This discussion is now closed.
Check out other Related discussions
- The importance of GCSEs in Oxford applications
- Confused on where I should apply
- Econ at uni with questionable GCSEs
- Please advise.... Year 12
- A-level predictions. Medicine!
- Biochem imperial predicted grades
- Studying forensic science
- Can I get into oxford?
- aston optometry
- Discrimination against English A level students 2023
- Help, Would I get in?
- Y12 dilema (help!)
- Lse economics course selection
- A*A*A* predicted (Maths, Further Maths & Computing) - Rejected by all universities
- Can I apply to top unis with A* A* B?
- Predict the 2023 Edexcel Maths grade boundaries and win an Amazon voucher!
- Picking courses
- How competitive is History at UCL
- Year 12 mocks went badly
- Durham Rejection
Most students' predicted A-level grades are 'wrong'
Poll
Do you think you'll achieve your predicted A Level grades?
So it seems that only 16% of university applicants achieve the grades their teachers predict for them 
Research has found that 75% of students had been given overly optimistic predictions whilst 9% had done better than predicted.
The UCU is now calling for the university admissions system to allow students to apply with their firm results and not predictions that are "poor guestimates".
You can read the story in full detail here.
Obviously predictions can't be 100% right every time, but were you shocked by these statistics?
Have you ever been disheartened by a grade you've received because your prediction was so overly optimistic?
Do you think you will achieve or exceed your predicted A level grades?
Research has found that 75% of students had been given overly optimistic predictions whilst 9% had done better than predicted.
The UCU is now calling for the university admissions system to allow students to apply with their firm results and not predictions that are "poor guestimates".
You can read the story in full detail here.
Obviously predictions can't be 100% right every time, but were you shocked by these statistics?
Have you ever been disheartened by a grade you've received because your prediction was so overly optimistic?
Do you think you will achieve or exceed your predicted A level grades?
Scroll to see replies
I'm on the lucky end of that. Got predicted an F in AS psychology about 5 years ago. Was one of only 5 to get a C. All of the favourites who were predicted A's got D's or lower.
My estimates were spot on though at A Level mind you. Still shocking about the overestimates.
My estimates were spot on though at A Level mind you. Still shocking about the overestimates.
Original post by MagnifiWilly
I'm on the lucky end of that. Got predicted an F in AS psychology about 5 years ago. Was one of only 5 to get a C. All of the favourites who were predicted A's got D's or lower.
My estimates were spot on though at A Level mind you. Still shocking about the overestimates.
My estimates were spot on though at A Level mind you. Still shocking about the overestimates.
Wow, that's a massive improvement on your prediction! Well done you
Do you think having such a low predicted grade disheartened you at all?
Or did it just spur you on to do better?
Original post by discobish
Wow, that's a massive improvement on your prediction! Well done you
Do you think having such a low predicted grade disheartened you at all?
Or did it just spur you on to do better?
Do you think having such a low predicted grade disheartened you at all?
Or did it just spur you on to do better?
If you want the brutal truth, it didn't affect me at all. I hated most of Psychology and thought it was absolute drivel. Half was interesting Neuroscience (which I excelled at) and the other half was pseudoscientific bull, combine that with a teacher who just generally didn't like me and apathy begins to run amuck. the predicted grade was spite. Everyone she predicted to fail passed, everyone she predicted to pass failed.
We were so suspicious of this once a group of us comprised of her favourites and her... less favourites wrote up an essay, changed a few inconsequential phrases and words and gave it in for hone work
Sure as ****, the same essay yielded drastically different results.
AS far as predicted grades go? They're horribly inaccurate, crushing to many, an ego stroke to a few, and to the minority like myself they just don't make any difference.
I definitely witnessed this when I was in year 13 - quite a few people I knew ended up being over-predicted, often in a way that was fairly obvious; at least one person persuaded their teacher to predict them As and Bs (after getting Cs and Ds) at AS... and they ultimately got Cs and Ds at A2. And it does work both ways; I was predicted A*AA and got A*A*A.
With that in mind, I'd really prefer a system where students apply after receiving their final results. I would've benefited from that massively; there weren't any spaces at better universities for my course (Law) on results day. I really like the university that I'm at, and it wasn't worth taking a gap year and re-applying, but I exceed the required grades for my current course (AAB) three times, which is a little frustrating.
