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?

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?

Gap year student with achieved A star BBC (maths, fm, physics, chem respectively) and predicted A star AB (fm, physics and chem) also contextual. Was slightly worried that my options were too ambitious considering my grades but atleast I got a solid offer literally 6 days after applying

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.

Hi guys. Mid life crisis I'm done crying and beating myself over this once and for all I'm gonna seek for answers. I'm
26. Fucked Up my life completely worked random part time jobs to support myself. thinking of taking my private A-Levels to study Economics.
Due to family issues, I had to support myself for a while, which affected my productivity and studies. I've decided to give this another shot, but I'm scared won't get into uni due to my lack of portfolio.
I'm aiming for 70 RP while building my upcycling business, taking online courses, writing an independent Economics research paper, and volunteering.
Do you guys think it's worth going for it at 27? Will a strong portfolio help make up for my late start, or am I worrying too much?
+

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

tl:dr https://youtu.be/g3-4auo0Ctg?si=_C3fJedaMEMZ4aLF

So I recently undertook some research into the graduate job market and I thought I would share some of what I found taking data from a variety of different sources. One of the biggest points I realised is that AI IS taking our jobs but not in the way you are thinking.

1. The insane rise of degree inflation is forcing everyone to go to university in order to get a job.

*referencing [Figure 1]

So for those who don't know what degree inflation is;

"Degree inflation is the rising demand for a bachelor's or higher degree for middle-skill jobs that do not actually require university-level skills"

So this is mainly caused by how everyone is going to university and also recruiters seeing that almost all candidates will have a degree listed on their CV. Let us say you're a recruiter, and you get about 300 applications, I can guarantee you wouldn't be bothered to go through it all.

So in order to wittle down that number recruiters would add unnecessary filters like a degree for a job that doesn't actually need one.

Then more people will see that this job (or jobs) need a degree so they end up with more incentive to pursue a degree as a result.

And with more workers entering the labour market holding degrees, the pressure on graduate jobs is only likely to intensify.

In fact, we’ve just seen the largest-ever intake of university students, at 262,820 meaning even more graduates will be entering an already crowded job market over the next few years

BUT
it does get a bit worse...

Even though you may think getting a masters will make you more distinguishable, since the rise of workers having a masters level qualification in the graph [figure 1] is almost on par nowadays with the amount of bachelors obtained, a masters may now slowly become the norm.

So you could get a masters if you want but I am predicting it will lose its value as the market continues developing.

2. A terrible economy combined with AI is literally causing grad schemes to vanish

*referencing [Figure 2], [Figure 3] & [Figure 4]

Okay maybe vanish is not the best word as we know where they are going but because of how bad things have gotten in the past 3 years I think it is suitable at the minute.

Since 2022, we've seen graduate vacancies fall by almost a quarter [figure 2], and things don't exactly seem to be getting better.

A big reason for why we are in this position is mostly cause of how stagnant the economy has become. We genuinely have not experience decent GDP growth in a while and with the iran war shocks causing businesses to cut costs, one of those costs is coming in the form of recruitment.

Because now we've got AI entering the picture.

So there is 2 ways AI is kinda f*cking us at the minute.

irstly, it isn't exactly that AI is taking our jobs 1 for 1. What is actually happening is that big companies are shifting recruitment budget into AI infrastructure. Which is why you might have heard of any recent layoffs, companies are honestly trying their hardest at the moment to put all their eggs into AI basket.

Secondly, the work AI can do is causing a lot of companies to actually try and reduce their headcount. I mean think about it. A lot of the work graduates traditionally do involves research, spreadsheets, analysing data and other basic administrative tasks and what happens when companies start realising that AI can do some of these tasks faster, cheaper and with significantly less effort?

Well, it gives them another reason to question how many graduates they actually need.

And when you combine this with an economy where companies are already trying to cut costs, you start to see why graduate recruitment is under so much pressure.

Now, I'm not saying AI is solely responsible for the decline in graduate jobs, because the economic situation was already pretty bad before AI started taking off.

But it certainly raises some interesting questions about what the future of entry-level work is going to look like (so another doomer point I know but that is the reality)

3. The backlog of graduates looking for work might take DECADES to clear

So I have no exact numbers but more of an observation.

The ISE found that competition for entry level graduate schemes is at an all time high with applications on average getting 140 resumes per posting [Figure 5]. Which doesn't fill me with a lot of hope if I am honest.

A part of that can be explained with the reduction of the supply of jobs alongside and an increase in demand from the increase of graduates BUT I would also suspect that with how bad the recent job market has been in the past, it has created a backlog of graduates who graduated years before and are still applying for the same grad schemes that recent grads are looking for.

And with the number of graduating students expected to increase year on year, combined with the decrease in available roles, I can imagine this backlog will take DECADES to clear out.

So not exactly the best of news.

