UCAS Grades - how are they worked out?

[OnePlusOneEquals]

Just as the title says really, how does your school/college work them out? Are they totally based on end of year exams? Or are previous grades throughout the year taken into account? Do the teachers have any leeway on raising or lowering the grade? My DS is currently in year 12 and in the midst of end of year exams and will get his results from these plus his UCAS grades after the half term, so I’m guessing that they will be an amalgamation from previous working levels and his current exam results for him.

Do you mean predicted grades to go on his UCAS application? We will usually use end of year 12 assessments and also consider prior work. My predicted graded do not tend to be much higher than the end of year 12 grades however as students tend to perform less well on year 13 content (Chenistry teacher of 18 years here!).

Thanks, yes predicted grades for UCAS - I was surprised when I heard DS was getting them so soon, so just wondered if this was the norm or not.

So if a student of yours was consistently getting A stars throughout year 12, but scored an A in the end of year assessment you’d predict them an A in your school?

They work them out now as some students will apply to university in Sept. DS knew his at the start of yr13. He put in some effort in that first term and persuaded one teacher to up a prediction by one grade based on his more recent test results. That was used when he actually applied first week in November.

Mainly end of year exams, as these test skills the students will need for the real thing - revision, prep, working under exam conditions. However we’d look at whole-year performance too. We discuss them with students as well, and are prepared to change them under realistic circumstances- although I wouldn’t predict a grade they’d never achieved. I’m in a sixth form college.

Every single school does them differently so you need to ask what the policy is in your school.
Some base them on work so far, some are teachers best guess based on work and effort, some are based on exams. In some questionable schools they’re based on what the students want to achieve!

Sounds just like how they graded the GCSE’s last year - every school different! Ours was pretty strict and very true to each student and their current working levels, so I assume the 6th form will follow suit for predicted UCAS grades.

Dd2's school has said end of Y12 internal or AS ecam, plus one

The UCAS system uses a points-based system to calculate your final grades. Each grade is worth a certain number of points, and your total score is calculated by adding up all of your points.

I know this thread is fairly old, but, my D's is in year 12. The school use three data sets to work them out.

The first is based on what you got in your GCSE for that subject and how many pupils went on to get a particular grade. So, if you got a 7 in maths, they look at how many people who got 7s went on to get an AStar, an A, a B and so on.

The second one is what level they've been working at in assessments throughout the year.

The third is their mock exam results.

The school say the grades should be achievable and aspirational. And that schools and colleges are ranked by UCAS for their accuracy.

Also, with regards to the points thing above, higher tariff courses don't seem to do that any more. My D's is interested in a course that specifies an A in maths as a minimum, and points don't count. (My son is taking another qualification alongside the A levels that confers UCAS points, but they will not take them into account: if they did, he'd have enough 'points' with significantly lower A level grades than is required, so it's all about the grades and subjects for the courses D's is looking at).

Dd's were the same as her end of year 12 exam results. Her A level results were the same grade in 2 subjects and 1 lower in 1, despite her working much harder for the real thing. Luckily her offer at her first choice uni allowed for a lower grade in 2 subjects than her predicted grades so she got in

Just to add, I don't actually know what the school use to work them out.