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Tutor Predictions

I think my son is going to be predicted ABB, he is hoping to get AAB, based on the predictions is there any point in him applying to Uni's with an AAB entry requirement ie will they base his application on tutors predictions.

Thanks

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Reply 1
Original post by Nervous Mum
I think my son is going to be predicted ABB, he is hoping to get AAB, based on the predictions is there any point in him applying to Uni's with an AAB entry requirement ie will they base his application on tutors predictions.

Thanks


From what I understand, predicted grades are one of the first things they use to filter applicants :smile:

So if someone is predicted ABB and the minimum entry requirement is AAB then it's unlikely they'll get an offer :smile:

EDIT: If you're going to neg (especially someone with that much rep power) then please point out what's wrong with this statement.
(edited 11 years ago)
I wish my mum cared this much about my education :daydreaming:
Reply 3
Original post by Nervous Mum
I think my son is going to be predicted ABB, he is hoping to get AAB, based on the predictions is there any point in him applying to Uni's with an AAB entry requirement ie will they base his application on tutors predictions.

Thanks


Surely this will depend a lot on AS results? And if he is he could always ask the tutor if they'll move him up one, nothing to lose.

Generally it's not advisable to apply to multiple unis with higher grades but it's worth putting in an application to one asking higher on the off chance.

Most people have 1 or 2 outside shots (so maybe Oxbridge for AAA+ students, an AAA for AAB predicted, AAB for ABB predicted and so on); 2-3 solid ones which ask for their grades and they should get into at least 1 of and 1 which asks for lower grades and will be their Insurance.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 4
I got an offer for Lancaster which was ABB when I was predicted BBB so yes :smile: it's possible!

I also only achieved CCC at AS level, so, my references and PS definitely made the difference. As long as your Son goes for a few 'safe' choices then he'll be fine :smile: he's got nothing to lose by applying!
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 5
My own thoughts were that the schools reputation is at stake and they wouldn't want to predict grades if they did not think the students were capable.

In my son's case, I think the capability is there with hard work and I think his tutor thinks that but it's whether he is prepared to put the exta effort in. He has always sat at the top of his sets by sheer ability but A levels are a whole different ball game and he needs to put lots of effort in.

I think he has been slightly hampered in year 12, he had three tutors for one subject of which two they worshipped and one they thought was useless and he I believe was teaching them the module that he found the hardest. This was Decision Maths, hates it with a passion and refuses point blank to resit it. This means of course that he cannot afford to slip up on the other 12. Luckily going into year 13 they have only two tutors, one is God and the other is God's assistant.

The other distraction has been the introduction of girls into sixth form and the social life that suddenly has exploded in these years.

I have everything crossed but I feel like even though it is the summer holidays he should be studying, he had said that he was going to teach himself a couple of extra statistics modules so that he had something to play with but that hasn't happened yet. It might be that now he has two excellent tutors of which they have the utmost respect, then he might feel capable of getting an A in each of the remaining modules. Am I correct in thinking he has to get above 80% to get an A in a module.

Thanks
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by Nervous Mum
My own thoughts were that the schools reputation is at stake and they wouldn't want to predict grades if they did not think the students were capable.


This is the limitation yes. If the school one year predicts everyone AAA and only 5 meet their offers the following year will be disadvantaged as universities ignore their predictions. I had a similar problem and basically had to convince my teachers I was going to put the work in at A2. If your son talks to them and they believe he's going to seriously dial up the effort they may revise a prediction.



In my son's case, I think the capability is there with hard work and I think his tutor thinks that but it's whether he is prepared to put the exta effort in. He has always sat at the top of his sets by sheer ability but A levels are a whole different ball game and he needs to put lots of effort in.

I think he has been slightly hampered in year 12, he had three tutors for one subject of which two they worshipped and one they thought was useless and he I believe was teaching them the module that he found the hardest. This was Decision Maths, hates it with a passion and refuses point blank to resit it. This means of course that he cannot afford to slip up on the other 12. Luckily going into year 13 they have only two tutors, one is God and the other is God' assistant.

The other distraction has been the introduction of girls into sixth form and the social life that suddenly has exploded in these years.

