Predicted CCC

[Notsureabouthis]

Bit gutted tbh.

School is massively cracking down as have over predicted historically so teachers have clearly been told to resist parental pressure!

Just really need a bit of support as DS now feeling really demoralised. Shocked really as he got a B in his internal History exam at the end of last year. They’ve predicted C-D for History “which could be a B with work and consistency “. But he’s been told that it’s the C that’s going on UCAS. The school gets the applications in early (by November.)

What would be the level of aspirational entry requirements we should look at? We were looking at ABB aspirational but that feels pie in the sky now.

Having a gap year anyway so he was applying this year for 2021 entry. He’s dyslexic and struggles with focus and work ethic is not always brilliant (to be fair I think he gets exhausted) so hopefully an extra year will help.

Hand hold please!!!!

Please push for them to up your DS predictions.

I've just been through all this and I had to fight the school to up DDs

They did EVENTUALLY after soooo much stress and emails phone calls complaints etc.

Was worth it as DD got offers from the unis and courses she wanted

Results day came and she had made her predicted grades. So glad I pushed them to change up.

She's off to Uni of York on Saturday.

What grades did she actually achieve?

She totally bombed her Alevels but spent a fair bit of year 13 very ill and in and out of hospital. Had a 55% attendance rate. So not sure her example can be used as she was a bit of an unusual situation. On a personal level having an unconditional worked for her as it meant she got onto the uni course she wanted to and wasn’t penalised due to being so poorly.

Please push for them to up your DS predictions.

This isn't always possible.
Some schools have a policy that they will not negotiate or change predicted grades under any circumstances once they have been set.

Consider Sussex foundation year. Excellent university, great location and with an award-winning teaching team on foundation. Also very good student support services there.

If he struggles with motivation and work volume, a FY might be a good way to have a low stakes introduction to university level study. He can do all the adjusting to university life and then start his proper degree.

My son got poor predicted grades. He was a lazy sod and scraped a BBC in his AS levels and school wouldn’t provide good predicated grades and suggested he was setting his standard to high and should be looking at universities with CCc entry. Told them that whilst I appreciated there opinion we certainly would not be advising him to fo that and my DS has set his heart on going to Leeds University. He did a good personal statement and despite predicted he got offers from all the RG universities. He got A stars in his A Levels. You need to get your DC to focus on where he wants to go, make sure his statement is bang on and he works.

Having just gone through the stress of upper 6th, predicted results and the whole UCAS process, I would definitely have preferred dd to apply after results if she'd been planning a year out. So much easier to apply based on actual results, and also to know which open days are worth going to.

OTOH universities are well aware that predictions are unreliable. You could look online for the percentage of applicants to a course who get offers (I think Which? University has this info). If 90% are getting an offer, I think that suggests they are sifting based on actual results rather than rejecting people who apply with lower predictions.

@Bronzegate

Yes my DD's school is one of those

As I said, we would be in a completely different position if I hadn't caused Merry hell at school over and over again.

And DD got higher grades than some of her peers who were predicted higher grades.

It was utterly unfair.

Have you tried the UCAS offer calculator?

It gives you the percentage chance of an offer from each uni if you input the predicted grades.

Firstly - nephew got an offer from Cardiff( not History tho) for AAB dropped to ABB as he made it a firm choice but still accepted with BBC in the end so aspirational seems reasonable.
Secondly, I would try to avoid Foundation years if possible - £9000 plus living costs is a lot for nothing much really. You might be better to go for entry into a lower ranking uni for the BA/BSc course and jump on a Masters 1 yr programme somewhere with a higher ranking if you want that later as Masters courses can be less expensive (£6000 ish I think) and you will still come out with a BA/BSc anyway plus a Masters level qual from somewhere well respected for your subject - just a thought?

Sorry if this has already been said but there is loads of time before your son has to submit his UCAS application. If he thinks he can up his game there is no reason the school can't wait and see how his work is going and adjust his grades accordingly.