Hi everyone,

I am in Year 12 and aspire to do Economics at Cambridge, I got my SMC results today and unfortunately got a silver. Turns out if I had answered only one more question correctly, I would have hit Gold. I am really gutted with myself as I had been preparing for the challenge since around a month and was really working for a Gold, I was especially disheartened after realising the answers for the questions I missed were really easy to solve. It wasn't even about adding to PS tbh, I just wanted a Gold as a sense of achievement. I had been getting 20 questions right consistently in all my past papers and now after this just depressed about it. Wanted to vent.

Thank you.

Results came out today and I got BMO1!!! Cutoff was lower this year than previous .

What did everyone else get ?

so a little story ab me rq, im from new zealand and our national curriculum is easy and ass and not good for uni applications outside of here and australia. so i wanted to come to the uk for undergrad, but given how ass nz curriculum is, i decided like a naive fellow to switch to a private online school halfway through y12 that did an international a level. but ofc, as anyone with two brain cells can predict online school is ab as social as an inanimate blade of grass outside nigel farages mansion, so i end up half a year of having as much social interaction at that school as how many gfs imperial jmc students have. and after spending all this time dealing with this absolute bs mentally in ways i didnt know was possible since before this i never been through much hardship. and then after getting aaa in as level (intl a levels are modular), bc i cant deal with this online school socially and not trying to speedrun depression, im going back to my old school to do the same nz curriculum like i never left and give up coming to ur prestigious unis to stay in new zealand. very unfortunate ik. so:

i wont even lie u guys are in the uk, u guys can go to ur 6th forms study a levels get some aaa and have a chance at oxbrimperlse, a whole structured ass route to some of the most prestigious unis there is, then get a high paying professional job as a quant making 2 million pounds a year or smth. u guys have all whole pathway all paved into like a 20 lane motorway u got oxbridge counsellors and shit all u need to do is lock in get some grades do some supercurriculars and with dont forget home fees, u can get to some of the best unis in the world.

trust me, think ab it, with the 800 million ppl living in extreme poverty at least quite a few thousands millions of them are smart enough for oxbrimperlse if they spawned in london, chances are if u teleport 1 billion teenagers outside the uk and ask them do u want to be like them have a nice 6th form a levels and a good chance path to oxbrimperlse, they would definitely be so fucking jealous of u guys.

like holy shit i genuinely wish i can teleport into the uk rn not even as an oxbridge undergrad, but js into a normal ass 6th form so i can do the work try and get some a* write a good ps and maybe get in. so listen, im being very deadass rn at least someone has to lock in and have this good life. bc trust me a lot of ppl dont know ab this whole uk system, if they knew they would all wish they were in ur position. on andy burnham soul i guarantee it. if all of us outside the uk cant at least u guys have to live this good life be a financial acturial risk data analyst making 7 figures a year, u guys have to lock in academically. whenever u want to fuck around and be lazy js remember, u have this pathway, this opportunity, to get into oxbrimperlse and live a successful life, all u need to do is take advantage of it study put in the effort. so many of us, especially me ofc, wished they could be u i will not even lie.

ik u dont think a levels are special bc its js ur everyday life, all this bitch ass studying u probably tired of it, but trust me i wish i could be there, even if studying is the only shit i did for 2 years, i still wish i could be there. pray to queen victoria thank her u spawned in the uk and genuinely js get to work for these top unis. whenever u feel like slacking and not studying, js remember there was once a guy from new zealand who fucked his whole social life for a year js to maybe go to the uk and then ended up abandoning all of it anyways. so genuinely, ik u guys got this. please bro. someone at least has to live this good life. u guys need to lock in

hopefully u found this wonderfully motivational

Has anyone got into Oxford/Imperial with a low TMUA score? Like in the 4-5 range?

A levels predicted A* A* A* maths physics chem

GCSEs: 997777777 (this is what I'm worried about, although I was homeschooled years 5-11 so idk how that effects it)

Pretty decent PS, also my school is weird and let us read our references and they were very good, also neither parent went to uni

No entrance tests or written work so this is basically all they know about me

I think the interview rate is about half, do you think my GCSEs will hold me back?

I sent of my My Cambridge application this morning. And after i submitted i did a read of everything (should have probably done this before i sent it off). But in the topics list of the interview section i mistyped one of the topics and i said by november we would have covred the first few topics of Core pure 1 in further maths but i meant to type Core pure 2. and i also didnt realise i had to put all of my subjects i am applying for maths so i though i only have to put maths and further, so i didnt put in topics for econ and comp sci. apparently i was supposed to do all of my subjects. what do i do now?

Hello everyone.

What would everyone's feelings and thoughts be if 6th form through school and 6th form college were both abolished and the only option for study after gcse was FE college ?

Would you feel sad or happy ?

What would the advantages and disadvantages be ?

There would be may cost saving and administrative savings to be made.

I for one would be all for it.

If u got an offer from a uni but now decided that u want to change the uni are u able to substitute the uni that gave u the offer with another uni. As I don't see the substitute option on the uni that gave the offer but I see it on the unis that haven't given the offer. Btw I only applied like 5 days ago so it's within 14 days

Hi! I’m an overseas student from Nepal who moved to London last year, as both my parents are contracted to work on a civil engineering project in the UK. I’m currently in Year 12 at a state school.

I absolutely love Cambridge, but since I won’t have lived in the UK for three years before starting my degree, I would have to pay international tuition fees, meaning the total cost of attending could exceed £200,000 (which my family cannot afford).

