Mock results/ predictions please help

[FrameyMcFrame]

Dd got solid Cs in her A2 mocks after 2 terms of 6th form. We just received her predicted grades and they're also all Cs. We are very disappointed as she needs Bs for her chosen courses.

Is it unrealistic to hope she would improve up one grade to get the Bs? I'd have thought that getting Cs after barely a year would mean she'd get better and be on course for a B by the end of second year in 6th form.

With these predictions she can't even apply to the courses she wants.
I'm paying for tutoring in all 3 subjects too.
Feel desperately disappointed fo her

I would say it's worth talking to the school or even better asking your DD too. We normally predict a grade above mocks for UCAS as you would expect improvement before the final exams.

*to not too!

Thanks Bobby, I'm waiting for a callback now from the head of Year. Her personal tutor was not much help.

I don't mean to sound harsh but if she needs personal tutors as well as schooling to get those grades are you sure she will be up to the course she wants to do. Surely she won't be able to cope with a degree course if she needs that amount of support at A level?

Thanks for your opinion. Do you really think that kids who just get Cs shouldn't bother going to uni?

Those grades are on A2 exams after 2 terms of study so actually I think that's pretty good and I don't see why a B should be out of reach to her in any of her subjects.

I'm throwing everything at it because I want her to have the best chances, she's dyspraxic and has done very well to get 9 gcse a-c grades and so far so good with A levels.

I think she's got a good chance of getting Bs predicted.

Best of luck to her x

Thanks! Hope so.
We found out yesterday that with predicted Cs across the board she will still have a good chance of getting offers from the courses she wants.
I spoke to a couple of admissions and because her chosen subjects aren't too competitive (modern languages) then she has a good chance of a place even if her results are a mix of Bs and Cs anyway.

That's great she should have a good chance of getting offers for the courses she's interested in. However, if she wants to try and increase her chances/predictions, ot might be worth her speaking to her tutors to check how close she was to a B and if necessary fighting her case.

DD was 0.5 mark off the next grade and school had upped it to that. Other two subjects she was predicted the grades she achieved in her mocks. For one subject she argued her mock didn't included her strongest element which they and she knows she'll get a good mark. The other subject she's been pestering her tutors for support/feedback and asked to sit another exam and has had her prediction increased.

Have you considered sending on abroad for a language summer camp? Pricey, but full immersion might help?

I think the common misconception (i hear it every year) is that staff should predict students the grade they 'need' to get their chosen course.

A predicted grade is a teacher saying based on current performance, work ethic, approach to the subject etc, what do they think the outcome will be.

If there's not enough evidence of a student approaching a particular grade then it shouldn't be predicted.

If I predict a student a C, that doesn't mean they couldn't pull a B out of the bag or that it's beyons them. It means that based on the whole picture and the evidence in front of me, the C is the most likely outcome.

Thanks all.

TeentimesTwo, have you any experience of languages immersion courses? Sounds like a good idea, I'm googling it

I'll PM you.

Maisypops, i guess it just seemed like if she got a C already in the mock after 2 terms of the course, what were they going to achieve in the other 4 terms? No improvement at all?

It's all looking fine now as it seems most of the unis will offer one grade above predicted grades anyway!

Maisypops, i guess it just seemed like if she got a C already in the mock after 2 terms of the course, what were they going to achieve in the other 4 terms? No improvement at all?
If I predicted someone C part way through a 2 year course it's because I believe it is the most realistic picture based on their work, exams, work ethic, initiative etc.
Half way through a 2 year course there's still half the material to cover, which needs to be to a C grade for that prediction to be accurate.

If I was going to predict a B for a largely C ish studnet then I'd want a bit of evidence that they've produced B grade work (if not entirely in exam conditions), their verbal grasp of the subject was securely a B, their work ethic was right and they were demonstrating they were working to secure that B.

The idea that you get a D in term 1 then a C in term 2 and then a B in term 3 to show progress is fanciful. The progress comes from 'we did topic 1 and you got a C... now we are studying topic 2 and at rhe start you knew nothing of topic 2 but you get to a C in it'.
No progress would be getting to a C at thr end of term 2 and not learning anything new for the remainder of the course.

Unfortunately, some students and parents seem to be of the view that we should ensure their grade goes up and ensure we predict what 'they need' in order to get into university. That's the case (e.g. in the case of one student I teach who has been doinv a great job of telling me i have to predict them 2 grades higher than I've ever seen them do, they are still turning uo to class unprepared or barely prepared, still not writing enough because they are rushing work, still not making notes in class and somehow have it in their head that i have to predict them what they want because they've told me if they don't get into university then it's my fault)

*that's not the case (obviously)

It’s better all round for everyone to be realistic at this stage. It’s a mistake to try to bully the school into predicting better grades than are likely.

What does your DD want to do? I get the modern language stuff. I mean after university

It’s better all round for everyone to be realistic at this stage. It’s a mistake to try to bully the school into predicting better grades than are likely.
I agree. Though if you make a prediction based on what's in front of you and the student beats it then it becomes 'i TOLD the school I would get a B but they told me I wasn't capable of getting a B' ... despite the fact nobody ever commented on what someone was capable of because they were openly making a prediction based on the information in front of them at the time.

My friend is a 6th form tutor who gets this every UCAS time. People who've not worked hard enough or done as well as they want in y12, not done enrichment, not taken advantage of work experience suddenly think it's college's responsibility to fix everything ready for UCAS. Mad world.