Page 7 | To be angry at school predicted A level grade

user29 · 2022-09-14T17:27:16+00:00

How can DD be predicted a lower grade than she has proved she is capable of achieving (by a margin) in her mock?

thewalrus · 15/09/2022 09:18

Also, with respect to previous posts about the daugher's (presumed) character - I went to Oxford. I have good qualities, and I was an academic high achiever (for school, not for Oxford), but I still struggle with assertiveness and I'm not sure anyone would describe me as 'incredibly strong, a fighter'. That goes for many of the people I met there too - just people, with a range of qualities and attributes, but very academically able.

Herejustforthisone · 15/09/2022 09:24

Oblomov22 · 15/09/2022 08:00

With respect She doesn't sound like she's cut out for Oxbridge. You need to be incredibly strong, resilient, a fighter, determined. She doesn't seem to have the necessary qualities. And that's before we even start getting to academic ability.

Agree with Gnome. What's of school is she at. Are they good. Our school is a Catholic school in Surrey and they are beyond superb. (Piggy and I are dropping our dc off at Uni next week, so we do have current experience). DS1 did not apply to Oxbridge. But many of his friends did and his school is absolutely superb and has a very very high success rate of getting nearly all of them in. Preparation starts early in year 12 they have meetings for parents to attend, to discuss all the tests and exams they need to do, they're making sure they've already got enough work experience and have shown themselves in the best light and what to do in the next year to make their personal statement the best it can be etc. they have mini exams and tests , tips to improve, and help and support and suggestions for what to do in the Uni tests and also at interview.

It's a bit late in the day for your child to be only thinking about these things now surely applications will be in soon because I know the normal University applications are in soon and Oxbridge is always a week or two weeks before, so with respect a bit late in the day to be thinking about all of this.

Why do you think she isn’t cut out for Oxbridge? You know precisely nothing about this kid.

What you do appear to be is weirdly territorial and condescending about the application process to universities.

QuebecBagnet · 15/09/2022 09:35

Years ago dd was predicted bbc but had got bbb in her mocks. And needed bbb for the course she wanted. I rang head of sixth form up and pointed this out and they changed it to bbb no problem.

which meant she got an unconditional offer.

talk to the school.

Thatsnotmycar · 15/09/2022 10:07

underneaththeash · 15/09/2022 07:15

It will depend on the school she's applying from though.

OP - I'd be annoyed too. But don't sound annoyed when you query it tomorrow.
Be factual. Ask him/her to look at the grade again and mention the 9 at GCSE, the 94 points at AS paper and say that you understand that an A* is difficult to achieve, but that UCAS recommends that predicted grades need to be achievable - of which you have documented evidence from her mock paper and aspirational.

Show quote history

No, it doesn’t depend on what school she is applying from. No-one requires A* specifically in biology.

Original poster

user29 · 15/09/2022 12:28

Herejustforthisone · 14/09/2022 23:05

Maybe the daughter can’t ask because she’s got a slightly frightening mum contracting her teachers demanding to know her predicted grades ahead of publication, and then going off on one about it? Just a thought…

Maybe , but al teh students were asking their predicted grades nd getting fobbed off when the internal deadline for early entrie is just a forthnight away

OP posts:

FacebookPhotos · 15/09/2022 12:49

"Just a fortnight" is a really long time. We haven't finalised our predicted grades yet, and the students don't know them. The early entry students (about one third of our U6) know they are working at an A from last year so predictions will be A or A*.

SamphirethePogoingStickerist · 15/09/2022 13:04

For Pete's sake ask the teacher. If it's an unfortunate error it will be corrected. If there's a reason for it your DD can correct that.

Fuming silently is ridiculous.

SamphirethePogoingStickerist · 15/09/2022 13:05

user29 · 14/09/2022 21:28

the school, by not having a clear method , and communicating it to students in advance, risk opening themselves up to accusations or and actual prejudice

Really? In my long experience explaining something that is in part a judgement call just gets lots and lots of accusations of bias.

Talk to the teacher. Ask...

Original poster

user29 · 15/09/2022 13:50

FacebookPhotos · 15/09/2022 12:49

"Just a fortnight" is a really long time. We haven't finalised our predicted grades yet, and the students don't know them. The early entry students (about one third of our U6) know they are working at an A from last year so predictions will be A or A*.

A fortnght is not a long time to rewrrite your PS and research other unis and courses !

OP posts:

poetryandwine · 15/09/2022 14:16

Former Russell Group STEM admission tutor here. @Oblomov22 it is a matter of public record that the best Oxbridge applicant to success rate in England typically belongs to a certain highly selective boys’ school and hovers around 2:1 - in other words, about 50% of applicants are accepted. All other schools on the Top List have significantly lower acceptance rates.

I really cannot imagine that a school ‘getting nearly all of them in’ would be declining to participate in this list, and I do not think that either exaggerating acceptance rates or making wild generalisations about the character of a child you cannot assess from postings here is helpful.

XelaM · 15/09/2022 14:35

Oblomov22 · 15/09/2022 08:00

With respect She doesn't sound like she's cut out for Oxbridge. You need to be incredibly strong, resilient, a fighter, determined. She doesn't seem to have the necessary qualities. And that's before we even start getting to academic ability.

