How are A-level predicted grades worked out?
Good question. First of all, it depends what predicted grades you mean. There are predicted grades on reports, predicted grades for exam boards, predicted grades for use in teacher appraisal and predicted grades for UCAS. You might imagine that these would all be the same but that is certainly not the case. Many teachers will inflate predictions for UCAS, for example, and be much more conservative when predicting to parents. Many schools use aptitude testing with predicted grades then being worked out by a computer. The GCSE grade is then factored in. For UCAS, predicted grades are usually based on the AS Level grade. It should be noted that universities have observed that UCAS predictions are often wildly optimistic when compared against the actual result. However, there is a great inconsistency between teachers. In making their predictions, some are saying what they honestly feel the student will achieve and others are giving the best case scenario. All this is unfair to applicants a
