GCSE exams

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Feel current exam cycle, with all 10 GCSEs taken in the Summer, is too much for young people. So far, my daughter has taken almost every day,so 16 exams since the 6.5.13 with another 6 to go this week. She is both mentally and physically exhausted. My older daughter took exams in under the modular scheme given her 14 exams which she found stressful enough! For young people to complete 22 exams in one go seems borderline insane. If Gove wants to reform GCSEs he needs to look at the whole exam not just when you take the exam. I think he needs to try 22 exams in five weeks to see how he fairs!

www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/teachers/docs/student_conference_teacher_forum_presentation.pdf

This presentation contains graphs which chart the number of A* at GCSE and the UMS gained by successful candidates at Cambridge in various subjects.

www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/teachers/presentations/teachersforum2010.pdf

There is a graph here which charts the final degree results of students from both independent and maintained school backgrounds. It shows no real difference between the sectors.

froofroo this isn't about Oxford versus Cambridge, it's about whether students should bother with GCSEs because a couple of posters say they're irrelevant for the purposes of clinching a university offer. I merely offered up Oxford/ medicine as a course where As at GCSE are literally fed into a computer and crunched up with the aptitude test to determine who gets an interview. No interview, no place, as you say. It's one example of where A grades are a clear determinant.

I also think there is a gap (and often a wide one) between the grades required by a univeristy as a minimum and the grades that are likely to secure you a place.

Just because a university will, in theory, make an offer to a student with 5 Cs, doesn't mean any offers go out to students with those grades.

It depends on the competition.

Any applicant seeking a place on a competitive course, will need grades as good as, if not better than their competitors (excluding contextual issues etc)...

Yes. One redbrick university department (not medicine) until a few years ago said on its webpage that successful applicants typically had a minimum of 7A* at GCSE, often more. It's since revised the webpage because clearly it didn't look great in terms of encouraging access. That doesn't mean the policy has changed, merely the public statement.

Was that Bristol Molio? If so that is the exact treason DS didn't apply there. He got fewer A* than that yet I'm sure would have received an offer (got offers from UCL and durham) but didn't want to waste a choice on one he thought he would be rejected by. Who knows how many other students were put off in a similar way?

Sorry for bringing the Oxbridge debate into this - I suppose my point was that you can't start second guessing what admissions tutors want. No one should be put off applying to a university because they don't think their gcse results were good enough if they have improved since taking them. Also, at no point did creamteas or anyone suggest people shouldn't try because they could get in with 5 Cs! Without extenuatig circumstances I would be suprised if many admissions tutors had received applications from students with 5 Cs at gcse but 4 As or whatever at AS level so really this argument is irrelevant.

All I want to point out is that it really does not matter if you are not A* material for every subject at gcse. A C in needlework isn't going to hold you back in life.

No not Bristol friendface, but not dissimilar. I'd like to think that access issues weren't merely paid lip service to and I'm sure in some quarters they're not, but I think elsewhere that's about all it is - ticking boxes and paying lip service. I don't get the impression that this particular department has changed its policy in real terms at all.

Also, it's maybe a little disingenuous to say a lousy grade in a seriously soft and non related subject won't hold you back. But a C grade in a mainstream core subject may actually not be so great.

The wider sweep of exam results accepted by uni(s) maybe reflective of the increased access to higher education, going from just 10% of school leavers in the 1970s to 33% in 2012. With more places to fill and the need to attract revenue from student fees there will always be the temptation to review entrance requirements. Certainly media reports of last year`s Clearing suggested even top uni(s) were lowering their offers.
Maybe 10 As would guarantee your first choice but the lack of As may not in the end prove to be a deterrent to a place at a Russell group establishment.