# What grades are/were you predicted at school? Has SA had any effect?



## Banzai (Jun 4, 2009)

What grades were you predicted at school? Did SA have any effect on whether you achieved it or not? If you are currently at school, do you think SA _will_ have an effect on whether you achieve them or not?

At secondary school, I generally achieved all my predicted grades with the exception of maths where I was predicted an A* (based on SATs results and a Midyis test) but, for a variety of reasons - some SA related, only got a B on my first and second attempt. It was only on my third attempt did I manage to get an A.


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## bowlingpins (Oct 18, 2008)

On a national standardized test I took 4 months ago, I scored in the top 10% of test takers. In the classes since (which are based upon the test), I have been docked points for "having lack of knowledge".. the grading is utter BS and biased towards the extroverted. 

Simply speaking, those who are outgoing and talkative come off as smarter than those who are not. Thererfore, I am barely passing my classes right now.


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## Monroee (Aug 26, 2009)

bowlingpins said:


> On a national standardized test I took 4 months ago, I scored in the top 10% of test takers. In the classes since (which are based upon the test), I have been docked points for "having lack of knowledge".. the grading is utter BS and biased towards the extroverted.
> 
> Simply speaking, those who are outgoing and talkative come off as smarter than those who are not. Thererfore, I am barely passing my classes right now.


Wow, that is BS, indeed. When I was in school, I never talked to anyone and always had the highest grade in every class. Usually the extreme extroverts were the ones failing.


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## Banzai (Jun 4, 2009)

Homersxchild said:


> Wow, that is BS, indeed. When I was in school, I never talked to anyone and always had the highest grade in every class. *Usually the extreme extroverts were the ones failing.*


Ditto this. I don't think there were any "extreme extroverts" that got high grades at my school, which isn't really saying much.


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## Catlover4100 (Feb 10, 2009)

Well, based on my PSAT results, I was predicted to get between 1610 and 1810 on the SAT. For some reason, I managed to get a 2020! I think it is because I felt confident that whatever I got would be more than enough for the colleges I'm applying to, so I wasn't completely overcome with stress and anxiety. It's amazing what you can do when you're not anxious!


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## rincewind (Sep 7, 2009)

My grades were consistently good throughout school and university. If anything I think SA helped me to achieve that because I had no social life to speak of and nothing else to concentrate on except doing well in my courses.


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## bowlingpins (Oct 18, 2008)

My classes are different from most in that 75-80% of the grade is based upon participation, meetings, presentations and the remaining 20-25% is the written exam. It is the first part that screws me up.


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## Banzai (Jun 4, 2009)

bowlingpins said:


> My classes are different from most in that 75-80% of the grade is based upon participation, meetings, presentations and the remaining 20-25% is the written exam. It is the first part that screws me up.


Why is that? What classes do you take? And sorry to hear that man...that sucks big time :no


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## brokensaint (Aug 27, 2009)

In High School, it was predicted that I would have an 85% average. I'm in year five of three (two years longer than was predicted, haha) and I currently have a _24%_ average. So yes, SA has had an impact.


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## Perfectionist (Mar 19, 2004)

rincewind said:


> My grades were consistently good throughout school and university. If anything I think SA helped me to achieve that because I had no social life to speak of and nothing else to concentrate on except doing well in my courses.


This. If I had a social life I couldn't spend this Friday, Saturday, _and _Sunday nights working on my paper.


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## Banzai (Jun 4, 2009)

Perfectionist said:


> This. If I had a social life I couldn't spend this Friday, Saturday, _and _Sunday nights working on my paper.


Some interesting responses - I would have thought that there would be many who underachieved due to anxiety in lessons etc particularly those with more severe forms of SA and had dropped out of schooling.



bowlingpins said:


> The classes I was referring to are the clinical rotations med. students do in their 3rd year of the program.
> 
> The clinical rotations consist of working in the hospital for long hours (for example next week, my schedule is 5.30am - 7pm weekdays with every 5th day call). As you are working, the superiors are evaluating your performance. They like to "pimp" you as well meaning they ask questions any time they please, be it in front of patients, colleagues or in group meetings. It a bit tricky for me to keep my mind straight in such situations when all eyes are on me and I know my evaluation hinges on how I respond.
> 
> ...


Sorry to hear that bowlingpins.


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## utopian_grrl (Jun 26, 2008)

To be honest, if I hadn't developed SA at an early age and fell in love with books because there was nothing better to do, like waste time playing with friends instead of doing HW, I probably would have been an underachiever. So, SA made me an overachiever.
But, just because you get "A's" doesn't necessarily mean you've tried your best. I can honestly say that I have never put 100% effort in any school assignment. It's just difficult to get motivated. I'm kinda anxious thinking about entering grad school where I feel like it will begin to get hard to coast by on "half-assing" it and I won't be able to accurately gauge how much effort will be A-worthy.


