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

[fimac1]

DD has just heard not - could someone confirm or deny for me please as she is going mad! Her school is making Year 11's sit their English and Maths GCSE's early (in a week) unless they get A*'s they have to resit in June

Thanks

bump...

Perhaps it depends on which public school you attend.
Perhaps it depends on who your parents are.

Perhaps it depends on WHO you know and not what you know?

ok...... also how much money you have with the fees changes about to take place

If what LC says is true then we aren't too hopeful

I haven't heard this. But I do 'know' (i.e. our Head of 6th form was advised by an admissions tutor) that some subjects at Cambridge won't accept retakes at AS. Not sure how they find out if you don't declare them though.

I believe it's true that many of the good universities, not just oxbridge,don't accept resits for certain courses. It will have the information on their websites. If your DD can't find the information online she could contact the admissions office and ask them.

Yes will will check Monday and with UCAS thanks

Might be better to phone or email Oxford or Cambridge Admissions office and ask. Better to get the answer from the horse's mouth so to speak!!

How will year 11s know in June whether they have A*s when the results don't come out til August?

Do you mean the school is making them all take Maths and English a year early, and then resit in year 11? That sounds rather foolish.

My son in year 10 is taking his first maths paper in 2 weeks. It think he sits another in March?

He also sits his first English paper in January, he will do all of English Lit this year. Next year he will do English Language, which I think is sensible as its the one that really matters and he will sit when he is most mature.

From these results it will be clear if he is on track for an A (he won't be for English, but we don't care really C in language is enough anything more is a bonus).

Trillian, I'm pretty sure that the results for the GCSEs sat in November come out in around January, certainly early enough for them to know whether they need to re-sit in the spring/summer.
My DS's old school did this, the top set in Maths sat their GCSE in the November instead of the following summer and then they moved on with studying AS.

Ref Oxford & Cambridge, apparently Cambridge do know what you get for each module and when you've sat exams but I'm sure I read somewhere that Oxford don't.

Update, DS has just surfaced and says that Cambridge may know as you have to fill in a supplementary questionnaire in additional to the 'normal' UCAS application so you may have to declare on there.

Why would you want to try to go to Oxbridge if you were unable to get decent grades at first time of trying?

I am assuming that OP means taking some GCSE papers in January and then redoing in June if not high enough.

DS1 went to a school which got about 50% of them into Oxbridge and it was common practice to do a maths paper in Year 10 and then redo it in year 11 in order to maximise marks. Also loads redid their English IGCSE taken in year 10 and then again in year 11. All this doesn't seem to have affected their success at Oxbridge entry. What they would not accept is GCSEs redone in year 12 I expect.

Will people (Lucinda) please stop spouting this "who you know/who daddy is" bollocks about Oxbridge? I got in, as did a great many other ordinary state-school candidates.

Phone Admissions - I'd be very surprised if they held the GCSE retakes against an otherwise strong candidate.

AwesomeWellies, when you apply through UCAS you can enter your AS grades for each module or you can enter Pending (ie if you're doing a re-sit.)

Oxbridge may have a rule that all AS grades must be entered when applying.

Yes, why it might be most sensible to phone up the Admissions office and ask.

FWIW my mum studied at Oxford, many many years ago. Her mum was a refugee and her dad was a no-good gambling alcoholic ship-worker.

Grendelsmum, that last sentence sounds like the first line in a country song!

My ex state school son is at Oxford, doing PPE, all of the admin staff I have spoken to are lovely and friendly - just phone and ask.I think it is AS & Alevel they are not too keen on resits for. Why do people always make stupid elitist comments about Oxford - most of my son's friends went to their local comps and a couple of them had left school without much by way of qualifications and got them later at evening classes (one he shares a house with is an ex postman who did this)

I don't think GCSEs matter all that much (especially if only one or two).

AFAIK they say at AS a retake is all right, everyone can have a bad day, but they don't like it if you resit every single module multiple times.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.)

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