University offers

Hi there, I was just wondering if universities consider predicted grades as your actual grades and give out offers based on them or whether they make conditional offers to students with lower predicted grades that don't match the entry requirement?

Universities are well aware that predicted grades aren't always reliable and they will not take them as your actual achieved grades however since it's really all they have they do make offers based on them

And yes, they will still make offers to those whose predicted grades are a bit lower

It depends on how competitive both the subject and the Uni are - its worth having at least one, maybe two, choices like this, but prepare yourself for No.

You also have to be aware of issues like top London Unis are more competeitive simply because they get more applications and can be more choosy - so look at top Unis outside London to give yourself a better chanceof an offer - Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Glasgow etc.

No, predicted grades are not achieved grades (in any year other than Covid).

No, you will not get a lower offer if you have lower predicted grades. The offer you get will almost always be the standard offer. Your predicted grades are part of what's used to decide whether to give you an offer at all.

(The only time that people with lower predicted grades get a lower offer is when they are eligible for a contextual offer, for instance they go to a low quality school or are in care. It still won't be an offer for their predicted grades, it will be the university's standard contextual offer.)

It's worth remembering that 75% of people get a worse result in at least one A level than they were predicted. Being given an offer which is higher than your predicted grades doesn't mean "yay! I got a place!" it means "I have a tiny chance of getting in if I massively improve my current level of achievement."

Roger that and would you say Politics and IR is a fairly competitive subject in places like Durham, Warwick, and St Andrews?