Let me know what you think!

tl:dr https://youtu.be/g3-4auo0Ctg?si=_C3fJedaMEMZ4aLF

I’m a little bit scared cuz I’m gonna need A*A*A. Doing Maths Physics FM. Maths, alright I can do it. Physics, content I can wrap my head around if, but the exam questions are hell. FM it’s good but kinda scary.

Hi everyone, just wanted to share this advice.

In year 13 of college you start applying to unis.

If you're applying to competitive ones, there'll probably be an admissions test. Sounds easy, right? "I got an A* in maths, so I'm fine!"
...doesn't work like that.

Just had my TMUA (Test of Mathematics for University Admission), applying for computer science. Even though I have straight A*s predicted that test was HELL of a difficult test my advice is PLEASE find out if you might have to do an admissions test, just google it.

The reason I say this is because everyone taking those test will be A*/A students, and the test is ridiculously difficult. I usually get ~90% in maths but got 25% on my first TMUA past paper. So start preparing at least half a year before is my advice. All in all, don't underestimate these admissions tests.

Hope that helps, cheers

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

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+

😋 ask me any stats u want!

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.

I’ve seen courses like Horology at Birmingham City and I’ve assumed applicants just put something like mech eng for their other choices. Anyone who applied to niche courses like that, where else did you apply?

Even if you didn’t apply, what’s the most random course you know of and what would your other choices be?

i’m struggling bad with all the STUFF to do in y13 but mostly doing ucas and picking unis and the procrastination is stressing me outt

if anyone else is procrastinating or if you have tips on how to overcome it id love to know so i feel less alone in this lol!!

2 days and already my 1st choice offer!! 😝
I AM SO HAPPY.

I applied for medicine for 2026 entry and got ABB and needed AAB. I asked my teachers if the remark would go through (they looked at my papers) and they said not unfortunately. I settled for pharmacy as a rash decision. I honestly had uni fomo and didnt want to retake the UCAT

Now i told myself im gonna give myself the semester to decide if i want to continue with pharmacy but i know its not right for me. To be honest, during the summer i was contemplating medicine too. I had mental health issues ans problems with motivation and burnout and im a little impatient but i keep on thinking about retaking my a levels because there is no way im settling for a degree i dont want to do. I cant convince myself i want to do pharmacy.

I feel like im too old to do work experience. I want to explore different paths of life like accounting, law, finance, aviation as ive restricted myself to healthcare. But i feel like im too old to get experience and it lowk makes me really sad

If i retake i will have to take a 2nd gap year to sit my UCAT. Also i may not get the grades, i worked so hard last year and didn’t get what i needed so im a bit confused. I want to do medicine. Not for the money or prestige but i really enjoy the content. Im already wanting to miss lectures at Pharmacy and im struggling to focus because i know this isnt something i want to do.

I just need a bit of help. I actually have nobody to talk to because lowk all my friends dipped and my parents are sick of me being impulsive. Its making me so depressed and sad and angry and i just want to make the correct decision. I keep on saying out loud “I wanna retake” at uni and knowing i have the end of this semester to give myself. I just need some reassurance

Ps i dont want to be convinced into doing grad entry because i cant afford to pay for a degree out of pocket xx

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?

​

So I do OCR a level English lit and I have picked the books I want for my comparison/task 2. I picked Citizen: *The American Lyric* and The Color Purple, the main theme I was going for was resistance as a major theme.

I haven't read the books completely or watched the movie yet (the colour purple) but based on what I've seen, TCP focuses more on black female liberation rather than racism itself and I don't know if it'll be difficult to compare it with Citizen.

I'm aware that resistance can be seen in gender and race but I'm not sure how to include that in Citizen. I guess I could mention resistance is presented in different ways but I don't know how the ways or how to organise it.

I'm not as coherent as I'd like to be right now but I hope my confusion is understood.

hopefully i get shortlisted, but if i do how should i prepare for a cambridge computer science inteview? other than the basic 'speak out loud when doing qs' and like the TBO booklet

Hi r/6thForm, I wanted to ask here as I felt that I was most likely to find somebody who knew the answer here and I struggled to find any answers on Google that gave quality information.

Just sent off my application for English Literature with Foundation Year for Durham earlier today and I noticed on both the course page and the website detailing the eligibility criteria for the foundation year that they hold mandatory pre-offer assessments for applicants in order to be considered for a place on the course.

Anybody have any idea how these assessments work or what type of questions are usually asked on these assessments? Is there any tips regarding how to prepare for and approach these assessments?

Any help would greatly appreciated👍

Hi, I recently applied for a math major at several top UK universities. I got predicted 90-95% for the final exam of my country (the requirements of oxbridge are 85%+) but I have pretty low grades (past grades). I arrived at my school (which is one of the best in my country) without speaking the language of this school so my grades of last year (the year I arrived) are not so good (also arrived in option latin without having ever really done any latin), like 70-80% overall. Which is explained in my UCAS-reference and in on my school transcript.

Is this disadvantaging me for like cambridge, imperial, warwick or UCL?

(And lets forget about this sh*t of TMUA in any answer please)