IB students at an unfair disadvantage to A-levels?

Also, don't neg me for this, but IB seems much more easier, at least in my college. The IB guys have bloody 3 hour breaks, not to mention the normal lunch breaks!

My head of year reported Imperial to the IB office so its like a fudge you to them without having to actually boycott them or something :L

And tbh, predicted grades are a load of baloney, my school got really bad IB grades last year (it was the 1st year) and lowered all our predicteds so I've now applied to Cambridge with 557 predicted in my highers which obviously doesn't meet their entry requirements. But I only found out just before I applied so I just went ahead anyway. So I'm basically trying to say as long as your grades aren't massively far off Bristols apply anyway, you know seizing the day and all that jazz. Everyone needs one aspirational choice and then just make sure your others are more realistic.

Good luck with your application

The problem is, Bristol ask for 36 with 6,6,6. I was predicted a 5 for Bio and 6 for Psych, but our chemistry teacher last year was abysmal, and predicted most of us 2's... then he was sacked... but that's the only Chemistry prediction I have currently :/
Even so, my GCSE's (5A's and 5B's) aren't quite up to scratch either

But likewise, our college didn't do great last year since it was the first year, and there was a whole thing about them predicting way too high, so perhaps we're being underpredicted now...

Wow, 557 is still high!

The course I want to apply for is Neuroscience at Bristol. They have recently reviewed their entry requirements, and they now ask for 6,6,6 at HL, yet only AAB-ABB for A-levels.

Looking at the UCAS points awarded, that would mean that an IB student would need 330 points in HL alone, plus 40 points or so for each SL subject, so that's 450 points plus the additional requirements (TOK, EE, CAS).

If universities went on UCAS points alone, then IB students would be at an advantage, however, they ask for "35 points with 6,6,6 at Higher level".

35 IB points = 501 UCAS points.
So assuming you got 6,6,6 at HL (330 UCAS points), in order to get that 35, you'd also need at least 5,5,4 at SL - and that's assuming you get all 3 points for TOK, EE and CAS). So what they're asking for equates to at least around 650 points total. That's NOT 501, as stated for a 35.

For A-level, they ask for AAB = 340 UCAS points.

Statistically, the amount of students that get 6,6,6 is a lot lower than those that get AAA, assuming that a 6 equates to an A (which in fact it doesn't, a 6 is slightly harder to achieve than an A).

If my calculations are wrong somewhere, or I have missed something, please let me know.

It does not seem fair that IB students, who have chosen to take a more challenging course, are expected more of and are given harder offers than A-level students, who are given lower offers.

To be honest, I don't think IB students are at a disadvantage.

IB => more common in America, meant more for general apps
A-lvls => specific to UK, more than others.

I feel your pain, but you can't blame schools from preferring the local curriculum more than IB, especially since the vast majority of people take a-lvls.

Also, don't neg me for this, but IB seems much more easier, at least in my college. The IB guys have bloody 3 hour breaks, not to mention the normal lunch breaks!

But best of luck in your applications.