As for what to do, it would be too early to start looking at STEP (ideally, you should start it in about a year. I started September/October of Year 13 and that was OK, but I wouldn't leave it any later). As for now, does your school offer further maths? If not, you ideally would want to self-teach it, and some modules (D1 for example) lead on directly from GCSE.

As for recreational maths books to read, I'd recommend Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh (which almost everyone will have read), and The Music of the Primes and Finding Moonshine, both by Marcus du Sautoy.

same here+ some extra questions

Please Listen to those who have actually applied and had interviews for maths at Cambridge

Crimsonchilli

well its kind of obvious. Its the same for most competitive jobs, being purely academic will get you nowhere in most cases. The majority of what you learn for Alevels etc has little relevance yo the actual world of work, and so you need to show an ability to be able to react well to different scenarios etc which will no doubt be thrown at you during uni and work.

probably more importantly, you only live once, why not have some fun aswell as studying your ass off >?

Bold:NO, NO, NO, NO cambridge maths is not like a job interview, they care nothing for what you want to do with mathematics only for your passion and how good you are.
Underlined:just irrelevant, The majority of what you do at A-level acts as a foundation for further study into mathematics.

Maths is a purely academic subject being good at mountain climing/county football etc will not help anywhere near as much as just spending your time doing all the maths you can.

Reply 42

mad m05

IeuanF

Just not true. They only really care about proof of academic ability and academic potential.

its true some oxbridge lady came to my school and said extra curricular activities are irrelevant unless u relate it to why it would make you good academically for them

Reply 43

bluemax

you need alot of extracurriculars. I dunno for sure wht you need to do in the summers if you're planning to do maths.

What absolute Rubbish. You Do Not Need ANY Extracurriculars

Reply 44

emilY?

1

mizzangelic

I have just finished yr 11. I would really love to go to Cambridge University and study mathematics, it would a dream come true. I just wanted to know if there is anything I could do now during my summer holidays to prepare for applying to Cambridge. Should I be involving myself in lots of activities, reading specific books? I just want to do all that I can to get in. :smile:

Also, what GCSE grades would be required? Could you get in with no A*s, few As majority of Bs and a few Cs, even if you've acheived the required A*AA grades at A level?

Firstly - grades: admissions tutors take into account that people can change their approach to academic stuff between GCSEs and A-levels. Also, particularly for something like maths, what you got in English Literature at GCSE is unlikely to worry an admissions tutor. It might puzzle them slightly if you didn't have an A* in maths I suppose, however.

As others have said, the main thing for maths is... be really really really good at maths! But yes, get enthusiastic about applications related to maths, or just pure stuff in books. Read ahead or self teach if you fancy it. I was once told that NRICH on the internet was good for furthering interest.

Reply 45

eulerwaswrong

i disagree with extraciriculars etc.

In my interviews i did nothing but maths for 2 and a half hours - thats all they cared about was how good i was academically.

And obviously with maths - a levels dont matter so mcuh its more about STEP - start practicing as soon as you can. Perhaps try do STEP I at the end of lower sixth?

Reply 46

Crimsonchilli

seriously
go do the DofE
and get loads of other random qualifications (life guard, sailing instructor for example)
To get into cambs you need a life aswell as intellect.
so yeah, as you said, loads of activities.

With regards to the question asked then this is possibly the worst advice that I have seen in a long time.

Oxford and Cambridge offer places based on academic prowess NOT on EC's.

Reply 47

Can a mod delete the posts of people saying you need to focus on extra curriculars, its just plain bad advice.

Reply 48

Aaaaaaaargh!

16

Running Riot

I'm an over-achiever. I was put forward a year at school. The mental disorder is not related to my academic ability.

Well obviously it is because you got 3 Bs and 3 Cs.

Reply 49

eulerwaswrong

i disagree with extraciriculars etc.

In my interviews i did nothing but maths for 2 and a half hours - thats all they cared about was how good i was academically.

And obviously with maths - a levels dont matter so mcuh its more about STEP - start practicing as soon as you can. Perhaps try do STEP I at the end of lower sixth?

Exactly. First hand experience. Can't be argued with.

Reply 50

Crimsonchilli

12

Dadeyemi

Can a mod delete the posts of people saying you need to focus on extra curriculars, its just plain bad advice.

when did i say focus on EC's ?
i said aswell as academic work.
more useful than playing WoW in your spare time....
man you sound like one dreadfully boring person..

Reply 51

Tipareth

5

Crimsonchilli

to take a different approach.
Get 3 AAA, and like the thousands of other people who apply, you in exactly the same position. For subjects like law its different i believe (theres an internal test to take?), but whats the harm in having 3A's AND DofE gold, trained lifegaurd/sailing instructor 2 months charity work in India, good rugby player, pilots license, cadets and over 3 months work experience over the years (another important factor, especially for jobs after uni, which is a fact, so do even begin to bother arguing ESPECIALLY for professional highend jobs) instead of just straight A's and thats it. Everything will help, especially in the long run.
Just because you have epic grades and went to oxbrigde, dont expect to go out in the world and get any job you like, i have 2 norweigan cousins who went oxford, and now non can get jobs in law back in norway (probably even worse in the uk), and non of the big law firms care about their pre uni grades, or even the cambs issue for that matter, and have infact paid for them both to go sort of gap year in Australia to get useful life experience.