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## cakesniffer (Nov 11, 2003)

I've never heard of "predicting" grades before. Seems like most of the people answering here are from the UK. Anyway, I think that would put unnecessary pressure on students. Oh, you should be doing this good. And what if they don't? No doubt that would make many feel inadequate.


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## Neptunus (Oct 29, 2007)

My SA only affected practical exams.


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## Banzai (Jun 4, 2009)

Sheri said:


> I've never heard of "predicting" grades before. Seems like most of the people answering here are from the UK. Anyway, I think that would put unnecessary pressure on students. Oh, you should be doing this good. And what if they don't? No doubt that would make many feel inadequate.


You're right - it does seem to be a UK thing. Here, when you start school, teachers will give you a predicted grade which is the grade you should achieve/be aiming for by the end of the year.

What do they do in America?


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## rincewind (Sep 7, 2009)

Banzai said:


> Yes, it does seem to be a UK thing. Here, when you start school, teachers will give you a predicted grade which is the grade you should achieve/be aiming for by the end of the year.


Is this a recent thing? I don't remember it from when I was in school, but maybe it's only England and Wales that have it...


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## Hadron92 (Apr 17, 2009)

At secondary school we were predicted our grades based on our mock exams, which were usually taken in January. 

At college we are only being predicted our A2 grades, which are (in my college at least) based on our As grades. Now that the A* grade is being introduced, you're able to be predicted an A* if you get over 90% in your As (which is very hard - I was the only person out of more than 100 to get over 90% in chemistry and biology). Predicted grades are extremely important because they are one of the things that unis look at in your application . 

By the way, completely out of topic - but I'm very happy that the A* grade is now available for A levels. I heard that a few unis (including UCL and cambridge) are going to increase their requirement for some subjects from AAA to A*AA. If the A* grade wasn't available I wouldn't have been able to stand out from the sea of applicants who offes A's.


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## AussiePea (Mar 27, 2007)

If anything SA improved my grades since I was less focused on my social life and finding gf's and getting my attention focused on those things. That being said they were still only between 50-70%  Not much of a academic, but I think I am balanced well between that and practical.


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## Banzai (Jun 4, 2009)

rincewind said:


> Is this a recent thing? I don't remember it from when I was in school, but maybe it's only England and Wales that have it...


I think it's an England and Wales thing then. I think in Scotland they do a different qualification to here? I don't think it's a recent thing though - I'm pretty sure I have heard my teachers speak of it during their time at school but not suer about that either .



Hadron said:


> At secondary school we were predicted our grades based on our mock exams, which were usually taken in January.
> 
> At college we are only being predicted our A2 grades, which are (in my college at least) based on our As grades. Now that the A* grade is being introduced, you're able to be predicted an A* if you get over 90% in your As (which is very hard - I was the only person out of more than 100 to get over 90% in chemistry and biology). Predicted grades are extremely important because they are one of the things that unis look at in your application .
> 
> By the way, completely out of topic - but I'm very happy that the A* grade is now available for A levels. I heard that a few unis (including UCL and cambridge) are going to increase their requirement for some subjects from AAA to A*AA. If the A* grade wasn't available I wouldn't have been able to stand out from the sea of applicants who offes A's.


At my college, we have a "minimum grade" (the grade you should _at least_ get for AS) and a "target grade" (the grade you should be aiming to get based on your potential) for year 12s. The problem is though, they take into account all your GCSE grades and then apply it to all your subjects so even if you were doing English AS level and got 100% at GCSE but did rubbish for all your other GCSE subjects, it'd mean that you'd get a lower minimum and target grade set. Therefore, it tends to bend in favour of those who get overall, good grades rather than otherwise.

And gratz on your chem and bio results.

Can't say the same on your third paragraph though - I guess it depends on who it bends in favour towards.


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## rincewind (Sep 7, 2009)

Banzai said:


> I think it's an England and Wales thing then. I think in Scotland they do a different qualification to here? I don't think it's a recent thing though - I'm pretty sure I have heard my teachers speak of it during their time at school but not suer about that either .


Yep, the Scottish education system has different qualifications, although I assume they share most of the curriculum with the equivalents in the rest of the UK. I guess this is one of the differences - I remember some teachers would tell you that they expected you to get an A in the exam and stuff like that but there was no formal system for predicted grades. I'm not sure if I'd have liked it to be honest, it sounds like it could put even more pressure on you before exams


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## Banzai (Jun 4, 2009)

rincewind said:


> I'm not sure if I'd have liked it to be honest, it sounds like it could put even more pressure on you before exams


Ditto this, in my case . At my college, if you're not "on target", they classify you as failing or something along the lines of that and then throw in the bother of "putting you on report".

It does depend though - some schools over predict you and some under predict you which can either boost your motivation or, blow it up, depending on your confidence.

It does have its uses - it gives you something to aim towards for example.


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## bowlingpins (Oct 18, 2008)

Banzai said:


> Sorry to hear that bowlingpins.


Thanks


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