I was predicted straight As but I messed around at school and that’s the only reason I didn’t end up with As

[imaginebird]

My bet is everyone has once in their life met someone that has said this.

My bet is everyone has once in their life met someone that has said this.

Probably. Unlikely you'd be predicted straight As by the time you actually get your official predicted grades, if you were a student who mucked around. Straight A student throughout school, then suddenly messed it all up by starting to mess around half-way through Y11? Nope.

I saw footage of Boris Johnson saying something similar to a bunch of schoolkids to explain why he didn't get the first he clearly deserved.

Yes, plenty of naturally bright people who couldn’t apply themselves. I’d rather work with someone with slightly lower grades who didn’t mess about.

I simply smile, remembering the brilliant boys (and they were all boys) at my sixth form who messed around and still walked out with straight As (usually four of them as my mates all did double maths). The girls were equally clever but more compliant when it came to doing the work and not copying someone else’s.

This is something I'd say, when the truth is I was older than most of my year group and coasted through my standard grades (O grade equivalent). There was a BIG jump in expectations between them and Highers, I didn't have the study skills, was trying to do a part time job so I could feed myself and was generally unsupported at school.

It's easier to say I just mucked around.

Yup. Usually the same people who ‘nearly got a first but spent most of my time playing rugby’.

Bonus points if they also ‘Studied at Oxford’ (Brookes).

Yep. I find it with people and sports too.

”Oh I would have been a top footballer but…” so many people seem to have so nearly been top sports stars too!

DD works hard and gets A* in everything. DS has just done his first set of mocks and got 6/7/8 in everything. He pisses about and does no work outside school. DD is pissed off.

I always tell my dc I don’t want to hear “woulda, coulda, shoulda”. It’s like Yoda says- “ do or do not. There is no try” 🤣

In my case my teachers were eternal optimists who thought that I would definitely one day do the work and live up to my ‘potential’. Predicted me 4 As at A level, they were delusional…

I’m not sure about that but every year I look at my Y11s and feel intense frustration at the one or two each year-usually just one a year-who in theory should be getting a 9 but in actual fact will get a 4 or 5. There’s always a bunch that are potential 7s and 8s and will get 4s or 5s and that’s obviously frustrating and disappointing too but the one that always gets me is that kid who, on ability alone, should get a 9. I’ve had kids get a U or a 2 before when their ability was 8/9! 😔

And no, it’s not the teaching as P8 scores are great. It’s the home life and immediate environment that scuppers them. It doesn’t matter that you should achieve a 9 if you’re constantly told how stupid you are and how you’ll amount to nothing and how school is for losers and oh, I’ll give you a fiver and buy you a vape if you don’t go in etc etc. 😥

I don’t really understand this thread though, it’s not exactly something I’m proud of.

Shoulda woulda coulda are the last words of a fooool

Achieving at a lower level than your best is really common for so many reasons.
To get to January of Y13 and have a formal prediction of top grades and then drop significantly is less likely I think, in the absence of special circumstances.

This is exactly me too 😂. Coasted through standard grades. Didn’t need to study or really pay that much attention. Massively struggled with the jump to highers because I hadn’t learnt effective study skills. Consequently did not do aswell as I should have done. I have a degree now so wasn’t related to intelligence.

Of course it is true for loads of people. A levels are hard but not that hard, a bit of work but many will choose the social side. And tbh it makes little difference in the long term.

Also some very hard workers who do get 8 or 9 at gcse can't really think enough to get a at a level, just parrot. You have to get it at a level, apart from maybe the sciences where you can possibly straight learn more but even then you still need to identify what the questions are asking.

This was me and I had a few problems and didn’t get them. I did go on to get a first though.

Also many girls who always studied very hard get a serious bf I yr13 and it all falls apart. The opposite for boys mostly.

I was the opposite - predicted Bs and Cs because I didn’t do any work, yet came out with straight As. Of course that was when it was 100% exam for A-levels so it didn’t matter that I wasted my time for two years…

Oh dear, I actually was predicted all As at GCSE due to my good year 6 SATs results. I only got 1 A because I completely lost interest as high school went on. But I don't think I fit the profile that's being built in this thread - I'm not posh/rich and grew up in a single parent, Low income household. I just didn't get on with high school so didn't do as expected 😂

In Yr7/8 I was told that I had the capability to get straight A's and into Oxford/Cambridge. I was at a private school at the time.

Unfortunately, my parents business went bankrupt, my parents split up for various reasons including my father being an emotionally alcoholic. My mother wasn't interested. At 17 I had no home and was working 3 jobs whilst studying for A-levels. Thankfully my then boyfriend's parents took me in (now DH). Unsurprisingly, I bombed my A-levels. I absolutely did mess around and not focus on my studies. I'll give myself a break thanks.

Such a big jump isn't it @KEG05 and you really only have a few months to work it out.

It's the difference between being told "you're predicted straight As" and "you're more than capable of straight As if you apply yourself"

It wouldn't surprise me that there's a lot of people who were told that they had the potential for straight As and missed out due to not applying themselves. Some of those might be economical with the truth by spinning it as "I was predicted straight As".

Tbh I felt all defensive when first reading the thread. I ended up in care and missed my GCSEs. And was then horribly let down by a family member which meant I missed out on a uni placement and job I’d worked so hard to secure. But the op did say it was about kids who messed about. But then you do have to think about all of the kids who the teachers recognise are clearly capable, but they’re just not thriving in a school environment. It’s utterly shit and so horrible to judge those who fail 13 years of schooling because they can’t do well to compress their skills and knowledge into a 2 hour intensive exam

You can really get anxiety and do badly. You can be unwell during exam time. You can have family circumstances or bereavements. All of which I have had in the family during exams.