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Predicted Grades really bad...but actual exams superb?

In my IGCSEs, for my Mocs I've had terrible grades. Ds and Es all over the place and it really depressed me, but then later I got my act together and for the final exams I've had mostly Bs and one D in Chinese, but an A in ICT and almost an A in my English Literature.

But that's another thing.

I'm not feeling too confident in my IB Moc exams I've just finished. I had no idea wrote for my Biology HL since I used most of my time to study the sections I'm horrible in and it turned out that the sections I studied only appeared little in the test.

Anyway...

A question for you guys. If I get really horrible predicted grades (let's say 3s and 4s) but then I get better overall in the finals (6s and 7s)...what happens? Okay I know I may be over-reacting a little bit and I'm sure my results will be fine (fine as in mainly 5s. Hey I'm being realistic over here D :smile:

but what if it turns out like that?

Will the majority of Universities look at my final marks neglect the predicted?

Reply 1

saachi

Um, I wouldn't be too optimistic. I've heard a lot of cases where someone was predicted about 10 points higher than they actually got, but none where someone was predicted low and got high. Of course it's possible, because the IB marking is horribly erratic.

Same, for my IGCSE mocks I also got C's and D's, and in the finals I got ALL A's!!! What a shock :tongue:

But IB is very, very different from IGCSE. Personally I think predicted grades matter far more than actual grades, because you get offers based on your predicted grades. Like, for example, my 37 predicted got me an offer from 34 from my top choice, but now even if I actually only get 34 I still meet the offer conditions and go there.

There's this new thing on UCAS, though, I've forgotten what it's called. It's exactly for these cases where a person's actual grades are better than their predicted's. I think it's called Adjustment or something, but I don't think it's very useful because most good universities would have already filled up their places by the time results come out. I could be wrong though, be sure to check it out if you feel you're going to score higher than your predicted.

EDIT: Oh, yeah and my mocks went horribly as well, got a total score of about 31/2... Without bonus, but yeah :frown:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

username862188

31 and 32 is not that bad in comparison to most of the predicted grades here xD Oh and these are just my 2nd term mocks. We haven't really done any IAs, but we're got our EEs and I've got mines approved. I've had my predicted grades before and they were absolutely horrible. I have no idea why, all the tests I've done so far were mainly 6s :frown:

Oh look I'm rambling again LOL. How much will these 2nd term 1st Year mocks contribute to my predicted grades? If I study extremely hard this term (let's say every test/assessment are 7s), will that aid in giving me a significant push?

Reply 3

saachi

Original post by xBlythe

First year doesn't matter at all! I got 32 at the end of year 1 without studying at all, without bonus (though to be fair my EE was a B and TOK an A) and my predicted was 37. I still don't think it was a fair prediction based on my efforts (I get by with minimal work in subjects I don't like), but I think my IBC had a lot of faith in my potential :redface:

You should seriously talk to your teachers if they aren't predicting you fair grades. If you get 6's in tests there's no freaking way they should predict you less than a 6. If you want my advice, send off your UCAS application when your grades are peaking. I sent mine off when I was getting 35 + 3 bonus points, because I was actually working hard at that time. Otherwise I'm not so hardworking, I've actually dropped to 28 when I slack off.

For UK universities, only predicted grades and then final exams matter. All these mocks, tests, mid- terms, etc don't count at all once your application has been sent off. Just send it off when you're working hard and doing your best- timing is everything :smile:

Reply 4

Doolally

On your ucas form you only enter one set of grades, so if you have your actual ones you just enter those and universities won't ever know you were predicted less, it won't matter at all! So if you're applying in your last year of sixth form where unis only have your predicted grades to go by and they're 3/4s, then you won't get into unis asking for 6s and 7s, but if you're applying after finishing IB and have those results then it's fine!

IB grades are really tough to predict, like I was underpredicted by 8 points and another girl at my school was overpredicted by 11!

Also mocks are only designed to scare you, don't let them freak you out too much because the only thing that matters is your final score on that diploma :smile:

good luck with revision!

Reply 5

georgemullens

Quite frankly, if there is a huge difference between your predicted grades and your final exam results, you could take a gap year and re-apply to better unis

Reply 6

georgemullens

Also, predicted grades are important when it comes to applications. For my final exam, chances are I'm going to get 39/40 points including bonus points, when instead I was predicted 38 (including bonus), as you can imagine, the difference between 36 (my subject prediction) and 40 is HUGE. But when it comes to mocks, it is to let you have an experience of the actual IB exams rather than get an Idea what you're going to get. I got 32 in my mocks, so, don't worry about them too much :smile:

Reply 7

username862188

Thanks a lot people, you guys really helped me a lot :smile:

Well my Mocks aren't that bad...except for Maths...but I'll post another thread later (Sorry for being so annoying LOL). Thanks for all the support and replies!

I'm pretty new to these forums so if there are any "mods" who would like to "lock" this thread, they are free to do so.