Worth remarking?

[PanickingNowHelpPlease]

Son is bright and was predicted 9s across the board at GCSE. Today he found out that whilst he got four (Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics) his other grades were 8s. Fine. He’s still happy. However, in each of the remaining subjects he is only 1 or 2 marks off 9s. He wants to study engineering - ideally at Cambridge. Just wondering how important GCSEs ultimately would be to securing a place? Should we pay for a remark of his 8s in the hope we can find the extra couple of marks to take him over the thresholds; will it potentially make any difference to future offers?

8s & 9s are usually considered to be the same in the context of university applications.

In the words of Cambridge itself:

There are no GCSE (or equivalent) requirements for entry to Cambridge.
We will look at your GCSE results as an indicator of your academic performance. But this will be within the context of the performance of the school/college where you achieved your GCSEs.

As previous poster said, 8/9s treated the same for Oxbridge (anyhow I think Oxford more focused on GCSEs than Cambs).

However, if only 1-2 marks off, and assuming plenty of room below to not drop down a grade, I would say it's worth it. Ask for the the papers and send off 1 paper at the time for the subject.

The entry requirements for the different colleges at Cambridge for Engineering are here.

I do have to agree with the PPs, it doesn't seem worth getting them remarked, unless your a really want to and b can afford to.

Yes, I would if they were that close to the grade boundaries.

Reviews don't look for marks. It's highly unlikely to be worth it.

Do it! When my DS was rejected after interview they showed him all the stats they use, one of which was points from GCSEs ( his were a lot lower , mind). Apparently, his interview needed to be amazing .

Yes, I'm still annoyed!