The people that were over predicted also would arguably benefit, rather than being given generous predicted grades, leading to offers they can't meet, leading to them battling with clearing on results day. And at the very least, changing to a post-results application system would solve the current issue of admissions tutors not necessarily believing predicted grades (even when ultimately realistic) because so many prove to be wrong.
With that in mind, I'd really prefer a system where students apply after receiving their final results. I would've benefited from that massively; there weren't any spaces at better universities for my course (Law) on results day. I really like the university that I'm at, and it wasn't worth taking a gap year and re-applying, but I exceed the required grades for my current course (AAB) three times, which is a little frustrating.
The people that were over predicted also would arguably benefit, rather than being given generous predicted grades, leading to offers they can't meet, leading to them battling with clearing on results day. And at the very least, changing to a post-results application system would solve the current issue of admissions tutors not necessarily believing predicted grades (even when ultimately realistic) because so many prove to be wrong.
If im predicted CDD at AS but im getting A's for mini tests we do can I have AAA predicted at A2?? Im in year 12.
It would make a lot more sense for the Uni year to start in January ( A lot of post-grad courses actually do this) so then students can apply between the end of September-December of the year of their results.
It would make much more sense if we applied to uni after we actually got our results rather than the usual weirdness we've got going on.
I deliberately got an overambitious target in one of mine 'cause I'm p sure if I get As in my other 2 one of my offers will probably take me anyway if I fail to meet it.
I deliberately got an overambitious target in one of mine 'cause I'm p sure if I get As in my other 2 one of my offers will probably take me anyway if I fail to meet it.
Original post by Retired_Messiah
It would make much more sense if we applied to uni after we actually got our results rather than the usual weirdness we've got going on.
I deliberately got an overambitious target in one of mine 'cause I'm p sure if I get As in my other 2 one of my offers will probably take me anyway if I fail to meet it.
I deliberately got an overambitious target in one of mine 'cause I'm p sure if I get As in my other 2 one of my offers will probably take me anyway if I fail to meet it.
We can all dream, I'm just glad we share the same dream ;-;
Teachers often "predict" grades that are higher than they know are realistic because it keeps the students happy ( until they get their results) and stops the students from complaining. It's just an easy way out for the teachers. Students will complain that unless their teacher predicts high grades there will be no chance of them getting in to the university of their choice-often they have no chance anyway and the teacher knows that, but to speak the truth will invite complaints and sullen bad behaviour for the rest of the year. Also , teachers will be admonished for having "low expectations" by their higher ups in the school, so all in all, they have little to lose by over predicting grades , and a lot to lose by being honest. I think anyone who pesters or even asks a teacher to predict a higher grade is being very foolish and self - deceptive. It's better to face the facts than to live in an illusion. When the students get lower grades than those predicted, the teachers can always blame it on the exam or just say "you must have done worse than expected in the exam", and no-one will question them. Just my humble opinion.
When I was in Year 13 (admittedly a number of years ago now) I was given my predicted grades and asked if that's what I needed for UCAS or if I wanted them changed. As I was predicted straight A's I had no issue, but if my teachers were asking everyone that question there would have been a lot of changes going on.
Applying after you've got your results is a nice idea in theory, but you'd need to bring results day forward from mid August otherwise it's completely unworkable. Especially for courses with interviews or where you have to complete exams like UKCAT or STEP as part of the admission process. Also, how would it work? If 1000 people with A*A*A* applied for 100 places at LSE to do Economics for example, how do the university decide who gets the place in such a short space of time? A first come, first served basis would be completely unfair.
Plus I can't be the only one who gained so much extra motivation from getting my offers & going to open days. You take that away from people and a lot of them will lose that extra 5-10% that enables them to get the top grades.
Applying after you've got your results is a nice idea in theory, but you'd need to bring results day forward from mid August otherwise it's completely unworkable. Especially for courses with interviews or where you have to complete exams like UKCAT or STEP as part of the admission process. Also, how would it work? If 1000 people with A*A*A* applied for 100 places at LSE to do Economics for example, how do the university decide who gets the place in such a short space of time? A first come, first served basis would be completely unfair.
Plus I can't be the only one who gained so much extra motivation from getting my offers & going to open days. You take that away from people and a lot of them will lose that extra 5-10% that enables them to get the top grades.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by discobish
So it seems that only 16% of university applicants achieve the grades their teachers predict for them
Research has found that 75% of students had been given overly optimistic predictions whilst 9% had done better than predicted.
The UCU is now calling for the university admissions system to allow students to apply with their firm results and not predictions that are "poor guestimates".
