If you have taken exams outside the UK, have already studied at University, or took your GCSE exams more than three years ago, you may well need to provide a transcript as part of your application to Cambridge. A transcript is a list of the examinations you have taken, the month and year of each exam, and the grades or scores that you achieved. Your transcript should include the results of all the examinations you have taken from the age of 15/16 to the present day. This includes examinations set by your school as well as any official / national examinations. We would like to know your result in each subject as well as any overall grades, scores or percentages.
Most applicants who are at school or sixth-form college in the UK will not need to send a transcript. However, UK students who have taken the following will need to send a transcript:
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For 2022/2023 entry, we will normally require transcripts only for applicants who have not taken six or more GCSEs, or five or more Scottish National Qualifications, in the last three years.
By transcript we mean a record of your academic achievement to date in your high school/college examinations, usually for the previous year of your study. However, if you’re taking the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma and took the Middle Years Programme (MYP), you should submit a transcript for the MYP. We would like to be provided with your teachers’ assessment of your academic performance to date.
If you have taken exams outside the UK since the age of 15 you need to send us a transcript of your qualifications. However, if you have taken any of the following qualifications you do not need to include details of them on your transcript:
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GCSE or IGCSE exams
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Modular A levels
In Modular A levels you sit module exams during the course rather than having all of your exams at the end of the two years -
CIE A Levels where you are provided with Percentage Uniform Marks.
Percentage Uniform Marks are not provided in all countries so do check this.
If you are a mature student or have taken fewer than 6 GCSEs (or 5 Scottish National Qualifications) in the last three years, you may also need to send a transcript. Check the link below to see if this is a requirement.
We strongly prefer to have the fullest possible information available to us in order to conduct a fair and holistic assessment.
Your transcript should be uploaded via an additional questionnaire, as appropriate. Please do NOT include references, detailed project work or any non-academic achievements.
We will ask you to attach your transcript to an online application form as a single pdf file not exceeding 3MB. It is important to plan in advance and prepare your pdf file so that you have it ready on your computer when you need it.
If you need to submit a transcript, you must send your transcript via the SAQ form. After you have submitted your UCAS form you will receive an email with log-in details for the SAQ. In question 7.7 on the SAQ, there is an "Attach Transcript" button.
Ideally, the original document should be written in English. If you have a certificate written in another language, please provide both the original document and a translation. The translation can be done by you or by an official translator.
We cannot accept emailed, posted or faxed transcripts and we do not want to receive duplicates of documents that you have submitted online. We do not need original documents during the application process.
Please follow instructions in the additional questionnaire carefully when submitting your transcript. It will be clear when you have successfully attached your pdf file. Please do not email King's to ask if we have received your transcript - we will automatically email any candidate whose transcript we have not received shortly after the relevant deadline. If we send you a reminder about submitting a transcript and you are not required to send one, please just reply to confirm that you do not need to send one.
Please keep any original hard copies and an electronic copy of your transcript safely in case we have any problems receiving your transcript and ask you to send it again.
What happens if I will receive some of my results after the application deadline?
Many candidates apply to us before they have all their results and this is no problem. We will work with predicted grades from your teachers (given in the reference on your UCAS application form) for exams that you have not yet taken. In these cases we normally make conditional offers in January and you must then achieve the grades in your subsequent exams.
If you receive your exam results in November or December after applying to us, we may be able to take your results into account during the selection process. Please email us with your certificate or results statement as an attachment, or a scan of a signed letter from a teacher at your school (this should be on school letter-headed paper). We are also happy to accept a clear screenshot as a temporary measure if you only have access to your results online, however please provide your certificate or results statement or a letter from your teacher as soon you can afterwards.
Please start your email with your full name, the subject that you are applying for (including 'Biological' or 'Physical' if you are applying for Natural Sciences) and UCAS number to ensure that we can add your results to your application as soon as possible.
If you are sitting US College Board exams such as SAT II subject tests or AP exams, please do not ask the College Board to send results to us directly - they go to the central Cambridge Admissions Office and risk being delayed or lost. If we make you an offer, we will ask you to send copies of your certificates later. For the application, we just need the information entered on the forms and transcript.
If you are already studying at a University outside the UK or have previously studied at University, you will need to send a transcript that includes the results of all the examinations you have taken since the age of 15/16, including those from your higher education institution. We realise that you may need to contact two different institutions to get the documents. This is no problem - please put them all in the pdf file that you send.
If you have any questions about submitting your transcript, please contact the SAQ helpline directly (saqhelp@admin.cam.ac.uk) rather than King's - we are not involved in the technicalities of submission and will not be able to help.
