AS-Level Dec Mocks?

I think the mocks for AS level are just for the uni.
If uni sees you get good grades in AS level, they will give you and offers next year.
So if uni sees you don't get good grades in AS level, they will not give you offers next year.
That's what I got told.

OP said, aside from this reasoning at the end of their opening paragraph.

It's not for predicted grades, it's for showing uni that you can go to uni next year.

December mocks, or end of AS level mocks, are used in determining predicted grades conventionally.

The grade you get will gauge the teacher to assess you, and give you a predicted grade (which is a grade that you’re assumed to get at the end of year 13) based from your performance on these mocks... the most universities can do is give you a conditional offer and then an unconditional offer on the basis that you meet these predicted grades. (Or they might lower the requirements depending on how competitive the course is)

I see. Thanks!

I do wonder what teachers are telling students these days ngl...

When I asked my physics teacher, she answered with what grades do I want and asking me what uni courses I want to take and the grades for it.
She didn't say anything about if the mocks are going for grades.

Hi everyone, I just wanted to ask how important are the mocks in December for AS-Level? Aside from deciding your predicted grades, obviously.

I put all my energy into revising for biology the week before the last, as well as finishing an art application for a magazine, so I've been feeling pretty burnt out the past week.

I have an Eng Lit mock on Monday, Chemistry mock on Wednesday and Psychology mock on Thursday. Psychology is pretty easy to get to grips with but I'm struggling with focusing on revising for Eng Lit and Chem.

I just wanna know, if I do happen to fail or underachieve on some of these mocks, will it have any real long term detriment to my performance or final grade? I've tried consulting with teachers but each one gives a different answer (i.e. my Bio teacher said "it's just to measure your understanding so far so don't worry too much about them" while my Psych teacher said "you'll need to put a lot of effort into them in the scenario in which exams are cancelled again.")

I think we still have mocks in the summer too which should bump up my grade if I happen to fail .. I'm just frustrated with the way COVID has put pressure on new A-Level and GCSE students. But yeah, sorry for my long rant lol.

That’s probably her just trying to get to know you a bit better. To assess you even further by taking your goals and aspirations into account - but I feel there’s some caveats with this system... one being that it is often abused. As in, certain students are either over-predicted due to bias, favouritism... meanwhile the others are under-predicted due to behavioural reasons/a lot of other contextual factors.

My maths teacher did the same stuff to me... he thought I wasn’t capable of achieving high due to my low effort in class apparently, but was the best feeling seeing him shut up when I achieved like 2 grades above his initial target for me.

I would disagree with your biology teacher but then agree with your psychology teacher... the reason why I disagree with your biology teacher is because their advice promotes an idea that if you fail these mocks, you have nothing to worry about... It gives you false sense of security that everything will just fall into place on its own... I feel like this shouldn’t be the default mindset. If you fail these mocks, you need to use that as an estimate towards how much you have to work within these upcoming months to perform at a level you’ll be satisfied with. There has been several cases where students, including myself, have underperformed at AS level but then they have identified why that’s the case by assessing areas they need to improve on. So even if you do fail, how you react to it is very important in determining what grade you’ll achieve at the end of it.

Hi there.
Don't apologise - you're in a very difficult situation. No one is sure about the future of exams so I wouldn't rely on the summer mocks to boost your grade. If you try your best at everything then you can't blame yourself. Work hard but also take time out for yourself as you deserve a reward/ break for your hard work. Any bio/ chem advice don't hesitate to PM me.

Best wishes for your mocks.

What country are you in? In England, very few students take external AS exams and so these results are never going to be used as part of the evidence for a formal exam. Elsewhere, including in Wales andN Ireland, if TAGs are used again then they will contribute part of the evidence towards your AS grades.