yay! GCSE results appeal successful

[mumofsatan]

DS got mostly A and A* in his GCSEs but Bs in English Language and Literature which we thought odd so we appealed and they have regraded him as an A in English Language. Shows it is sometimes worth appealing
sorry, showy offy mum moment

well done to satan

actually its DD2 (aged 3) that is Satan, DS1 is finally growing out of the terrible teens

Well done! There were huge problems with A level Eng Lit as well this year, with our school getting ALL entries of one paper re-marked.

Milliways thats very interesting to know. I know there were quite a few DC from DS's old school who had both english papers re-marked but all we really know is from what the DC have told us from what they've found out from FB. 99% of DS's peers have left the school and returned to the UK for 6th form (school was in Middle East) but it does sound rather odd. Am starting to wonder whether we should have asked for others to be re-marked as he'd expected a lot of A* and 'only' got As in a few of them.

Will be picking your brains at a later time about Uni application as you've done so well with your DD DS starts UCAS lessons when he returns to school after half term so it would be good to have some advice from someone who has sucessfully applied to Cambridge. He has set his heart on Churchill which is slightly worrying

Er, I was kept away from her UCAS application Her school were a good help though.

DD is a born essay writer and wrote a small epic for her personal statement then realised it was more than double the word limit! She was cross at having to cut it as she wanted to show her personality and not just include facts

Churchill is tough - does he want to do law??

Hi Milliways, yes, he (foolishly) wants to become a lawyer. He has been saying that for at least 3 years and even doing GCSE law in his own time when 14 didn't put him off
A bit scary looking at some of the requirements
2 x A* and 2 x A at Churchill apparently

I think his school will do an awful lot of work with them and apparently the UCAS lessons start after half-term. Very relieved about this as he is a full boarder as I'm miles away most of the time.

Well done to your DD. I can't imagine how proud I'd be if DS got into Cambridge. What is she doing?

Yes, we are extremely proud, Thank you

She is studying languages. It is a heavy schedule - 6 lectures on 1 day! But, she knew that when she applied.

Have you seen the churchill website. This is what they say about admissions:

In order to maintain our academic prowess in Law, we have to apply extremely stringent standards for admission. To stand any chance of success, an applicant will have to have achieved exceptionally strong marks at GCSE level and will have to be demonstrably on the way to achieving similarly impressive marks in his or her A-levels. Virtually everyone admitted during the last decade has attained at least 9As at GCSE; we are very unlikely to call for interview any applicant who has fewer than 5As at GCSE or an average of less than 90% at AS-level across his/her three most relevant subjects. We ordinarily favour students completing 4 A-levels and normally attach a condition of AAAA to any offer of admission in Law. We expect IB and Scottish Advanced Higher applicants to be similarly high-achieving, and anticipate calling for interview those predicted an overall score of 41 or 42 in the IB , with 7, 7, 7 at Higher Level, or grades AAA in Advanced Highers. An applicant whose credentials do satisfy our very high minimum standards will undergo a 30-minute interview and a 45-minute written test, on the basis of which a final decision will be made. Both the interview and the written test are designed solely to test the proficiency of each applicant in analytical reasoning. We do not expect applicants to have any knowledge of law. Consequently, no preparation for the interview and the written test is necessary or even advisable.

bugger, thats not good. Knew the A level requirements were high but didn't realise how important GCSE results were.
He didn't do as well as predicted. He got 2 x A*, 7 A's, 1 B and a C (in arabic which he'd basically taught himself in 2 years so hopefully that justifies the low mark?)

Got his first (very early?) predictions/challenge grades from his college this morning. He is doing 5 x AS levels and them presumably at least 4 A levels and all challenge grades were A except French which was B (mainly due to the fact he did his French GSCE at age 13 to concentrate on arabic so is a little rusty but should improve)

Hope he gets really good predictions in A levels then they might overlook his lack of A*s at GCSE?

Why doesn't he phone and ask to speak to the Admissions Tutor? If coming from abroad they may have a view??

There ARE other Oxbridge colleges out there!

Also, a LOT of lawyers don't take a law degree. They do something else as first degree & then proceed to the CPE, so have something to fall back on if law is not for them. A lot of people think that gives you a broader outlook and leads to a better lawyer.