Cambridge with predicted A*AA?

I had very high hopes for these mocks, but I just found out I got ABB, which means I'm being predicted A*AA, but I'm applying for PBS and their entry grades are A*A*A. Am I likely to get an offer, or will they not even look at my application when they see these predicteds?

I had very high hopes for these mocks, but I just found out I got ABB, which means I'm being predicted A*AA, but I'm applying for PBS and their entry grades are A*A*A. Am I likely to get an offer, or will they not even look at my application when they see these predicteds?

Have you talked to your teachers about additional work between now and September?

I think your application will be binned with those predictions [which seem generous anyway]

If your predicted grades are below the threshold and you don’t have any mitigating circumstances/meet widening participation criteria, your application will probably be sifted out immediately. It’s brutal, but it’s the way of it. Saying that, most schools are willing to be flexible with their predictions should pupils need them to be for uni applications, so it might be worth having a chat with your subject/careers teachers to see if there’s any leeway.

The one thing I’ll say though, is that A levels only get harder in the second year. So if you put a lot of time and effort into these mocks and have come out with (very respectable, I promise) ABB as your grades, how realistic is it that you’ll meet an A*A*A offer? If you know you couldn’t have done anything more for these exams, it might be better to set your sights on schools with grades more in line with the results you’ve produced. At the end of the day, UCAS choices are entirely personal to you, but I would advise that you think very carefully about what kept you from getting A*A*A in these exams before making any decisions about whether Cambridge is a good idea or not. But like I said, if you do draw the conclusion that there were circumstances that you would better control in future exams that caused the problem then go and speak to your school and see if they’re willing to bump your predicted grades to A*A*A.

I was only a couple marks (1-2) away from each grade up for each subject, and I have pretty consistent A's for all of them before this, it was just these exams that didn't go too well. What do you mean by additional work? As in, to improve my studies, or do you think they might bump up my predicted if I show enthusiasm like that?

Yes - if you show commitment and offer to do a re-test in September there may be a chance.

Have you started Cambridge prep classes? We started STEP classess with potential applicants at Easter [state school]

Okay, I'll offer to do a re-sit, but the predicted grades are being given in a couple weeks, so it will have to be a lot sooner than that. Thank you for your advice. I'm not sure if we have STEP classes, but we have Oxbridge academy, and that started right at the start of the year, so I've been doing those. I've also attended a Cambridge program designed to teach people how to apply to Cambridge, as well as attending a taster class, and I've been doing extra reading and that kind of stuff. I'm even doing an EPQ related to psychology, but I've been told Cambridge pretty much ignores those.

Your teachers should not be finalising predicted grades until late September - three months away!

Our internal application date is early to mid September, so they have to be done before then, don't they? Or are the predicted grades given separately from the student's UCAS application?

Why so early? The deadline is mid October for applications - sounds crazy to me. It doesn't take that long to input everything ...

There's 750 students in my year. Takes a while, I guess

No, but that's just when our internal deadline is. There's so many to work through, they've got to get it all done quickly- my teacher says it takes months to process it all, and they don't give, like, priority to people applying early. I don't know why it works like that.