prediction grade - entrance exam ?

[Rmehta]

Hi,
Today i came to know in year 13 [ A level's] there is are entrance exams while applying for universities, its so confusing to understand the whole process. Is this entrance exam different from A level exam?
what is this exam for?
Also teachers do prediction grades and kids apply for universities.
Which location/url we can know the whole process?

Are you taking about Oxbridge and the BMAT for medicine? Other than that university entrance is based on A level grades

There aren't very many courses which need an entrance exam on top of A levels. Where did you hear that? What course?

The UCAS website should tell you everything you need to know.

Imperial has entrance exams for some courses as well, and sone require STEP (an extra maths exam) I think Warwick asks for STEP as well for some.

But it's essentially a small number of highly competitive courses, and the information about what is required should be clearly laid out on the admissions page for the course.

The vast majority do not require additional exams, and will offer based on A levels, or IB, or Highers or BTECs

What year is your DC, and what research into courses have they done so far?

Some unis require LNAT for Law and some require MAT/STEP for maths.

The UCAS website will help you with information about the general process.

Hi @Rmehta as others say, very few universities require students to sit an entrance exam in addition to A-levels. Oxford and Cambridge have an entrance exam; these universities are very prestigious and only the most able students will be able to achieve a place there.

Other than that, my understanding is that additional exams are limited to medical courses (also very competitive) and then as others say a very few courses in specific unis.

The vast vast majority don't have any kind of extra exam. Most children apply in the autumn of year 13 (so, about now) to five universities, basing their choices on typical offers for the courses (this information is on the university websites) and their own predicted grades from teachers. The UCAS website explains the process.

Is your DC in year 13 or in year 12? If year 13, have they had support from school or college in their application?

The entrance exams, as Clary says are only usually for Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge) or highly competitive course like medicine and are not the norm for most courses. UCAS website has information on every university that requires an entrance exam for their particular courses such as pharmacy.

www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/admissions-tests

Predicted grades are done by the sixth form. For Ds this was the average of his GCSE grades. Add all his grades together and divide by the number he took. His came out A*/A then they had end of topic tests every 3 weeks or so that either confirmed he was on the right track or showed they had to work a bit harder at revising. At the end of year 12 they usually sit exams so this tells them where they can aim university wise.

Thanks all for guiding
for computer engineering/Information technology is there test as well in good universities?
which are good unis for information tech and how can i get list?

Probably, because for computer science there are additional tests for Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial (couple of years since I checked the detail)

These should all be spelled out in the prospectuses, and your DC really needs to be looking these up for themselves. There are myriad sites with comparison information, data about the courses, entrance requirements, student satisfaction, graduate employment rates etc

Thanks for info
Please share the comparison site where i can compare different uni and there entrance requirement

All unis and their entrance typical entry requirements are listed on the UCAS site.

Ranking of unis is tricky - one of the topped ranked unis may not be top for a specific subject. And even then, it will depend on how that ranking has been awarded - department research, post graduation destinations/employment rates, student satisfaction etc There are lots of different ranking tables around - The Guardian, The Times, Which etc. Just google.

However, much will depend on the predicted grades received from school/college. IF the top course is asking for 3xA grades at A-level, and predicted grades are 3xC, it will be necessary to start looking further down the lists.

For computer science Ds sat a maths entrance exam for Cambridge which is the CTMUA. The maths test is TMUA but Cambridge pay for it and the results are provided directly to them hence the C in front of TMUA. The entrance exam was taken at the beginning of November of year 13.

Ds did not have to sit any other entrance exam for any other uni. Unfortunately there are no direct links to provide for you as such. There are university guides but each one differs as to where they rank universities.

The process for Ds was, decided he wanted to do computer science, he had taken it for GCSE and A level and did other CS related stuff outside of school, loves it. Googled top universities for CS, made a list. Decided he didn't want to be more than a 3 hour drive from home so that ruled out London unis and Scottish unis.

Then you need to look at predicted grades for A levels and where your child can realistically apply. Durham (where Ds is now) their entry grade is AAA however, Ds was predicted A A A A. Therefore a very realistic chance of getting in. This is the important bit, there is no point applying to Warwick who ask A A A for computer science if you are predicted AAA.

Sadly the whole process of looking into universities etc comes from researching. It isn't just about the university though, or the course, but location too, city based or campus based? You need to visit to get a feel for the place. Look at the cost of accommodation. Price really varies. Also look in maintenance loan amounts and expected parental contribution which may also play a role in determining a university.

So the whole thing starts with research. Ds made a massive spreadsheet, complicated slightly more by both Cambridge and Durham being collegiate where you apply to a specific college there rather than just the university.

Realistically your DC should be managing this by themselves, with support from the school. That includes looking up which courses are best regarded for a particular subject - the internet is there for the purpose.

how it works in India is we have a central place and government gives admission to all, you are given a form and you put your top 5 preference, its live dashboard showing which uni and remaining seats...

What's DC? ucas site i will go through, but what if i fill 5 choices and i get in non ? how does it work then?
I know few students who have got prediction grades and applied but got no admission yet
how do the real application looks when u have not got admission in prediction grade , how does things flow

Ah, OK - this is for you and you are currently in Yr13. That's confused me, mostly what you get on here are people's parents. DC stands for Darling Child.

You definitely need to work through the UCAS site - just Google it.

www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2021/sep/11/the-best-uk-universities-2022-rankings This link will help you with rankings.

Are you currently at a UK school? Because your school should be supporting you in this process.

Have a look at this website

www.whatuni.com/degree-courses/search?q=computer-engineering&sort=crh

Just to add, if you’re applying from India you’ll need to sit an IELTS English exam. Is this what you’re referring to?

You should target your 5 choices according to anticipated exam results and their typical offers. If you get no offers from the first 5 you may have the opportunity to request more iirc. Or go through the Clearing process in the summer where residual spaces are available post results.. Not all unis have entry tests and you are too late for Oxbridge and the general tests for 2022 entry now. Deadline for UCAS is in January.

Many universities have an international student recruitment team whose job it is to help people in your position @Rmehta - Google "international student recruitment site:[cityname].ac.uk" where you replace [cityname] with the name of any major UK city that has a university and you will find an email address and phone number of someone who can help - for many places there will be a large team with one person who is specifically responsible for potential students from India.