Using target grades on UCAS form?

[DishingOutDone]

Big rush to complete UCAS form before Christmas and DD's teacher has said that school are not using predicted grades this year on the form this year but target grades (so not using grades from mocks - ?) - is that even possible? I can't find anything about it on UCAS site or google what does it mean?!

What is the difference between your DC target and predicted grades? Does this impact on her uni choices?

We had a virtual parents eve. Grades the teachers were going to put on UCAS were discussed and agreed. I'm amazed your DC is just finding this out now.

Me too hence posting 😟

Stats show that only 17% predicted grades are usually correct. This is because many teachers/schools are prepared to put down aspirational grades to allow a pupil to apply to a "better" uni . Eg they may be realistically getting AAA but want to apply to a uni that needs A*AA. If they predict AAA they are unlikely to get an offer from that uni. So by putting an aspirtational grade they may get that offer and indeed if they work hard they may achieve it.

Unfortunately many parents do not understand this or forget that the realistic expectation is AAA. When schools then had to use CAGS ie. centre assessed grades where they had to give an opinion as to what the pupil would have realistically achieved there was a lot of backlash.

Our school has provided 2 sets of grades this year in a written report to prevent this : most likely grade and UCAS application grade so that were the worst to come to the worst and CAGS are used there is evidence as to what the most likely grade has been. Further if a pupil is daft enough to put 5 aspirational choices then there can be no complaint from a parent who simply did not understand that the grade may have been inflated in the way detailed above.

Thus I suspect your school are basically saying that they will be using a method that does not provide for aspirational choices but providing a realistic view as to what your child will achiev.

Thanks @SeasonFinale but what panicked me was it’s not referred to on UCAS. I am happy with target grades for her but why haven’t they mentioned it before

Have just had a quick rummage for a recent report. Back in October,DS2's school gave three sets of grades, Aspirational Target Grade, Current Grade and A level teacher estimate. The first column gives a grade above that in the third for one of his subjects, with the other two subjects the same in each. The grades in the middle one, we will probably gloss over but they looked a bit better in his next interim report a couple of weeks ago. The third column (A*AB) is what has gone on his UCAS form and is realistic vis à vis his GCSE grades (997) and his AS grades (AAB for both initially awarded and centre assessed grades, with an A in a fourth subject, dropped like a hot brick at the beginning of year 13).

'Target' grades I always thought were generally based on an actual formula using GCSE grades and some other element, via FFT or whoever?

All the universities he has applied to are in the AAB / ABB area; his favourite being one of the two which have made him offers at the latter this week.

Well, apparently DD's school is using target grades on everyone's UCAS forms and that's that.

We're happy with that, but I just thought the UCAS form specified that school must give predicted grades, not target. It all seemed like news to me .

Will the target grades allow your DC to apply for the uni/courses they want?

If yes, I wouldn't worry.

Yes they will @Movinghouse2015, we are happy with this plan. But it is a plan?

But my worry is this is a school in chaos with a new UCAS co-ordinator, when I spoke to him the guy clearly didn't know anything - apparently he's a teacher who is giving it a go but never done the process before hence they are so late in submissions. And the opportunity to use target grades isn't mentioned on the UCAS website, I've googled and nothing much comes up.

So UCAS accept target grades instead of predicted?

UCAS Advisor here - when your DDs teacher adds her reference there is a drop down box labelled ‘predicted grades’ and he/she will enter the grades. It doesn’t really matter what the college are calling them, her uni choices will see them as predicted grades and will offer based on them.

Phew. Thank you @ByTheSeaCatsandAll - I am reassured!

UCAS are just processors of the form. It does not matter to them if the school has divined the predicted grades with spoons. However, it does carry more weight with admissions tutors if there is some explanation of how the predicted grades were arrived at.

the school has divined the predicted grades with spoons - ah you have a child at the same school?!