Agree with Gnome. What's of school is she at. Are they good. Our school is a Catholic school in Surrey and they are beyond superb. (Piggy and I are dropping our dc off at Uni next week, so we do have current experience). DS1 did not apply to Oxbridge. But many of his friends did and his school is absolutely superb and has a very very high success rate of getting nearly all of them in. Preparation starts early in year 12 they have meetings for parents to attend, to discuss all the tests and exams they need to do, they're making sure they've already got enough work experience and have shown themselves in the best light and what to do in the next year to make their personal statement the best it can be etc. they have mini exams and tests , tips to improve, and help and support and suggestions for what to do in the Uni tests and also at interview.

It's a bit late in the day for your child to be only thinking about these things now surely applications will be in soon because I know the normal University applications are in soon and Oxbridge is always a week or two weeks before, so with respect a bit late in the day to be thinking about all of this.

What a load of rubbish.

My brother actually graduated from Cambridge and I know loads of former and one current Oxbridge students. Your post reads like some kind of fantasy of people who imagine Oxbridge students to be some superior race but have no direct experience with it.

poetryandwine · 15/09/2022 14:44

I agree with @XelaM. I was educated abroad, but DH attended Cambridge (from a school on that list) and has a Distinction in the notorious Part III of the Mathematics Tripos. He is mild and kind (though quietly successful). Probably not someone @Oblomov22 would have picked out as Oxbridge Material, though happily his teachers had a different opinion.

SeasonFinale · 15/09/2022 15:28

You have a name change fail in the middle here. If she is still applying for NatSci at Cambridge and elsewhere which she was before why does she need to rewrite her personal statement? In July you said she was predicted 3-4 A so presumably you did expect one not to be an A then.

SeasonFinale · 15/09/2022 15:29

agh MN bold issues predicted 3-4 Astar then so presumably expected one not to be an Astar

Piggywaspushed · 15/09/2022 16:05

I presume your DD has spoken to the biology teacher today. How did that go?

poetryandwine · 15/09/2022 16:20

With respect to my post of 14.16 today, I must make a correction. Girls are eligible to join the Sixth Form of the school in England consistently having the best Oxbridge applicant to acceptance ratio. And yes, it is consistently about half of applicants who are accepted, so I am curiouser and curiouser about the mystery school that ‘gets nearly all of them in’ without being so noted in the public record. I am sceptical that a school could exempt itself from such data gathering even if it preferred to.

Technonan · 15/09/2022 17:03

There is no A at AS. A grades are set depending on where the A boundary falls in that year and other statistical factors, so not easy to predict.

Ask. Why would you not? Your 17-year-old daughter needs to develop the confidence to do this for herself. How is she going to survive at uni if she isn't able to ask her teacher a simple and perfectly acceptable question like this?

SkygardenTower · 15/09/2022 17:33

She doesn’t need to rewrite her personal statement! And she should be researching other universities, she should like all 5 of the universities she put down.

For biology (Oxford) the application is the same for all universities, if she is applying to Nat Sci (Cambridge) write the application for biology and then using the SAQ to add why Nat Sci is of particular interest.

Algor1thm · 15/09/2022 17:50

She's been predicted an A? At my school the highest they would predict was an A. I went on to get 3 A*s but I was predicted 3 As 🤷🏼‍♀️

Algor1thm · 15/09/2022 17:51

And tbh I don't think my mum ever knew what I was predicted. By age 17 I was fighting my own battles and doing the whole uni application thing independently.

IrisVersicolor · 15/09/2022 17:54

poetryandwine · 15/09/2022 14:16

Former Russell Group STEM admission tutor here. @Oblomov22 it is a matter of public record that the best Oxbridge applicant to success rate in England typically belongs to a certain highly selective boys’ school and hovers around 2:1 - in other words, about 50% of applicants are accepted. All other schools on the Top List have significantly lower acceptance rates.

I really cannot imagine that a school ‘getting nearly all of them in’ would be declining to participate in this list, and I do not think that either exaggerating acceptance rates or making wild generalisations about the character of a child you cannot assess from postings here is helpful.

The schools achieving the highest number of offers are boys, girls and mixed or mixed at 6th form.

In 2021 the top 10 included 3 boys’ schools, 6 mixed/mixed 6th forms, and 1 girls’ school.

The top 3 by % of applicants receiving offers are 1 girls’ school and 2 mixed at 6th form.

XelaM · 15/09/2022 18:09

Sorry if it should be obvious, but what schools are they?

This article suggests 8 schools dominate Oxbridge admissions: www.theweek.co.uk/98374/eight-schools-dominate-oxbridge-admissions?ppcddm=true&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjNLWjZmX-gIVkJftCh0dpwwLEAAYASAAEgKDn_D_BwE

So it's Eton, Westminster, St Pauls (girls or boys?), two state schools (Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, and Peter Symonds College in Hampshire) and what are the other schools?

DashboardConfessional · 15/09/2022 18:14

www.keystonetutors.com/news/oxbridge-which-schools-get-the-most-offers#

There's a list here. I went to number 9! I didn't apply to Oxford as I didn't fancy all the medieval French texts on the course.

XelaM · 15/09/2022 18:17

DashboardConfessional · 15/09/2022 18:14

www.keystonetutors.com/news/oxbridge-which-schools-get-the-most-offers#

There's a list here. I went to number 9! I didn't apply to Oxford as I didn't fancy all the medieval French texts on the course.

Ahh thank you!

TheWayoftheLeaf · 15/09/2022 18:29

She should talk to the teacher. They predicted me a C but agreed to change to an A if I promised to work harder. I got the A and attended some lunchtime sessions.