There is no harm.

If you want to do all that, because you experience pleasure purely for the sake of doing it, then cool.

BUT, it will not significantly change your chances of getting in. IF you want to prepare, use that time to prepare academically.

Reply 52

Crimsonchilli

to take a different approach.
Get 3 AAA, and like the thousands of other people who apply, you in exactly the same position. For subjects like law its different i believe (theres an internal test to take?), but whats the harm in having 3A's AND DofE gold, trained lifegaurd/sailing instructor 2 months charity work in India, good rugby player, pilots license, cadets and over 3 months work experience over the years (another important factor, especially for jobs after uni, which is a fact, so do even begin to bother arguing ESPECIALLY for professional highend jobs) instead of just straight A's and thats it. Everything will help, especially in the long run.
Just because you have epic grades and went to oxbrigde, dont expect to go out in the world and get any job you like, i have 2 norweigan cousins who went oxford, and now non can get jobs in law back in norway (probably even worse in the uk), and non of the big law firms care about their pre uni grades, or even the cambs issue for that matter, and have infact paid for them both to go sort of gap year in Australia to get useful life experience.

when you are wrong; stop digging. step back.

Reply 53

around

Do extracurriculars because you like them, not because you think they'll help your application. I put a few things, and a few books I'd read on maths, and all I got asked in the interview were problems. No introduction, no preliminary chat. Just solid problem solving.

I'll repeat this: the interview is a solid problem solving session. They do not give two tosses about anything as long as you're good at maths.

Reply 54

Tempeststurm

7

Crimsonchilli

And on a side note, as i said before, relevant work experience is a brilliant thing to have, say you want to study law at cambs, then having 3 weeks work experience in a top london law firm will show your keenness for the subject and a your ability to read around the curriculum.

While this is true for Law, it isn't really applicable to maths.

Reply 55

emilY?

1

Crimsonchilli

to take a different approach.
Get 3 AAA, and like the thousands of other people who apply, you in exactly the same position. For subjects like law its different i believe (theres an internal test to take?), but whats the harm in having 3A's AND DofE gold, trained lifegaurd/sailing instructor 2 months charity work in India, good rugby player, pilots license, cadets and over 3 months work experience over the years (another important factor, especially for jobs after uni, which is a fact, so do even begin to bother arguing ESPECIALLY for professional highend jobs) instead of just straight A's and thats it. Everything will help, especially in the long run.
Just because you have epic grades and went to oxbrigde, dont expect to go out in the world and get any job you like, i have 2 norweigan cousins who went oxford, and now non can get jobs in law back in norway (probably even worse in the uk), and non of the big law firms care about their pre uni grades, or even the cambs issue for that matter, and have infact paid for them both to go sort of gap year in Australia to get useful life experience.

I think the question of how you should empower your existence and be an experienced well-rounded individual is different to "how to get into Cambridge". Both, however, can function simultaneously and in most cases they do. It is, however, a myth that you must be a fantastically good at everything including cricket, playing the flute and stroking orphaned orangutans which puts many people off from applying.

Life experience has no hard and fast definition in terms of going around the globe or mastering as many ECs as you can. It would be unfair to judge this in interview as many people have a lot more opportunity to do this kind of thing than others.

Reply 56

If you want to do something then try reading some of the books in the reading list.

Personally I find things like this gain very little unless it is something that interests you i.e. a lot of the maths book I don't enjoy because reading about maths is not nearly as fun as doing maths.

I would advise entering the SMC and trying to do well in that; getting into the BMO2 will look very good on you PS. Anything that takes you out of "trivial mathematics" will be worthwhile. Trying to learn lots of uni level maths I don't think will be overly useful but don't quote me on that. The most important thing (I probably would have mentioned it first if I didn't think it was obvious) is that you must be outstanding at A-level maths it must come easy, there is now way of getting around it you will have to be not just good but you should get an A* without much trouble.

Also it has to be that you want to study MATHS at cambridge not just study at cambridge you have to have a pure adoration of the subject, I know no-one with an other to do maths at cambride who doesn't do maths for the pure joy of it.

Reply 57

Elementric

10

Crimsonchilli

seriously
go do the DofE
and get loads of other random qualifications (life guard, sailing instructor for example)
To get into cambs you need a life aswell as intellect.
so yeah, as you said, loads of activities.

This is utter bullsh!t.

To OP, having GCSEs like you mentioned will not completely rule you out, but it will lower your chances. You will have to compensate by being outstanding in other respects (e.g. at interview or scoring near to 100% UMS in at least a couple of subjects).

Reply 58

Crimsonchilli

12

Tempeststurm

While this is true for Law, it isn't really applicable to maths.

i know, maths is one of the few exceptions. But as i said before i was talking about general application devices, not just specifically for maths at specifically cambs.

Reply 59