Predicted A level grades A*/A - advice please

[Gunnersforthecup]

DC has just received their predicted A level grades

• Maths A*/A
• Further Maths A*

plus 2 others, A and B

This begs a few questions regarding the Maths grade.

How can a predicted grade be a range? What goes down on the UCAS form? Isn't a predicted grade supposed to be an optimistic assessment of the best a candidate can do, based on evidence? If the mock result was an Astar, isn't that good evidence of the potential to get an Astar, in an optimistic assessment?

Also, DC went to Kangaroo in the Senior Maths Challenge, so presumably this is more evidence to suggest they are able.

Also, how can the Further Maths predicted grade be higher than the apparent Maths predicted grade, when Further Maths is presumably harder than Maths?

Also, DC has diagnoses of autism and ADHD, but it has taken over 5 years to get the ADHD diagnosed and medication started, which only happened this year. So this might also help with performance,as a background issue. DC is very bright but does have longstanding issues with handing in homework and completing tasks. However, their grades show consistent improvement in performance over the past 9 months, from AstarBBD initial assessment up to A
starAstarAB results in mocks. So there is a narrative of progression going on.

GCSEs were 2 x9, 5 x8, 2 x7,6 and 5.

DC wants to do maths at university and wants to apply to the most competitive places so will really benefit from AstarAstarA for the top 3 grades on their UCAS form. In particular, the most demanding courses will want AstarAstar in maths, so it's quite important for them.

The Further Maths teacher said at Open Evening that DC has one of the most inquisitive minds in maths that he has encountered and that DC would be a "boon" to a top university. (DC was gobsmacked). DC has been going away after lessons and working out alternative proofs to problems, kind of thing. Also has been working through STEP 1 Foundation problems.

Oh, and does the college fill in the predicted grades or the student?

Predicted grades are apparently "non negotiable" so I thought it might be best to ask questions on here before picking any of this up with college. I am wary of appearing "that" parent, but I might need to write to them about this, as it is important, but not sure what is best to do.

Just to say that I have edited this as all the A*s have caused merry havoc with the bold function, sorry.

So at my dc's school if it says A star/A then they will generally put A star on UCAS form.

The further maths being higher is odd to me - my DS is studying maths and further maths and has A star currently predicted for maths but for further they are waiting until sept/Octoberfor final confirmation as they want to cover more of the syllabus.

But also our school will move predicted grades in sept/October if the child proves they have worked over the summer to get their grades up and it is demonstrated in further tests in September.

I think it is worth querying for sure and really don't worry about being that parent - this is your child's future and you are allowed to ask questions.

It’s usually the top one which will go on the form. Oxford will likely ask for A star AA and Cambridge A star A star A plus STEP 2 and 3.

Kangaroo is good but top 1000 students get to BMO1, so you will need some more super curricular stuff for the UCAS form.

Many thanks. What sort of other supercurricular stuff is there for maths? Are you thinking MOOCs?

We've been told that work experience isn't necessary. Though DC could potentially follow up a lead with a sort of engineering firm.

Work experience in an unrelated field won’t help with Oxbridge. Taking an interest in a particular bit of mathematics, such as the maths behind neural networks, algorithms, geometry, and doing some personal study on it in the summer holidays is a good thing for him to put on his form and have in his pocket to talk about at interview.

There are lots of options here, but some good starting points for exploration are some popular science maths books. The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is a good one, as is Roger Penrose’s Emperor’s New Mind. A number of areas of geometry, combinatorics or set theory are reasonably accessible at this age. There’s also the maths behind internet security - he could look up how this works and learn about elliptic curves etc and teach himself to understand it.

Or perhaps your DS could aim to qualify for the BMO this year and could spend time over the summer getting good at BMO questions by doing past papers. The more supercurricular the better - it demonstrates that a student is really interested in the subject and prepared to put some hard work in to improve his/her understanding. It’s a bit like athletes demonstrating dedication to training!

Also, how can the Further Maths predicted grade be higher than the apparent Maths predicted grade, when Further Maths is presumably harder than Maths?

My DC does both and enjoys FM more than Maths, it sounds very different and the 'harder' aspect is not as clearcut as you'd think. It's a different mix and level of maths that might suit your son's aptitude better than the 'basic' Maths A-level. Same as running a marathon might be harder than running a mile but some people are better at long distances than they are at short sprints. It's a good sign that he's excelling at the FM and probably means if he puts the graft in he'll also do just as well with the Maths. I can't help with the predicted grades insights sorry as never seen a range cited like that, but that does sound frustrating.

Echo @Zippp 's excellent advice - my eldest is at Cambridge - he took Maths, FM, Physics and DT and they weren't remotely interested in his extracurriculars in interview, only the super curriculars - lectures he'd been to, books he'd read - and where that had led him outside of his schoolwork.

The grade disparity is a bit odd - does he have different teachers for the different maths modules - perhaps they are hedging their bets? At my DCs school, they are given their UCAS grades after their summer mocks (DS2 should get his any day now) and then they are allowed to appeal for an 'aspirational grade' in one subject- ie to inflate one grade by one mark if they are close enough in the mocks for the teacher to think an A star is possible.

I'd add to that that I read "The Emperor's New Mind" when I applied to Oxford over 30 years ago now. It's a very interesting book, and I think one of the interviewers did ask me briefly if I'd read anything interesting so I did get to talk about it. However I suspect now it's quite dated.

It's really the exam you need to focus on for Oxford mostly, and being able to discuss maths at a good level. I had a really good discussion at one of my interviews when I said something I thought was a bit flippant, and they were "wow! that's exactly what we were looking for. Why?" and the being able to discuss and reason was what they want.

I'd suspect the reasons for only having A/A* in maths could be one of:

He's good at maths, but cuts corners. So in maths he's losing a number of method/explaining marks and when he makes mistakes, it's not written down so he can't get error carried forward marks. Ds was losing up to 20 marks on papers even when getting mostly right, but they can't give a method mark if there is no method.

They don't predict A* in maths because you have to score high (can be 80%+) so a couple of silly mistakes can put you down a grade.

There's something in the single maths which he really isn't getting/refuses to do.

Different teachers for single and further who have different opinions of him.

DC got A star in both Maths and Further Maths in his mock.

Re the maths/fm thing - my dd did them pre the reforms so this may not exactly translate but she managed to get an A* for FM but A for maths. This was a mix of something anomalous with one of the core maths papers - just about everyone who did that board underperformed that year, it seemed - and her having self taught an extra FM mechanics module which she did very well on, so it was weighted more towards her strengths. (I think they discarded whichever of the other non core modules she’d done least well in).
fortunately she got an A* for physics so made her required grades for Cambridge engineering.