You can read the story in full detail here.
Obviously predictions can't be 100% right every time, but were you shocked by these statistics?
Have you ever been disheartened by a grade you've received because your prediction was so overly optimistic?
Do you think you will achieve or exceed your predicted A level grades?
Research has found that 75% of students had been given overly optimistic predictions whilst 9% had done better than predicted.
The UCU is now calling for the university admissions system to allow students to apply with their firm results and not predictions that are "poor guestimates".
You can read the story in full detail here.
Obviously predictions can't be 100% right every time, but were you shocked by these statistics?
Have you ever been disheartened by a grade you've received because your prediction was so overly optimistic?
Do you think you will achieve or exceed your predicted A level grades?
Depends on a students motivation and revision schedule tbh, if you do plenty of past papers and do well in them and ask for feedback from teacher then there shouldn't be any reason why a student can't achieve his or her predicted grades.
My school are tough with predictions, I've seen people from different schools (and the exceptional few at my school who the teachers favour) get grades such as D's and E's at AS at AS but get B and A grade A2 predictions, meanwhile I achieved AAB at AS and funnily the subject i got a B in, i was predicted a A whilst in one where i got an A at AS I had to fight and build a case to prevent getting predicted a B even though i had achieved a mid A grade at AS (its also the old spec so its 50% of my final grade) absolutely pathetic to then see others get A predictions from rubbish performance. I hate the system, I'm someone that doesn't follow the school course and build my own plan of how to get through it and because of my lack of commitment to the school i often get into trouble, but clearly my system has worked better since i was the only one to get an A in one of those subjects (economics, self-taught) and in the other subject another guy got an A but he was rarely in so i assume he did the same. So predicted grades tend to be based off of commitment rather than capabilities.
Was predicted A*A*AA, got BBCC yay! Felt my exams had gone really well too.. hmmmm, next issue to flag up perhaps, the 50% of exam papers that were marked incorrectly this year, and the abolishment of real remarks… Perhaps not always over-optimism of teachers being the reason behind students not achieving their predictions…
Original post by APersonYo
Someone got a U in maths in my school and got predicted a B Loooool, predicted grades are a joke.
this prediction system violates the nature of human
Not actually surprised at these statistics. Seen many students who got B's in exams at college pestering teachers about getting it put up to a predicted A or another grade put one higher, seen it on here as well. There's a reason why its predicted and saying to your teacher "oh but I'll work harder this year" or some horrendously long version going into detail doesn't actually say anything, its just some random words which have no actual meaning. Your exam results show your ability in learning the knowledge and understanding etc. it gets harder in the second year due to content so if you are wanting a A grade you need to show that understanding in the first year.
Don't know how it is now but from what I'm thinking its going to be a lot harder now with the linear system because of the amount of tests you will need to do in the second year.
Don't know how it is now but from what I'm thinking its going to be a lot harder now with the linear system because of the amount of tests you will need to do in the second year.
At AS i was predicted BBBB, got ABBB, the A grade being is a subject where one of my teachers was 100% convinced that i'd get a U lol
So at A2 i was predicted AAA, was whole-heartedy expecting BBC (chemi teacher told me my work was barely pass standard, claimed i always shut down during lessons??? thats a story for another day though). ended up with AAB so its chill
So at A2 i was predicted AAA, was whole-heartedy expecting BBC (chemi teacher told me my work was barely pass standard, claimed i always shut down during lessons??? thats a story for another day though). ended up with AAB so its chill
(edited 7 years ago)
Related discussions
- The importance of GCSEs in Oxford applications
- Confused on where I should apply
- Econ at uni with questionable GCSEs
- Please advise.... Year 12
- A-level predictions. Medicine!
- Biochem imperial predicted grades
- Studying forensic science
- Can I get into oxford?
- aston optometry
- Discrimination against English A level students 2023
- Help, Would I get in?
- Y12 dilema (help!)
- Lse economics course selection
- A*A*A* predicted (Maths, Further Maths & Computing) - Rejected by all universities
- Can I apply to top unis with A* A* B?
- Predict the 2023 Edexcel Maths grade boundaries and win an Amazon voucher!
- Picking courses
- How competitive is History at UCL
- Year 12 mocks went badly
- Durham Rejection
Latest
Trending
Last reply 1 month ago
Russell Group universities are actually very good. We should stop dismissing them.Last reply 3 months ago
Recognition of UK Universities in Germany - Anabin Database Inquiry
