What GCSE grades needed for Bristol?

[Fabfabfab]

Any idea what GCSE grades are needed for history at Bristol? The website says: Applications are scored and ranked based on their academic record, according to their achieved or predicted results with the following weightings:
GCSE 30% | A-Level 70%

Similarly, what GCSE grades might be needed for other Universities like Exeter, York and Warwick? My daughter had 5x8s, 2x7 and 2x6. Hoping that's good enough (with good a-level results hopefully). Not contextual as she has been through private school

I have a DS who was offered a place to study History this year, with A level grades in hand, which obviously made it a lot easier for them to offer to him.

Those are solid GCSEs. What are her predicted A levels and are the 8's in subjects that include History? (I would guess they are, given your DD is taking History A level)

Sorry I left this bit off, which I found online

For History courses at the University of Bristol, you'll typically need a minimum of five GCSEs at grades 9-6, with grades 7-9 in your chosen subjects, and potentially higher requirements for specific courses.

@LailaDelaila Thank you. Yes 8 in history, English, maths, physics, chemistry. Still in yr 12 so unsure what predicted grades will be yet but guessing 3 As, and is also doing an EPQ. What did your DS get (if you don't mind saying of course) and is he enjoying being at Bristol?

Those are really strong GCSE subjects at 8, I think that's going impress any dept. I am not an admissions person though, so maybe one like @poetryandwine can answer this element better than I can.

My DS got A star (History) A (English language) A (psychology)

Sorry, he's not at Bristol he got an offer from them to start in Sept. 2025.

I agree Grade 8 in those subjects is excellent, @LailaDelaila and @Fabfabfab

My School like many units of admission doesn’t distinguish between 8s and 9s. We also put much more weight on predicted grades and other aspects of the Y12-13 profile than the earlier years.

We were told at admissions talk at their open day they score the top 8 gsces plus the A level predictions and that 8s score the same as 9s so she has a good gcse scoring on that basis.

@LailaDelaila - well done to your DS for getting a Bristol place and hope he has a great experience there. It seems like such a good University in lots of ways

@poetryandwine thank you for your response, it sounds reassuring. When you say 'other aspects' do you mean the personal statement and EPQ or something else? And do you happen to know if most successful applicants get in with the 3 A's as required or if grades tend to be higher?

Agree and thanks.
He worked very hard on his PS and demonstrating his analysis of a couple of history texts. I don't know if next year they'll be the same format, I think they're changing slightly to a 3 question structure.

For most History courses, if you have predicted grades of the standard offer and solid GCSEs you’ll get an offer.

There are a few where your predicted grades need to be higher than the standard offer to get that standard offer - just because there are far too many with grades above. But History isn’t Econ or Computer Science where 3 x A star candidates with perfect GCSEs sometimes get turned down too.

Exeter ranks their candidates by tier according to A Level predictions . They offer by tier - so 3 x A star first. But people with the standard offer predicted grades will probably get an offer….just a bit later. And they often take people who miss their grades. Not sure if it has previously done that for History.

Somewhere like Durham or LSE might not offer to everyone with the standard offer predicted grades. They often give a reason, most common of which are ‘achieved grades not strong enough to compared to other applicants ‘ (refers to GCSEs) or ‘personal statement not strong enough compared to other applicants’ or ‘predicted grades not high enough compared to other applicants’ or ‘level of competition very high’
Look at The Student Room at the moment. Very competitive uni applicants are now getting rejections - you’ll see lots of seemingly perfect applicants, who sometimes hold Oxbridge offers getting rejected by London Unis, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Durham, Warwick for certain popular courses. But it’s not all courses and History isn’t as competitive as lots.

History standard offer is AAA at places like York, Bristol, Warwick and also Oxford. For Durham and Cambridge it’s usually A star AA. The fitter above the standard offer your predicted grades, the more likely you are to get an offer really. So if in ye12, nailing those summer exams which predictions will be based partly in, is important.

Yes, be working on the wider engagement for the personal statement.
Good idea is to note down title of book read, articles read, podcasts listened to, places visited and next to each, what ideas struck them from the reading and any further reading mentioned they could go onto next. Good PS doesn’t just list what engaged with but what was learned from it and shows an ongoing journey with it.

Excellent GCSEs @Fabfabfab and I am sure they will be fine for most RG unis.