I have everything crossed but I feel like even though it is the summer holidays he should be studying, he had said that he was going to teach himself a couple of extra statistics modules so that he had something to play with but that hasn't happened yet. It might be that now he has two excellent tutors of which they have the utmost respect, then he might feel capable of getting an A in each of the remaining modules. Am I correct in thinking he has to get above 80% to get an A in a module.

Thanks


It's only 2 weeks since they broke up! He may just be having a normal length holiday before using the remaining 4 weeks to get started on some A2 stuff.

That is true, overall you need 80% (think it's still 480/600) over all the modules you take at AS and A2 to get an A grade. B is 70%, C 60% and so on. A*s a re slightly different, think it's 90% or more in just the A2 papers but I'm not sure as they didn't exist when I did A Level.
Reply 7
Original post by Nervous Mum
I think my son is going to be predicted ABB, he is hoping to get AAB, based on the predictions is there any point in him applying to Uni's with an AAB entry requirement ie will they base his application on tutors predictions.

Thanks


I was predicted ABB when I should have been predicted AAB, I decided to risk it regardless and applied to my first choice but got rejected because of my history teachers prediction; the most annoying thing is throughout my A-levels she has been saying to me continuously that I should be able to get an A! :rant:

Edit: Uhm, no reason for that neg as far as I can see :s
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by Nervous Mum
I think my son is going to be predicted ABB, he is hoping to get AAB, based on the predictions is there any point in him applying to Uni's with an AAB entry requirement ie will they base his application on tutors predictions.

Thanks

Different universities (and different departments within the same university) may have different policies about whether to consider applicants whose predicted grades are below the entry requirements. The best way to find out would be to email the universities that he is interested in. :smile:
Reply 9
Uni's will base offers on predicted grades rather than AS grades, so if he is predicted AAB and wants to apply somewhere that has AAB requirements then it's worth a try :smile:
Reply 10
I think I'm going to be the same as your son, my plan is to talk to my geography teacher (the subject I think I'll be getting a B in) and convince her that I'm going to really put the effort in and get the A I'm capable of. In my opinion your son would be better off talking to his teachers himself as this proves that he's the one who is pushing for the A, as if you talk to his teacher they may just think that your son isn't really bothered, which I'm sure he is!
Predictions are based on AS results, so he might do better than he thinks. Plus teachers might bump the grade up if they're redoing modules.

And he should still apply even if he does only get an ABB prediction. If someone has an outstanding PS with lots of experience and a good reference, then that can make up for one grade dropped, but it also depends how competitive it is.
Original post by Nervous Mum
I think my son is going to be predicted ABB, he is hoping to get AAB, based on the predictions is there any point in him applying to Uni's with an AAB entry requirement ie will they base his application on tutors predictions.

I think it would depend on how competitive the course is. Fx, you wouldn't get an interview to read Medicine if your predicted grades are less than AAA. However, for other courses they may take other things into account, so ABB predictions could be offset by something else. The only way to be sure is to call the admissions people and ask. Some courses/departments are also aware that some students (mainly boys) are late developers, but you would probably need to show evidence if you think that applies to your son.

You can also talk to the school staff and explain how much it would mean to your son to be predicted AAB, and how hard he is going to work for those grades (actually, the second bit might come better from him). It's not impossible that you could sweet-talk them into making a more favourable prediction.
I was predicted a C in physics despite achieving a B. I then went to talk to the head and she just changed it to an A.

I applied to A*AA universities knowing that I was only predicted ABC and still got in.
Reply 14
Original post by Nervous Mum
My own thoughts were that the schools reputation is at stake and they wouldn't want to predict grades if they did not think the students were capable.


But if you think about it, most schools have about 100ish students in a year and not all will apply to uni. Even bigger schools wont have amazingly high numbers. Spread around all the unis in the UK that's only a few per uni. So each uni gets gets the predictions for a handful of students from each school, and not all will get an offer or accept their offer so the unis won't look at their results carefully anyway. So the actual data unis will look at is probably one student from that school which isn't really enough to make any judgements on that school's predicting skills.

So unis won't have enough information to say "X school is unreliable!" and the theory of monkeys typewriters says even the worst schools will predict something right occasionally.


