predicted grade do us universities weigh actual grades over predicted grades?

[liloklu]

Hi guys,

I'm sitting for 2016 nov exam and prepare to apply us universities for 2017 fall, but I currently have a HUGE PROBLEM with my predicted grade!!!!!!

First our coordinator said he won't tell us our predicted grade since it may affect our attitude towards the final exam. Also, some of our IB teachers said they would predict one mark lower than our actual mock grade. Because most of students in our school only attend local universities, so they don't really care about predicted grades. And the boundaries for some subjects are quite strict in our school as well. For example, a 87% for math HL to get a 7 (when I check official boundaries, it's usually a 79%-81%)

I'm really desperate now, will I be disadvantaged because of the poor predicted grade due to school? If I work hard and get a decent grade by January, will uni consider that?

 

[IB`NOT`ez]

Ouch.

Well once you have your actual grades, your predicted grades really won't matter.

Most US schools, assuming you're not applying early decision/action will have its deadline at January 1. If I'm not mistaken, your exam results come out around 5th-6th of January -- I think you'll be able to update your application with those actual grades and so your predicted will no longer really count. 

Talk to your school university counsellor to discuss your options and if you can do the above. 

[liloklu]

Thx a lot! I'm also preparing for the nov sat subject test. Do u think it's a good way to demonstrate my academic ability and compensate some disadvantages of my ib grades?

[IB`NOT`ez]

2 hours ago, liloklu said:

Thx a lot! I'm also preparing for the nov sat subject test. Do u think it's a good way to demonstrate my academic ability and compensate some disadvantages of my ib grades?

Definitely, I should think. My friends applying to UK for engineering are also taking SAT Maths II and SAT Physics to complement their IB Maths & Physics HLs grades. 

Unless they're really low, SAT subject tests never hurt.

[kw0573]

10 hours ago, liloklu said:

First our coordinator said he won't tell us our predicted grade since it may affect our attitude towards the final exam. Also, some of our IB teachers said they would predict one mark lower than our actual mock grade. Because most of students in our school only attend local universities, so they don't really care about predicted grades. And the boundaries for some subjects are quite strict in our school as well. For example, a 87% for math HL to get a 7 (when I check official boundaries, it's usually a 79%-81%)

I'm really desperate now, will I be disadvantaged because of the poor predicted grade due to school? If I work hard and get a decent grade by January, will uni consider that?

First, because school mocks may not be at the same difficulty or time-consuming task as the real deal (for example HL Math mock may have not accumulated to 5 hours). Predicted grades are assigned as the ones most likely awarded at the end. Hence if someone is at the boundary, the predicted grade is often the lower one. 

That being said, the best approach would to contact the university's admission office to ask if you have time to submit your actual scores. For example, if the university has an online IBIS account then they can access IB scores on January 5. You should talk to your IB coordinator to arrange for exam scores to be automatically sent to the universities. The fee to submit results to a second US or a second Canada institution is 10 British pounds (assumed to be the cheapest across all currencies IB accepts). Your school may have alternative arrangements with IB regarding scale of fees. 

[liloklu]

3 hours ago, kw0573 said:

First, because school mocks may not be at the same difficulty or time-consuming task as the real deal (for example HL Math mock may have not accumulated to 5 hours). Predicted grades are assigned as the ones most likely awarded at the end. Hence if someone is at the boundary, the predicted grade is often the lower one. 

That being said, the best approach would to contact the university's admission office to ask if you have time to submit your actual scores. For example, if the university has an online IBIS account then they can access IB scores on January 5. You should talk to your IB coordinator to arrange for exam scores to be automatically sent to the universities. The fee to submit results to a second US or a second Canada institution is 10 British pounds (assumed to be the cheapest across all currencies IB accepts). Your school may have alternative arrangements with IB regarding scale of fees. 

We actually used the real exam paper within the same time limit as the real exam does, but the teacher just used the managebac to auto generate a boundary. Does every school do the same thing?