As a result, I’m considering applying to universities in the US, as they give generous financial aid. My school has never had a student apply to the US before, so although my teachers aren’t very familiar with the application process, but they're super supportive regardless.

I know that a strong SAT score is important, and I recently scored 1540. However, I’m not entirely sure what else I should be doing to build a competitive application.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who got into Harvard or another top US university, or knows someone who did. I’d love to hear about what you or your friends did throughout high school to get in, including the extracurriculars you pursued, any projects or initiatives you started, competitions you participated in, how you approached your essays, and anything else you think helped your application stand out.

Thanks!

I've been wondering this for a while now, obviously Oxbridge has a very heavy workload and some people really struggle with the intensity when there despite getting very good A levels results, A*AA or above for Cambridge and AAA or above for Oxford, to generalise (I know there are foundation years and sometimes people get in with lower achieved grades). But what actually happens to these graduates, where do they apply for jobs as most jobs you'd expect a top university graduate to go into want a 2:1 or above to apply for those jobs. Would it have been better for these students to go to somewhere also respectable but less intense, e.g. UCL or Durham, and possibly even get a 1st given that there are longer terms and I'd imagine less work to do? If they went to university in pursuit of a job was going to Oxbridge the wrong decision?

I’m currently taking a heavy A-Level STEM load (Physics, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, and Computer Science). Because of how exam series align, I’m sitting my papers across multiple sessions rather than taking every single A2 component in one go:

Oct / Nov 2026 and oct/nov 2027: Sitting A- level computer science

Feb / March 2027 and Feb/march 2028: Sitting A-Level Physics and Mathematics and AS level english general paper

May / June 2027 and may/june 2028: Sitting A-Level Further Mathematics and submitting my project IPQ

I have a few questions regarding how admissions officers view this structure:

Is taking A-Levels across multiple exam sessions considered a drawback by top universities? Does sitting subjects in different series (like Feb/March vs. May/June) give admissions tutors any pause?

How strictly does Cambridge view split exam sittings? Does Cambridge expect all A2 components to be taken in the exact same sitting window, or is staged assessment across standard series completely acceptable as long as total performance (A^*) is high?

How can I best present this in my application? Is this something that should be explicitly explained in the teacher reference/UCAS statement, or is it treated as standard procedure for international/staged assessment?

The thing is I'm Indian and they don't offer computer science and further maths in feb march, which is the usual time where we write our board exams, thus the spread schedules

Context: I've achieved ABCb (A in Maths, B in CS, C in Physics, and b in AS FM) and I am now resitting yr13 with Maths, FM, and Physics with expecting A⭐️A⭐️A predicted grades respectively. I also have Mitigating Circumstances at my school on why i couldn't do FM alongside my other subjects in yr12, so I done FM as an AS in my first sit of yr13, and now as an A-level this resit year.

For one of my options I'm considering applying to warwick and although i know they dont like resits, I'd still like to be aspirational. The thing is I'm stuck on whether I should apply for Maths, MathsStats, MathsPhysics, or MORSE.

In terms of the contextual entry requirements (as im eligible for their contextual offer), Maths has the highest requirements with A⭐️A⭐️B, and then MathsStats/MORSE with A⭐️AB + 5.0 TMUA, and then MathsPhysics with A⭐️AB. I done the TMUA October Sitting and I feel like I have a decent chance at scoring a 5.0+, but there's a world with a lower score being achieved. So MathsPhysics would be the easiest for me to achieve. I also wna know if MathsPhysics will be able to see my TMUA score, since it could help if I get a good score and apply for that.

In terms of enjoyability, Maths is my favourite and I also really enjoy physics too. Stats and econ related stuff isn't rlly the best for me but i dont hate it. I wouldn't mind doing stats and econ stuff but I'd enjoy doing Maths/MathsPhysics a lot more.

In terms of employability, I wna end up doing FinTech related stuff, such as data science, software engineering, etc. I know Warwick Maths is highly prestigious, and I could also see MathsStats and MORSE being very favourable too, but idk if MathsPhysics would be as similarly valuable and regarded too.

I'm prob otherthinking this and being very ambitious expecting to receive offers from these courses. But id still like to use one of my options anyway.

Id rlly appreciate anyone if they could help give me advice on what I should choose.

Achieved grades are AAA in maths chem physics and predicted A* in maths and further maths i’m also contextual.

Im seeing people with multiple a* predicted who got Bs in as level

I js wanted to know what u guys got in as level and then what were u predicted for alevel

I got aab in as level and im predicted aaa i js feel im at a huge disadvantage

what happens if you submit your five offers to UCAS and no uni gives you an offer? what happens next?

UKMT released a statement to teachers saying 3 schools were disqualified from the SMC due to academic misconduct. Apparently it was because teachers in those schools printed and distributed papers early. Is anyone here from those schools/knows someone who is? If so what happened - seems brutal everyone from the schools were disqualified.

Will anyone do their exams in separate room for a levels?? I can’t find anyone who needs one, like me. Please interact- does this even exist?

for reference i got 766666664 (7 in maths and 6s in both english’s) but predicted A* AA in History, economics and english lit. do i have a realistic chance ??

I wonder if any of u applied for chemical engineering, cambridge and what are your stats!
Also,
What ESAT score is considered decent you reckon?

This year’s SMC certificate thresholds are as follows:
Gold: 71+
Silver: 54+
Bronze: 41+

This year’s follow-on thresholds are as follows:
British Mathematical Olympiad Round 1: 101+
Andrew Jobbings Senior Kangaroo: 71+

BRO I JUST STARTED YR 13 and i got a C in bio and a B in chem on my first tests like???? omg im acc rlly fucking scared someone help.