What happens if I don't get the grades but they will still allow me in?

I applied to bristol uni and I need AAB but honestly I'm not too confident that I got that.

I understand that some unis will still be willing to accept you if you didn't quite get the grades, but i've always been confused as to how that would work

Say for example I got ABB instead, would they automatically accept me still anyways or would I have to go through clearing?

What will happen is that Bristol will confirm the place of all firm offer-holders who have met their offer conditions. Then they'll do the same for all insurance offer-holders who were not accepted by their firm choice.

At this point the course may be full (or slightly over full, if more people met their offer conditions than Bristol expected to). If that's the case, then "near miss" candidates (which you would be in the scenario you outlined) would be out of luck.

However, if there is still space left on the course it's likely that Bristol will look through their list of "near miss" candidates so see whether they'd like to confirm any of their places too. When doing this, then might look at the subject you dropped from an A to a B in, they might look at your GCSEs, your personal statement, your school reference - all the information they have available to them really.

Alternatively, then might decide that they'd rather stick with the AAB requirements and open the course to Clearing at that level, hoping to pick-up candidates who had insurance choices at AAA (but dropped to AAB). If they decide not to accept you as a "near miss" candidate, then that'll be the end of it for Bristol. You will not be able to obtain a place on the same course via Clearing. Clearing is for candidates who weren't holding offers.

As you can see, it's impossible to predict whether any "near miss" candidates will have their places confirmed, because it's impossible to tell how many offer-holders will meet their offer conditions.

I applied to bristol uni and I need AAB but honestly I'm not too confident that I got that.

I understand that some unis will still be willing to accept you if you didn't quite get the grades, but i've always been confused as to how that would work

Say for example I got ABB instead, would they automatically accept me still anyways or would I have to go through clearing?

Just to make it clear if you miss our offer Bristol will have decided whether they widh to accept you on results day then you wont get in through clearing. also very unlikely there will be many if any vacancies at Bristol. There werent last year.

So if they were to accept me as a near miss candidate I wouldn't have to do anything? As in it would just be automatic as if I wasn't a near miss candidate?

Correct.