31 October 2023

What are academic conditions?

Academic conditions define the qualifications required by offers, such as 136 UCAS tariff points or A levels at grade A, A, and B. Academic conditions are defined by the reference data Offer library condition.

Academic conditions have types for different types of qualifications as detailed in the table Condition types. Academic conditions also have applicant-facing descriptions, which are used to compose the offer text used in communicating decisions to applicants. The applicant-facing description is also displayed with the conditions on the applicant portal.

Condition types

Example qualification	Condition type	Description
UCAS points	Points	Tariffs with a minimum number of points required to pass the conditions. For more information on application points, go to What are application points?
GCSE, A Level	Points-based grades	Graded qualifications with grades and subjects or the minimum grade required to pass. For more information on graded qualifications, go to What are qualifications?
English language test	Qualification score and unit score	Overall score and score for units, such as reading and listening. For more information on English language tests, go to What are qualifications?

Points

Conditions with the type Points define academic conditions with points tariffs, such as UCAS points. Points tariffs have a minimum number of points that applicants must attain to pass the condition, such as 136 UCAS points.

Points-based grades

Conditions with the type Points-based grades define academic conditions with use qualifications with graded outcomes, such as A levels or an International Baccalaureate. Points-based grades define the grades required to pass the condition, such as A level at grade, and the subjects of the grades.

Grades

Grades define the minimum grades required to pass the condition. Grades are defined in the reference data Qualification grade collection. The mark scheme of the qualification grade collection defines the that the grades are for an A level, GCSE, International Baccalaureate, and so on. The qualification grade collection can define a single grade, such as A level at grade B or an International Baccalaureate grade 5, or a collection of grades, such as A level grades A, A, and B.

Subjects

Subjects define the subjects for the grades required to pass the condition. The subjects used in conditions are defined in the reference data Qualification subject collection. The qualification grade collection can define a single subject, such as physics, or a collection of subjects, such as a science collection with biology, chemistry, and physics.

Subjects can be included or excluded. For example, a condition for three A levels including biology and physics but excluding general studies. Included and excluded subjects are defined by the Included subject collection and the Excluded subject collection.

Conditions also define the minimum and maximum number of included subjects that can be used to pass the condition. For example, a science collection with biology, chemistry, and physics can define that only two subjects from the science collection can count towards passing the condition. The minimum and maximum number of subjects can define an exact number of included subjects or a range of subjects as detailed in the table Included subjects,

Included subjects

Minimum and maximum subjects	Example
Set to the same value to define the exact number of included subjects	A condition requires three qualifications with only two subjects only from a collection of five science subjects defined by an included subject collection. Therefore, the minimum and maximum included subjects for the condition is two. The third subject must be in a subject that is not in the included subjects collection.
Set to different values to define a range of included subjects	A condition requires three qualifications with one or two subjects from a collection of five science subjects defined by an included subjects collection. Therefore, the minimum included subjects for the condition is one and the maximum included subjects for the condition is two. The third qualification must be in a subject that is not included in the included subjects collection.

Qualification score

Qualification score conditions are used for qualifications, such as English language tests, that have scored outcomes. The qualifications, such as Test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL), are defined in the reference data Qualification collection. Qualification score conditions have elements that define the Qualification mark scheme of the condition, such as Test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL).

Qualification score conditions can have a minimum score to pass the conditions. For example, a condition for a Test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL) qualification has a minimum overall score of 250.

Unit score

Unit score conditions are used with the units of English language tests, such as listening and reading. The Qualification collection defines the testing system, such as Test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL) and the units are defined in the reference data Qualification unit subject.

Unit scores can have a minimum score to pass the conditions, such as a reading unit score of 22.

Example conditions

The example academic conditions describe the reference data required for the academic conditions.

UCAS tariff points

A levels

English language tests