Some advice on predicted grades please

[Radoy]

Hi: My son has just received his predicted grades and they are a disappointing BCC. He had all As and Bs at GCSE, works hard and is hard on himself to do well, but he's had three self-isolations in addition to the lockdowns and three new subjects at A level that have daunted him. He essentially failed his end of year exams but he's worked out a plan with his teachers and asked me to line up tutors for him this summer. He's devastated and not sure where to go from here. My questions are:

1. Can he apply to university courses that have higher academic requirement with the hope of conditional offers or will he be rejected outright based on his predicted A level results?
2. If he is rejected, but does better in the grades next year, does that mean he can't get in if applies to those same university courses in Clearing ?
3. Should he not apply to university and plan to work hard to improve his real grades, get a job next year and reapply?

His As an Bs at GCSE show what he's capable of doing, but he feels devastated. I'm telling him this isn't the end of the story but I don't know myself what this means and would greatly appreciate any guidance. Many thanks.

1. He can apply to any universities he wants and may receive offers - if given these will usually be at the published offer (so the one on university websites) and then it’s up to him to achieve them. Every university, and course within a uni, has a different approach to offer making so there isn’t a blanket rule here. If he does get higher offers and then doesn’t achieve, he may still be accepted.
2. You can apply to courses which have previously rejected you through clearing. But, it may not be grades that they rejected you based on so this can be a gamble.
3. If he thinks he wants to go to university, he should apply next year. That way he’ll have full school support. If he doesn’t get the grades or places he wants, he can reapply with grades in hand but unless he actively wants a gap year it makes sense to have a two bites at the cherry approach.

All that said, students don’t need to submit their UCAS forms until January. There’s plenty of time for him to improve his grades and for teachers to change his predicted grades (which they absolutely can do). But BCC is not a set of disappointing grades, plenty of students work hard for those grades and are thrilled with them. There are plenty of universities making offers at this grade profile. What is it your son hopes to study?

On BCC he could also look at competitive courses with foundation years - an extra year but they accept a much lower grade profile

Completely agree with All that said, students don’t need to submit their UCAS forms until January. There’s plenty of time for him to improve his grades and for teachers to change his predicted grades (which they absolutely can do)

And he has the right attitude to improving his grades over summer. He has plenty of time to increase those predicted grades up, they are not set in stone and there will be assessments before his UCAS submission so the grades can be changed.

Clearly his learning has been affected by lockdown with the isolation periods. I am glad school are being supportive.

What subjects is he doing? Does he need pointing toward any online resources that may help too?

BCC is not a bad set of predictions for someone with A-B grades at GCSE.

We use a system called Alps that generates targets based on what students with those grades achieve in the top quarter of schools. GCSE grades of A-B (depending on how many of each) would give a target of either B or B/C. That means that students with similar grades at GCSE are doing better than average (top 25%) if they end up with B grades at A Level.

It’s good that your DS wants to improve, and there is definitely time left, but those aren’t bad grades.