What if you don’t get the A’level predicted grades you need?

[impossibldream]

DS is currently doing end of year exams that we know will massively count towards the predicted grades he needs for university applications. He’s just text me to say his maths exam today was the hardest test he’s ever done. This is despite having revised loads and feeling very confident. He also said everyone found it had and it included stuff they’ve not been taught!?! Still worrying though as he needs to be predicted an A🙁 Just don’t know what the next steps would be. The course he wants to do is very competitive and requires AAA at least.

Medicine, but any chance? Or something similar?

One bad exam doesn't necessarily mean that he won't get predicted the grades that he needs, I'm sure that teachers will take a range of evidence into account. Will he have more mocks in September? I know my dd does, so it's another chance for them to prove themselves.

Ultimately, I suppose he needs to have an honest conversation with his teachers about what they think he will actually get. Is AAA still feasible if he works hard, and if so, is he committed to putting the work in? Or is it actually a bit out of reach and does he need to re-think his plans for university? Does he have a Plan B if his top choice of subject doesn't work out? Or would he re-do the year and re-take?

Universities do go off school's predicted grades, so if he is heading for a prediction well below what he needs for his chosen course, there are two things he might want to do:

Talk to teachers to explain and ask if a higher prediction is feasible
Look at other uni options which don't have such a high requirement.

IME schools will often raise a prediction if they think it is reasonable - for example if the exam it is taken from was very challenging for all, or if the student had extenuating circs such as illness.

Otoh it's not helpful to be over-predicted. A contemporary of DD's begged the teachers to raise her prediction as she needed (from memory) BCD to get where she wanted to go; so they did it, she got her offer, and then achieved CDE in the exams so had to rethink anyway.

A mate of DS's had predicted well below the typical offer of his ideal course, but he applied anyway and was not surprised not to get an offer. The course demanded I think AAA; his predicted was BCC - which is what he got in the end anyway.

I should add that in both these cases the student ended up studying somewhere they were happy - but in the case of DS's mate it was an easier process bc he knew all along that he wouldn't get an offer from uni A, so was realistic and et his sights instead on (perfectly good) uni B. DD's mate had to do all that on results day via clearing which is always a headache. I speak from experience there!

Hi, we are in the same boat - dd needs A's but said the maths end of year was really hard, and is now stressing that it will have adversely affected her predicted grades. Hoping that as they all seemed to findit hard then the grade boundaries might be lower?

Meant to add that my own DS2 was not really pulling his weight in one subject at end of yr 12 (Pandemic and all but not an excuse) and the teachers said they were going to lower his predicted as a result - which worked - he had another exam in the autumn term and did so much better they predicted an A, which is what he eventually got.

They could do what both of mine have done, take a gap year, get a job, put money and experience in the bank and apply when they know their grades.

(DD19 resat one exam in the autumn to improve grade with help from a tutor)

Less stress, get unconditional offers quickly and can think about or apply for accommodation early too.

Thanks for the very helpful advice and ideas. This school is very old school iyswim and probably not very likely to over predict grades but the idea of applying when they know their grades @BeyondMyWits is actually quite appealing. I can definitely see benefits in gaining experience working in the real world for a year.

DC worried about their PGs at this point still have the summer to do some work. I know that isn’t a hugely appealing prospect, but it can make a difference. Ideally your DC would get some feedback on the exam as to their specific weaknesses, but they may have an idea of these already.

There are many A level resources available online, via Amazon and in bookshops. Find a couple of relatively appealing ones. Work through them systematically - it is important that a teacher later be able to follow (most of) the work, so it should be mostly done to homework standard. In the autumn, make an appointment to speak with the relevant teacher. Explain what you’ve done and ask if they would take an informal look at your work. Then cross your fingers.

Again, no one’s first choice for summer hols. Each pupil must decide whether it is worth it. Source: I am a former Russell Group STEM admissions tutor.

My daughter just had her predicted grades. They don't submit officially until
Autumn so there is time for improvement, and she can opt to resit a mock - is that possible?
I think schools predict as optimistically but as realistically as they can (so if just missed an A but they think the student can get it will predict an A). My daughter has been predicted a B in one subject and the teacher has told her she has to do some work over the summer (a course work based subject) to pull it up to an A, which he thinks she can do but he needs to see it. Fair enough.
However, if your child struggles to get the top marks required and can only pull it off with massive all consuming amounts work - the subject will only get harder at university level, and it may be time to set some more achievable goals.

Sadly this has happened to us and we are considering the options at the moment. It’s very hard.

OP,

We can’t know where the worries of your DS are coming from. My idea is best for someone who has been underperforming or is just a bit behind. (BTW, when referring to ‘homework standard’, I meant the homework standard of a good student.) But @easyday writes very wisely about the need to rethink plans when it is clear that pupils are aiming too high.

The next step would be to wait to find out what grade he actually got in his exam before panicking. I'm assuming that he has done well up till now in maths and was thinking an A was achievable.

The grade boundaries for AS maths (I assume he sat an AS paper) are very low. In 2019 for Edexcel, you needed 63% for an A, and that was pre-covid.

Thanks for the great advice it really is helpful.
This was an exam school had written itself, but I suppose based on paper 1 of AS level and they have paper 2 later this week. DS had done all the past papers as part of his revision and getting most of the questions right so this was a big blow. He said it was much harder than any of them. Can’t understand why school did this.

Also, students can still get a place on their preferred course even if they miss their required grades by a small amount.
My son needed AAB or something (sorry, few years ago!) and got eg ABB. he was devastated and thought he'd missed out, but the uni gave him a place anyway.
They would rather have a student who wants to be there but was slightly off, than a student who had them as a second preference. I suppose it does depend on the Uni and how popular the course is though, but this was Economics at Newcastle, so I am sure there were plenty of applicants.