Mock results- how important for prediction?

[PinkChaires]

Hiya, Dd got A and B in psychology and biology in mock but D in history. Teacher notes this was a timing issue, as she only did 1/3 of a 30 marker so was capped. One mark of a C. Class average was D, no As. Could there be a chance of being predicted an A grade if she does well in future test? She got a B in the test before the mock and a 9 at gcse

Assuming this is a level then the predicted grades are generally based on the mocks plus improvement UNLESS the teacher thinks there is a good reason why the student did badly - eg mum died that morning etc. talk to the teacher.

Yep, i have . Its not clear given that these mocks were quite early. And teachers is new to a level teaching and there is no college wide policy. Likely to be predicted A* and A in others so hopefully not based on mocks solely

Also, any good resources for aqa britain and Cold War?

As an A level History teacher I would not predict an A grade for any student who had demonstrated that they could only achieve a D grade under exam conditions. Timing is tough at A level - and she can certainly pull herself up with lots of timed practice - but I have to justify my UCAS predictions to SLT and I would struggle greatly to justify predicting an A grade to someone who'd got 3 grades lower in the Mock.

My dds were predicted the grades they had achieved in the most recent tests. Not higher. Your dd will have a chance to get a higher grade in the summer exams. Possibly in exams after that too if there's more exams before the UCAS goes in

@Hatty65 thats reasonable. What if they got As in the next tests? And Bs before? Seems really harsh that a bad day would affect it her grade to this extent.

Dds college do state they often predict higher so no problem there. Im not sure if they have summer mocks

If they predict higher than they are able to achieve in exams the issue might be achieving their uni offer grades.

When my DS got his predictions last year, we spoke to the teacher for one subject because we felt that his predicted grade was too low and not representative of his abilities. Her response was to give them (the whole class - not just him) a "second chance" in the form of another test a couple of months after the mocks. If most of the class got D's, maybe the teacher will consider something like this? I don't think she would want to give lots of D predictions.

If she ends up with a low prediction, don't panic. If she exceeds her prediction in the real thing, she may be able to go through clearing to get on a better course.

Hopefully, she really loved history and got a 9 at gcse so was a shock , was hoping for a C at least. Previously considering a history degree! I will encourage her to ask teacher again

History is not my subject, but I agree with @Hatty65 that I would be most unwilling to predict an A for a student whose mock exam was a D.

It's not unusual for teachers to over-predict, often due to pressure from students, but I don’t think it’s a great idea.

OTOH surely she has time to move that mark upwards. If it was genuinely just an off day, then she can make sure her classwork and any further assessments are at a higher level. PGs for UCAS won't be done until June/July at the earliest, more likely Sept/Oct.

Yes grades not finalised until nov. But teachers apparently put much emphasis on 'class effort' for predicting grades. Which to me screams over predictions which i honestly dont agree with. If dd cannot get an A i dony want her getting predicted one

She needs to do a lot of essays in timed conditions to give herself the best chance of achieving the grades she wants, OP.

For AQA she will sit two exams - each of 2.5 hours. I don't know which 'Britain' one she is taking, but that requires a breadth study of at least 100 years. She will have to write two 25 mark essays based on a 'to what extent do you agree' Q (eg, ‘Financial measures were the most successful means by which Henry VII established his authority in the years 1485 to 1509.’ Assess the validity of this view.)

She will have three extracts to analyse in the 30 mark Q - these are historians opinions and she will need to analyse the argument the historian is making and provide (her own) evidence as to how convincing each one is and to what extent she agrees with them. This is a tough ask.

You have an hour to do the 30 mark q, and 45 minutes (each) to do the other two. It requires in depth knowledge and understanding and an ability to write a fluid, evaluative essay with detailed evidence to back the argument she is making.

For the second exam she will be doing a depth study (Cold War). Again, 2 45min essays and then an hour evaluating three primary sources. These exams are 80% of the mark (20% on an NEA - 4,000 word piece of coursework).

Unfortunately two years work WILL basically be judged on how she performs under pressure on the day of the exam.

You can download past papers from AQAs website. Or ask the teacher to provide them. She needs to practice writing essays blindly in timed conditions.

DS is year 12 and doing AQA History - Tudors for breadth and Cold War for depth. I bought him the revision guides from Waterstones. He hasn't done mocks yet; the first will be in May. They have been doing timed questions from past papers periodically in class and for homework which he's finding helpful. He is also spending a lot of time consolidating notes and reviewing what he's been taught. His teachers have stressed that the students need to keep on top of these as the content is huge.

DS thinks the most difficult aspect of history exams is timing. He found this difficult with GCSE too but cracked it in the end and got a 9. Your daughter must have done similarly or wouldn't have been able to achieve a 9.

Will your daughter have another set of mocks later in the summer?

When you say "mocks" you're talking about Feb or March exams of Y12? Loads of time to improve. Essay subjects are about technique as well as content and they expect that to improve over time. It's a huge step up from GCSE. They'll have multiple other cracks at it before predictions get finalised.

DD and several of her friends started with Ds in English, pulled them up to A/B by the summer as they learned how to write A level essays, and had predictions of A star or A for uni. DD is not confident in her A star prediction so she's firmed an offer that will take her with a B.

Yep feb y12 . Teacher did speak to dd yesterday and did reemphasise that is normal at this point. Had she finished she would of at least gotten a C most likely B and teacher does acknowledge this

No i dont think so- am not sure how many more exams she has

Yeah its the 30 marker she didn't finish. As she only did one and a half pf a source she got capped at 10 marks .

It's brutal. She needs to be massively strict on time - 5 mins to read/understand the extract and jot down some evidence/knowledge to include then 15 minutes to write as fast as she can an evaluation of the argument, weighing up both pros and cons.

Then onto the next extract and same again.

You HAVE to stick to an hour for Q1 and then 45 mins each for Q2 and Q3 or you just get further and further behind and end up with about 10 mins to write your last essay.

Yep, she made that exact mistake. Gave far too much time to the 25 marker and not enough ( 20-25 mins) to the 30 marker. She got i think 15/16 out of 25 for the 25 marker

Our school allowed, for certain subjects, a second mock in September (PGs were determined in previous summer term), and if demonstrative improvement would increase the grade. But they were very practical on their PGs - my DD exceeded two of them, one from B to a very high A *