Oxford and Cambridge - do they allow candidates who have re-sat GCSEs

Very reassuring to read about the difference between taking modules and cashing in. I had been worrying about this as dd is in poor health and has missed a lot of school, yet because she is bright and in top set school will expect her to do some GCSEs early.

norflondoner when I say "certificate", I mean the same as you might understand by "cashing in".

fimac1, as a head of key stage 4 all of my students have completed all of the exams and coursework for Core science, by the end of year 10. However, I do not certificate until the end of year 11, this means that I can look at the total scores and if a student is below a grade C in core science I can get them to re-sit a paper or re-do their coursework and therefore boost the results overall. They do not get two different certificates.

Find out which exam board your daughter is following and the centre number of the school and phone the exam board. This might be a bit naughty as you aren't a member of staff, but the exam boards understand this stuff the best. Maybe try as a mum and then pretend to be a teacher?

Good luck - you are right in not wanting it to appear your daughter has re-sat. A*s are also extremely difficult to get in English, so what happens if the grades are the same?

fimac, thanks for starting this thread, it is something I think needs scrutinising - and not just for Oxbridge admissions.

From what I have heard, more & more universities are looking at GCSEs to differentiate as they often have too many applicants with top A level grades.

I too am concerned about the implications of schools getting pupils to sit their GCSEs early if this is the case...

Interesting thread.
Can someone confirm: when you say "certificating" is that the same as "cashing in"?
thanks!

OK can see it's not a module. Still applies, I think.

This wouldn't be classed as a resit though. It's a module and it just means that if she gets a B and can do better she won't cash it in and do the exam again in June exam, so if she gets and A* in June that is her result.

A resit would be a low grade in June and redoing the exam in yr 12.

At least that is how I understand it.

Phone/email the head of English/head of Year/Form teacher/head of maths/curriculum deputy head.

Ask them to explain what they are doing and if they are certificating. Explain your concerns and ask them to promise that this will not be a disadvantage to your daughter if she applies for medicine/law/oxbridge/etc in the future.

If you are strong enough in your email then at least that should force them to consider the impact of what they are doing on their students.

If they are not certificating then it's useful because it means your daughter will have less exams in the summer and be able to concentrate on the subjects she has exams in then.

Ask your daughter if she's finished all her coursework yet. If not then she can't get a final grade anyway.

This is GCSEs? She is going to do the exam that other schools might do in June, then get a mark (not final grade) about March time?

The GCSE is made up of several modules. The examinations that are taken and the coursework that is completed are part of the modules. When the required number of modules are completed (or about to be) the school can request a final grade and certificate.

What the school will do is have most of the science modules done, a lot of the maths modules, and will be wanting to know the likely results from English too. This will help intervention.

This exam is likely to be a module, will not be cashed in until the summer and will not appear on the information that the universities receive. The university will "see" a final grade.

It will not look like your child has "re-sat" a GCSE.

Don't try and ring a university, ring the head of key stage 4 English and ask if they will be certifcating immediately or in the summer. It is the certificate you need to aviod.

UnquietDad, I made no such accusations about admission to Uxbridge.

The GCSEs 'early' fiasco is out of our children's hands. Dd2 and her cohort (now year 11) sat many modules in year 10 and now are EXPECTED to re-take any that were below an 'A. If they took them in year 11 they may not have had this problem. It seems to me that they learn a bite-size chunk of information then take a GSCE module in it. It's hard to get information out of the school as to why they do it (and dd2).

Agree with UnquietDad (a) ring and find out (b) do stop making assumptions that those of us who did go to Oxford only did so with the leg-up of posh schools. I for one am deeply insulted by the insinuation that I went to a posh school.

I can utterly understand why top Unis have an issue with retakes nowadays.
"Hi, I got an A at the fifth attempt"
"yeah right I'm clever"
tee hee
I took my A's fluffed them and retook - but had the extra rear at the crammer to show for it -
top Unis are utterly hacked with grade creep - good on them

Be proud - get your kids through first time in their chosen course

Scatter - it depends whether you have to give your module grades when applying for Oxbridge. You don't have to usually, though you can. You can just choose 'Pending.' But yes, I was talking about AS re-sits.

Those offers are so high, but then so many are getting A's who are just bright and conscientious rather than brilliant. (I'm speaking as an A level teacher here.)

Agree - just ring up the admissions office or the admissions tutors at one of the colleges and ask.

Slight digression: I was sitting next to a Director of Studies at a Cambridge college for a college dinner the other night and had a fantastic conversation with her about what they are looking for in candidates and how they are bending over backwards to be fair in assessing potential students. I was so impressed by her attitude to the candidates and to the students in college already - she was so keen to choose those with the most potential and then help them realise it. I felt that was the case when I was there (a long time ago now!) but it was so good to hear it articulated.

atswimtwolengths is that an AS resit? Just wondering because I know many people who had an A but still resat to push up their mark further. Or if they got A's in two module and B in one, but an A overall?

But their standard offers have gone so high this year. I heard it was AAA for Maths.

But, MIFLAW, you would only sit them at another centre if your sixth form didn't let you re-sit, surely?

I heard Imperial College, London, was not going to accept any A levels with re-sits. They said they had found a tremendous difference between those who got A grades the first time and those who got the same grade after a re-sit.

I suppose they have so many people applying for so few courses, they can afford to differentiate.

I don't think, for the record, that a school can "make" you sit or retake anything - they are public exams and, if you feel particularly strongly, you can always sit them at another exam centre.

They can, of course, put immense pressure on you, but that's another story.