The Student Room Group

Frustration when a teacher underestimates your ability?

I recently received a rejection from a university that I was absolute desperate to get into and the reason they gave for rejecting me was because I wasn't predicted an A* in maths.
We had a new teacher for our A2 year and so she didn't know us very well, but I was still surprised when she predicted me an A instead of an A* as (not sounding boastful) but I'm actually one of the best at maths in the class. Anyway I assumed she had good reasons and so ignored it.
Now I've found out that about 3/4 of the class (lots of whom aren't brilliant at maths) were predicted an A* and I wasn't. In all the practice papers I've done recently I've got over 90% and I'm the fastest worker in the class. It just made me really frustrated that I didn't get into this university even though I'm pretty certain if I work hard I will end up getting an A* in maths :frown: It's been known for teachers to over predict for grades not under predict.

Anyway sorry for the rant, has anyone else had a similar experience with teachers about this sort of thing? It's just so frustrating :frown:
Reply 1
Original post by hellie7
I recently received a rejection from a university that I was absolute desperate to get into and the reason they gave for rejecting me was because I wasn't predicted an A* in maths.
We had a new teacher for our A2 year and so she didn't know us very well, but I was still surprised when she predicted me an A instead of an A* as (not sounding boastful) but I'm actually one of the best at maths in the class. Anyway I assumed she had good reasons and so ignored it.
Now I've found out that about 3/4 of the class (lots of whom aren't brilliant at maths) were predicted an A* and I wasn't. In all the practice papers I've done recently I've got over 90% and I'm the fastest worker in the class. It just made me really frustrated that I didn't get into this university even though I'm pretty certain if I work hard I will end up getting an A* in maths :frown: It's been known for teachers to over predict for grades not under predict.

Anyway sorry for the rant, has anyone else had a similar experience with teachers about this sort of thing? It's just so frustrating :frown:


Didn't they tell you your predicted grades before hand?
Cos that seems totally unfair, being judged by your new teacher on a short term basis. Definitely think you should complain especially if that uni was somewhere you desired to go.
prove them wrong. I got rejected from a private snob-ish school because I would fail English and History. Got a B and A. If its your drem uni, reapply next year with an A*.
Original post by hellie7
I recently received a rejection from a university that I was absolute desperate to get into and the reason they gave for rejecting me was because I wasn't predicted an A* in maths.
We had a new teacher for our A2 year and so she didn't know us very well, but I was still surprised when she predicted me an A instead of an A* as (not sounding boastful) but I'm actually one of the best at maths in the class. Anyway I assumed she had good reasons and so ignored it.
Now I've found out that about 3/4 of the class (lots of whom aren't brilliant at maths) were predicted an A* and I wasn't. In all the practice papers I've done recently I've got over 90% and I'm the fastest worker in the class. It just made me really frustrated that I didn't get into this university even though I'm pretty certain if I work hard I will end up getting an A* in maths :frown: It's been known for teachers to over predict for grades not under predict.

Anyway sorry for the rant, has anyone else had a similar experience with teachers about this sort of thing? It's just so frustrating :frown:


yea i went through the same thing.. although i do IB. i was predicted a 6 in maths sl although i usually got straight A's in class and in all exams.. now yesterday i was done with both math papers and i can say that im going to be disappointed if i do not get a 7.. and the fact that he predicted me a 6 didn't affect my uni applications that much but still i was disappointed. did a 90% in my mocks too which meant an A, and i hadn't even studied fully. the irony is that the teacher told other students in front of me that i was the brightest in class, but still predicted another guy a 7 whereas i was predicted a 6 :/
definitely frustrating!
Reply 4
Do you know for a fact your predicted grade was the reason you were rejected? Because it probably wasn't (unless they explicitly stated this).
Original post by hellie7
I recently received a rejection from a university that I was absolute desperate to get into and the reason they gave for rejecting me was because I wasn't predicted an A* in maths.
We had a new teacher for our A2 year and so she didn't know us very well, but I was still surprised when she predicted me an A instead of an A* as (not sounding boastful) but I'm actually one of the best at maths in the class. Anyway I assumed she had good reasons and so ignored it.
Now I've found out that about 3/4 of the class (lots of whom aren't brilliant at maths) were predicted an A* and I wasn't. In all the practice papers I've done recently I've got over 90% and I'm the fastest worker in the class. It just made me really frustrated that I didn't get into this university even though I'm pretty certain if I work hard I will end up getting an A* in maths :frown: It's been known for teachers to over predict for grades not under predict.

