What grades do you need for UCL Law?

What grades do you need for UCL Law?

UCL’s standard offer is A*AA at A-level for all five of its Law degrees, with GCSE English Language and Mathematics at grade 6 (B). If you are eligible for Access UCL, the contextual offer is AAB, with those two GCSEs at grade 4 (C). The IB offer is 39 points, with 19 from three Higher Level subjects.^[1][2]

Note that these are the requirements UCL published for 2026 entry. Of the 2027-entry course pages we could read only the one for Law with German Law, which repeats them unchanged,^[2] so we recommend checking the course page for your own degree before you apply.

Your predicted grades are the first thing UCL checks. The Faculty says that if you are not predicted to meet or exceed the entry requirements, it will not consider your application any further.^[4] There is no interview for LLB Law, so once your application passes that check, your GCSEs, your predicted grades, your LNAT result, your personal statement and your reference are read together.^[5][6] Meeting the minimum requirements guarantees nothing, since UCL describes all its LLB degrees as heavily over-subscribed.^[4]

What A-levels do you need?

A*AA, with the A* in any subject. LLB Law and the dual degree with Hong Kong have no required subjects, but at least two of your three A-levels should come from UCL’s list of preferred subjects. Within that list the Faculty holds no preferences, and A-level Law is on it.^[5][7]

There are five points to bear in mind about the offer:

1. General Studies, Critical Thinking and Global Perspectives and Research are not accepted.^[7]
2. The three language degrees ask for A*AA including French, German or Spanish, and UCL asks for complete fluency in the language. If you are a native speaker you do not need a formal qualification in it, but your referee should confirm your proficiency.^[2][4]
3. Your grades must come from one sitting. A*AA built up over two years (AA in one year and an A* the next, for example) does not meet the requirement.^[4]
4. UCL Laws does not accept A-level resits, including restarting Year 12, unless your first attempt was affected by extenuating circumstances. This is an exception: UCL’s general policy is to consider resits, but all five Law degrees are on its list of courses that do not.^[4][7]
5. If you take more than three A-levels, UCL considers your three highest grades, and it does not use UCAS tariff points.^[7]

Other qualifications are accepted at the same standard: for example, A1,A,A at Advanced Higher, or an Access to HE Diploma with 36 credits at Distinction and 9 at Merit. BTEC National Diplomas, T Levels and the UAL Extended Diploma are not accepted for Law.^[1] UCL Laws also asks for English at its Level 4 (for example, IELTS 7.5 overall with 7.0 in each part), although you do not need to prove it when you apply.^[4]

How do your predicted grades affect your chances?

A great deal, it seems. An FOI reply of October 2020 gives the predicted grades of every LLB Law applicant with three or more A-levels for 2019 and 2020 entry, and of those who received an offer.^[8] The chart shows the offer rate for the four most common predictions with exactly three A-levels.

As you can see, applicants predicted A*A*A* were about three times as likely to receive an offer as those predicted A*AA (55.1% against 17.8% over the two years), and the pattern was much the same in each year.^[8] Note, however, that the reply has no LNAT column, so it cannot show how much of this difference comes from the grades themselves and how much from the other strengths, such as a high LNAT score, that applicants with high predictions tend to have. Note also that 19 applicants predicted AAA, below the standard offer, received offers. The reply does not say whether these were contextual offers, but since the Access UCL offer is AAB, that seems the likeliest explanation (this is our guess).

The same reply shows what offer holders were predicted. Of the offer holders with three or more predicted A-levels, about one in five was predicted exactly A*AA (54 of 292 for 2019 entry, and 84 of 392 for 2020), and about seven in ten were predicted at least two A*s.^[8] Earlier figures point the same way: for 2013 to 2017 entry, applicants were predicted an average of 1.4 to 1.5 A*s and offer holders 2.1 to 2.2.^[9]

Having said that, if you are predicted A*AA, you should not give up on UCL. Offer holders predicted exactly A*AA were still a fifth of the total. What the figures do suggest is that, with A*AA, your LNAT and the rest of your application will have to show more.

Do your GCSEs matter?

UCL sets one GCSE requirement for Law: English Language and Mathematics at grade 6 (B), or grade 4 (C) for a contextual offer.^[1] The Faculty Tutor may waive the grade 6 requirement where there is good reason, though not below grade 5 except in very exceptional circumstances, and you may resit GCSEs.^[4]

Beyond that, UCL publishes no GCSE rule. Since there is no interview for LLB Law, your GCSEs are read with the rest of your written application, and for most applicants they are the only exam results UCL can see. UCL has released some GCSE figures in FOI replies, all of them on the old letter scale.^[9]

There are three things to notice here:

1. Offer holders held more A*s than applicants. Between 2013 and 2017 entry, offer holders averaged 6.4 to 7.4 A*s at GCSE or IGCSE, against 4.0 to 4.6 for applicants.^[9] The reply gives averages because the requester asked for them; it does not say that UCL counts A*s when it selects.
2. The averages cover only applicants who held GCSE grades when they applied, between 43% and 50% of the field in those years.^[9]
3. The next year’s figures look very different. For the 2018 cycle UCL reported that offer holders averaged 2.9 A*s and 6.1 As, and applicants 3 A*s and 3.6 As.^[10] UCL does not explain the change, so we treat these counts as a historical measure only.

UCL has also given the weakest GCSE results among its offer holders with five or more GCSEs: AAABC for 2019 entry and AABBB for 2020 entry.^[8] The reply does not say whether these were contextual offers. We have found no figures on the 9 to 1 scale.

