How many A*s at GCSE does the typical Oxford science student had.

"Oxford's offers, however, tend to be lower than Cambridge. An A* offer isn't common."

Oxford makes the same offer to virtually everyone for a given course. It is AAA for arts subjects and social sciences, AAA for most science subjects and A A* A for maths. They don't make harder offers, but they may occasionally make easier ones.

Cambridge colleges have the flexibility to make tougher offers if they want to. Some routinely make harder offers to uphold their reputation as the best for a particular subject (eg: Churchill college Law usually make A A A A offers), and others tailor their offers to the individual to stretch the brightest, so for example, if AS module results indicate an offer is almost in the bag, more A* might be added to prevent coasting in year 13 or an offer based on 4 or more A2s may be made, again so that candidates are stretched. Cambridge also sometimes make a tougher offer to a candidate they are unsure about.

Both have the flexibility to make slightly easier offers to candidates in difficult circumstances, but this is relatively rare.

Oxford place a lot of importance on GCSEs.

The typical successful applicant will have a very good hand of GCSE A*s coupled with good AS results.

The interview procedure is also important, and Oxford interview far fewer than Cambridge (pro rata).

Oxford's offers, however, tend to be lower than Cambridge. An A* offer isn't common.

Cambridge place less impiortance on GCSEs and candidates will get an interview on less stellar grades than would be the case at Oxford. Cambridge interview a lot of people!

However, their average offer tends to be high, and will more often than not include an A* or two!!!

Of course there will always be exceptions. But this is the general trend at the two institutions .

At my DS's school which currently sends about 33% a year of it's 6th form to Oxbridge we were very recently told you need at least 6 A*'s at GCSE but I understand this is partly because they don't do AS levels.

1. At least.

www.wikihow.com/Get-Into-Oxbridge:

'GCSE grades are often used to distinguish between entrants due to the high number of A's achieved at A level. Oxbridge are still unsure about the reliability of the A at A level, so you must have a strong GCSE profile. Although 15 A won't guarantee you a place, you should have an A* in the subject you are taking and other related subjects.'