Anyway sorry for the rant, has anyone else had a similar experience with teachers about this sort of thing? It's just so frustrating :frown:


Fastest worker doesn't mean anything.
Reply 6
Original post by Iqbal007
Didn't they tell you your predicted grades before hand?
Cos that seems totally unfair, being judged by your new teacher on a short term basis. Definitely think you should complain especially if that uni was somewhere you desired to go.


I was told I was being predicted an A, but it was only recently I found out that practically everyone else in the class were predicted A*s most of whom won't get that and I was rejected because of this :frown: I would love to complain, but it seems too late now. I got an offer from my second choice though, but obviously still not first choice! :frown:
Reply 7
Original post by JaggySnake95
Fastest worker doesn't mean anything.


perhaps you misread? I said I am getting over 90% in all papers/assignments
Reply 8
Original post by lukas1051
Do you know for a fact your predicted grade was the reason you were rejected? Because it probably wasn't (unless they explicitly stated this).


they said it was :frown: they said 'although it is not a requirement, there were other applicants with similar qualifications to you who had a higher prediction in maths and so they were given preference' the annoying this is, half of these people given offers probably won't even get it and because it's not part of the offer it won't matter :frown:
Reply 9
Original post by justmyopinions
prove them wrong. I got rejected from a private snob-ish school because I would fail English and History. Got a B and A. If its your drem uni, reapply next year with an A*.


I am definitely planning on proving them wrong! And then possibly on results day complaint to my head of year about the prediction system and how unfair it is
Ask your teacher to change your predicted grade in light of your recent scores in practice papers. Then ask your UCAS referee to contact the university in question, explaining that the teacher was new and therefore unable to provide an accurate prediction and that your performance so far strongly suggests you are more than capable of an A* grade. Provide the percentage grades you've achieved so far in practice papers and your new predicted grade.

Not saying it'll work, but you have nothing to lose by trying :smile:
Original post by hellie7
they said it was :frown: they said 'although it is not a requirement, there were other applicants with similar qualifications to you who had a higher prediction in maths and so they were given preference' the annoying this is, half of these people given offers probably won't even get it and because it's not part of the offer it won't matter :frown:


Hmmm ok, sounds like it could be a pretty big factor then.

As much as you may not like it, the fact is that they have rejected you. You can't do anything to change that. There are two options, go to a different university this year, or take a gap year and reapply. If you reapply, you'll have your final grades, so if you do get an A* in the end you'll be in a much better position to get an offer.
Reply 12
Original post by xmarilynx
Ask your teacher to change your predicted grade in light of your recent scores in practice papers. Then ask your UCAS referee to contact the university in question, explaining that the teacher was new and therefore unable to provide an accurate prediction and that your performance so far strongly suggests you are more than capable of an A* grade. Provide the percentage grades you've achieved so far in practice papers and your new predicted grade.

Not saying it'll work, but you have nothing to lose by trying :smile:


I second this. It sounds really unfair OP.
Reply 13
Original post by xmarilynx
Ask your teacher to change your predicted grade in light of your recent scores in practice papers. Then ask your UCAS referee to contact the university in question, explaining that the teacher was new and therefore unable to provide an accurate prediction and that your performance so far strongly suggests you are more than capable of an A* grade. Provide the percentage grades you've achieved so far in practice papers and your new predicted grade.

Not saying it'll work, but you have nothing to lose by trying :smile:


As much as I would love to do this, I have already firmed another university that gave me an offer, it was jut recently I found out the reason for my rejection from the other university so unfortunately it is too late now :frown: but thanks for the suggestion, my post was merely a form of venting my frustration
Reply 14
Original post by hellie7
I was told I was being predicted an A, but it was only recently I found out that practically everyone else in the class were predicted A*s most of whom won't get that and I was rejected because of this :frown: I would love to complain, but it seems too late now. I got an offer from my second choice though, but obviously still not first choice! :frown:


Seems very worrying in all honesty if your teacher did this and you should have said something. Talk to your head of department of maths if you want to clear your head, because this is your education. And send an email to your first choice to see if they are willing to accommodate you on results day?

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