Schools predict grades differently. Look around TSR enough and you'll see that. Some people post that their school predicts same as AS, other schools predict one lower than AS as A Level is harder, and other predict one higher because students are thought to be more motivated to achieve. Not all of these can be as accurate, clearly, but nothing bad has happened yet.

Original post by Nervous Mum
I think he has been slightly hampered in year 12, he had three tutors for one subject of which two they worshipped and one they thought was useless and he I believe was teaching them the module that he found the hardest. This was Decision Maths, hates it with a passion and refuses point blank to resit it. This means of course that he cannot afford to slip up on the other 12. Luckily going into year 13 they have only two tutors, one is God and the other is God's assistant.
Decision maths is often viewed as easy and not "real maths". But having different teachers for the same subject isn't uncommon, especially for something like maths where different teachers will teach different flavours.



Original post by wibletg
From what I understand, predicted grades are one of the first things they use to filter applicants :smile:

So if someone is predicted ABB and the minimum entry requirement is AAB then it's unlikely they'll get an offer :smile:

EDIT: If you're going to neg (especially someone with that much rep power) then please point out what's wrong with this statement.

Some unis will judge on predicted grades alone for some subjects. Others will look at other things - Durham for example places a lot of emphasis on GCSE results, and for some courses like medicine every applicant has high predictions so that would be a useless selector.

Original post by roh
Most people have 1 or 2 outside shots (so maybe Oxbridge for AAA+ students, an AAA for AAB predicted, AAB for ABB predicted and so on); 2-3 solid ones which ask for their grades and they should get into at least 1 of and 1 which asks for lower grades and will be their Insurance.

This is generally how it's advised. But it may work out slightly differently, because people need to apply where they feel happiest. It's been known that people fall in love with unis asking for lower grades only, or that someone doesn't like any lower grade unis. There's also [wiki]UCAS_Extra[/wiki] and Clearing.

Original post by Glacier
Different universities (and different departments within the same university) may have different policies about whether to consider applicants whose predicted grades are below the entry requirements. The best way to find out would be to email the universities that he is interested in. :smile:

They probably won't say, because if they wanted everyone to know it would be on their prospectus/website.

Original post by laura1234
Uni's will base offers on predicted grades rather than AS grades, so if he is predicted AAB and wants to apply somewhere that has AAB requirements then it's worth a try :smile:

Not necessarily.
Reply 15
Original post by Juno
Some unis will judge on predicted grades alone for some subjects. Others will look at other things - Durham for example places a lot of emphasis on GCSE results, and for some courses like medicine every applicant has high predictions so that would be a useless selector.


Yeah of course, but if a candidate is clearly not going to achieve the minimum entry requirements then they aren't going to waste an offer on them? (unless of course there are extenuating circumstances) :smile:
Reply 16
Original post by wibletg
Yeah of course, but if a candidate is clearly not going to achieve the minimum entry requirements then they aren't going to waste an offer on them? (unless of course there are extenuating circumstances) :smile:


It's not wasting an offer, though. Unis make may more offers than places so they won't care about an extra one or two. And even if someone does get an offer it means they need to achieve those grades, so if they don't the uni hasn't lost anything.
Reply 17
Original post by Juno
They probably won't say, because if they wanted everyone to know it would be on their prospectus/website.

It's probably still worth asking though. One of my friends emailed around 10 AAA universities to ask if his A*AB predictions would be accepted. He got over 5 responses, of which 2 said that they would consider his application and the rest said that they wouldn't.
I was predicted ABB and i applied for Top Uni for a course which was AAB, i got told not to apply for it but they accepted me due to the fact that i called them up and said that i feel that my predicted grades might be a bit low which was backed up by getting As in a January resits

Towards the end of this year, i was predicted 3 As, so it is possible to improve over a year
(edited 11 years ago)
I had predictions of AAB and applied to 3 universities who typically give out AAA offers. All of them offered me a place and one actually lowered the offer to AAB (most likely due to my predictions, because it allowed me to get a B in Biology, as predicted). So it shouldn't harm their application much, especially as some of my AS results didn't suggest that my predictions would actually be reached. It is true that predictions are what they look at first but it isn't the only important factor, if they are promising enough then they will consider all other aspects of the application, and thats the point where personal statements, AS results and other qualifications are really important.

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