DD and DS2 both got offers from highly ranked RG unis (not Bristol but just as popular) with similar GCSE profiles. Like your DD, they had excellent grades in subjects chosen for A level and degree.

Agree with @WombatChocolate about PS btw – read around the subject and note down what you read and what you thought about it. And look at other ways to show your interest in the subject – online lectures, holiday courses or even something like volunteering at a museum.

For the current PS, "showing interest" in the degree subject takes a great deal more than just listing down the things you've sought out to read / listen to and attend. You need to be analytical and show some actual insights.

Indeed. That's why I said it's a good idea to note down now what you thought about what you read – at the time – rather than trying to remember it six months later. And then when you come to draft your PS you can use that knowledge to produce insightful analysis.

Interesting to see such positive comments on DD's GCSE grades, do you think Durham or even Oxford might be worth a shot too? If she gets at least one A* prediction? We haven't done any open days yet but it's hard to know what's worth visiting and applying to. Had planned to probably go to 4-5 open days and wasn't sure if Durham was a possibility or 'pie in the sky'. Hadn't really thought of Oxbridge as it is so competitive. She really likes the idea of Bristol but hasn't been to the open day yet

To be honest, the grade profile doesn’t scream Oxford applicant on its own. BUT if you know she has been engaged in all the wider stuff through her own initiative already and loves loved History, she could consider it if her predicteds are really good. If you’ve got a contextual situation that they would be seeing her application within, better chance.

Durham won’t give an offer unless she’s got the minimum standard offer grades. Again, could be lower for contextual. Most who get offers will have a couple of A star or 3 predicteds. But not all. History is popular at Durham but it’s not seeing applications on the scale of Econ or similar. So if she gets an A star prediction (esp in History) and can produce the excellent PS which does count, it would be worth looking at. You have 5 choices after all. It’s worth an aspirational choice amongst 5.

@WombatChocolate Thank you. Her college seems to think it might be worth a shot but really not sure (esp Oxford). Will have to see what her predicted grades are as impossible to know at this stage (and go on a few open days to see what she thinks). She does love history and reads a lot, although has done more extracurricular around law as was thinking of a law degree initially. In addition to Bristol, she also really likes York and Exeter (and possibly Warwick)

Oxford does look at the application holistically, but in order to get an interview, she would have to do very well on the HAT test.

My dd was offered Bristol last year for history. Her GCSE’s were ok but not what she could have got she didn’t do much work she gave 988776665. She got 8 in history and is at Nottingham.

I agree with @WombatChocolate

@kkneat do you mind saying what her a-level results were? Hope she is enjoying the course at Nottingham!

3 A’s

Thank you - really helpful as that's what Bristol ask for, just wasn't sure if they ended up only taking people with A* or not but seems not then which is reassuring

Op, what you want to know is what predicted grades they had.

That candidate achieved AAA which met the standard offer. But were they predicted higher? We don’t know if people predicted AAA got offers from the info supplied.

Often History courses will offer to all who meet the standard offer in terms of predictions. Some will have do many better applicants they don’t need to. And then, on results day, of course they take everyone who meets their offer, and actually often take those who miss by 1 grade too. They would often rather do that than go to Clearing in hope of someone with better results who might not emerge. They might prefer the firmed candidate who was a near miss, but committed to going to Bristol.

At very popular places, the predicted grades can seem more important than the actual grades. You need an offer after all, to start with.

Whether Bristol History is in that category of only offering to those with higher predicted (except contextual applicants) I don’t know. Given their offer is AAA and doesn’t include an A star in the standard offer like a few places do, it might not be as competitive as some subjects at Bristol.

History at Bristol used to be very competitive. Bristol also has a very generous wider participation contextual offer scheme. However it’s still got quite a high private school cohort. It’s a great city and UoB students are based in a very attractive area.

Regarding GCSEs: they are known results. Bristol take them into account for many courses. 30/70% is quite a high ratio for GCSEs . Also the PS at Bristol is usually only used as a decider between similar candidates. That means (if that’s the case still) the PS matters but won’t be read routinely. Check up the admissions info for the course.

It’s not going to make much difference to her future career if she’s educated at Bristol, Durham, Warwick or Exeter. The main thing is to grab opportunities and get a decent cv for employers to consider beyond the degree.