Signficance of GCSE grades

Discussion and advice on GCSEs

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harrow123
Posts: 299
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 10:54 am

Signficance of GCSE grades

Post by harrow123 »

1) What do Universities look for, do they look for A level grades or GCSE grades or both?

2) Also my DS is around B grade with his English, do I need to worry about this. Is it going to be a major show stopper if English is not A grade at GCSE ? Certainly he is not going to take English at Uni/A-Levels.

Please suggest
hermanmunster
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Location: The Seaside

Re: Signficance of GCSE grades

Post by hermanmunster »

hi Harrow123,

Unis look at GCSE grades and while they are still being done, AS grades too.

What unis depends on the uni and the course - for example most people applying to most competitive unis will have majority A and A* grades at GCSE but inevitably some will have some Bs etc. I went to a talk at Oxford about humanities and they said they really didn't mind about the odd B is say, physics...

For some courses eg medicine they will need quite a large number of A* to be short listed (though there are lots of other factors).

What courses are you looking at ?
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Signficance of GCSE grades

Post by Guest55 »

GCSE grades are very important and will be even more so when the new A levels start as most students won't have AS results.

You need good grades - mostly grade As (or better) is fine unless you are targeting medicine or a vet course. An odd one or two grades B or C or even one lower will not stop universities making offers. Which year group is your child in now? Will he be do GCSEs under the current grading system?
harrow123
Posts: 299
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 10:54 am

Re: Signficance of GCSE grades

Post by harrow123 »

hermanmunster wrote:hi Harrow123,

Unis look at GCSE grades and while they are still being done, AS grades too.

What unis depends on the uni and the course - for example most people applying to most competitive unis will have majority A and A* grades at GCSE but inevitably some will have some Bs etc. I went to a talk at Oxford about humanities and they said they really didn't mind about the odd B is say, physics...

For some courses eg medicine they will need quite a large number of A* to be short listed (though there are lots of other factors).

What courses are you looking at ?
No idea about Uni course yet, thanks for your reply
harrow123
Posts: 299
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 10:54 am

Re: Signficance of GCSE grades

Post by harrow123 »

Guest55 wrote:GCSE grades are very important and will be even more so when the new A levels start as most students won't have AS results.

You need good grades - mostly grade As (or better) is fine unless you are targeting medicine or a vet course. An odd one or two grades B or C or even one lower will not stop universities making offers. Which year group is your child in now? Will he be do GCSEs under the current grading system?
He is in Year 10 now so I guess he will be on new system then , is he ?
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Signficance of GCSE grades

Post by Guest55 »

No, he'll be on the current grading system - it is changing to 9 to 1 with new syllabuses.

He will be on new A levels though.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... d-a-levels" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Last edited by Guest55 on Wed Mar 18, 2015 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
SteveDH
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Location: Harrow

Re: Signficance of GCSE grades

Post by SteveDH »

Also generally quality is better then quantity so think carefully about how many should be done
catmum
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Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 11:12 am

Re: Signficance of GCSE grades

Post by catmum »

DS had 6 A -A*, 4 B ( including both english) and 1 c, has got offers from 5 Russell Group unis for engineering course. Don't over worry about the B english!
harrow123
Posts: 299
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 10:54 am

Re: Signficance of GCSE grades

Post by harrow123 »

catmum wrote:DS had 6 A -A*, 4 B ( including both english) and 1 c, has got offers from 5 Russell Group unis for engineering course. Don't over worry about the B english!
ie a great relief though I understand each UNI application is unique
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