By comparison, Oxford’s Law Faculty publishes the average number of GCSEs of the candidates it shortlists and of those who receive an offer,^[11] and Cambridge’s statistics dashboard covers applicants’ qualifications.^[12] For UCL the picture has to be pieced together from FOI replies.

What if you take the IB?

The IB offer is 39 points, with a total of 19 from three Higher Level subjects and no Higher Level score below 5. The language degrees also need the language at Higher Level grade 6. The contextual offer is 36 points with 17 at Higher Level.^[1][2] These are UCL’s standard equivalents of A*AA and AAB; it treats 40 points with 20 at Higher Level as the equivalent of A*A*A.^[7]

UCL has released figures on its IB applicants in two replies.^[13][14]

There are three things to notice here:

1. IB applicants are a small part of the field (312 to 401 a year for 2018 to 2022 entry), but they received about one offer in five for 2017 to 2020 entry.^[13][14]
2. IB applicants were predicted well above the offer: an average of 41 or 42 points, and 43 for those who received an offer.^[13] The July 2021 reply gives lower averages (39.0 to 39.6 for applicants and 40.7 to 41.0 for offer holders), and it calls them IB scores, so it may be counting achieved scores or another measure; the two replies do not say. On either measure, offer holders were above the offer of 39.^[14]
3. The spreadsheet also counts the IB students who “got in” (45, 50, 70, 60 and 30 for 2018 to 2022 entry). For 2018 to 2020 entry these are 42% to 48% of the offers to IB applicants, so they are more likely to be students who enrolled, although the spreadsheet does not say.^[13][14]

What is Access UCL, and who qualifies?

Access UCL is UCL’s contextual offer scheme. If you are eligible and UCL selects you for an offer, you receive a lower one: for Law, AAB in place of A*AA, with GCSE English Language and Mathematics at grade 4, or 36 points in the IB with 17 at Higher Level. Subject requirements stay, so the language degrees still need the language.^[3][1]

The scheme is for UK-domiciled applicants who attend or attended a UK state school for their A-levels (or equivalent). You may be eligible if one or more of the following applies:^[3]

1. your home postcode is in the most deprived fifth of areas (IMD quintile 1) or in the lowest fifth for progression to higher education (TUNDRA quintile 1);
2. you were registered for free school meals at some point in the six years up to the end of Key Stage 4 (being eligible but not registered does not count);
3. you are under 25 and have been estranged from both parents for at least six months;
4. you are under 25 and have been looked after by a local authority for at least three months (in this case you may also be eligible from a UK independent school).

There is no separate application. For most people UCL picks up eligibility from the UCAS form, but if you qualify through free school meals you must email UCL within two weeks of applying, and care-experienced and estranged applicants must send evidence.^[3] Being a refugee or other forced migrant does not by itself make you eligible, and applicants who already hold a degree are not eligible.^[3]

What does it change?

Access UCL lowers the grades in your offer, but UCL says that eligibility gives no indication that you will receive one.^[3] The scheme’s page says nothing about the LNAT, and UCL does not say whether its Section A threshold differs for contextual applicants. It does publish their average: contextual offer holders averaged 27 in 2025/26, against 30 for all offer holders, 26.3 against 29.4 in 2024/25, and 28 against 29.8 in 2023/24.^[15][4]

The only Law-specific counts we have found are in an FOI reply: UCL made 18 contextual offers to LLB Law applicants for 2019 entry and 45 for 2020 entry.^[8] We have found no more recent count. UCL is also a member of Realising Opportunities, and students who complete that programme receive a reduced offer, although UCL does not say by how much.^[5]

What if your circumstances are different?

UCL Laws has a few rules that apply to particular groups of applicants. In general, it applies the same entry requirements to everyone.^[5][4]

1. If you will be 21 or over when you start, you are a mature applicant. You must still meet the entry requirements, and UCL looks for evidence that you can study law at degree level; the GCSE grade 6 requirement has been waived in the past for mature students on an Access course.^[5][4]
2. If you already have a degree or are studying for one and your school qualifications fall short, UCL Laws asks for an upper second-class degree (2:1). There is no senior status or accelerated entry: everyone starts in year one.^[4][5]
3. UCL Laws does not accept transfers from students already studying at another university, and if you apply again in a later year you must sit the LNAT again.^[5]
4. Deferral is at the Faculty’s discretion, for one year only, and only if UCL is your firm choice.^[5]
5. UCL accepts only a named list of foundation courses (among them the Access to HE Diploma and UCL’s own Undergraduate Preparatory Certificates).^[4]

How should you plan around your grades?

There is no interview for LLB Law, so your grades are read alongside your LNAT result and your personal statement when UCL decides. With that in mind, we recommend five things.

1. Aim for predictions above A*AA if you can. Applicants predicted A*A*A* received offers at about three times the rate of those predicted A*AA for 2019 and 2020 entry, and about seven in ten offer holders were predicted at least two A*s.^[8]
2. Do not resit an A-level in the hope of meeting the offer, because UCL Laws will not accept the resit unless your first attempt was affected by extenuating circumstances.^[4]
3. Make sure your GCSE English Language and Mathematics meet grade 6, or grade 4 if you are eligible for Access UCL. If you fall short, you can resit them.^[1][4]
4. Check your Access UCL eligibility early. If you qualify through free school meals, email UCL within two weeks of applying, since it may otherwise not know.^[3]
5. If you are applying for a language degree, be honest about your level. UCL asks for complete fluency and tests it in an online interview, so we do not recommend applying with a weak profile in the language.^[2][6]