IB worried!

[The_Jammy_Witch]

Hi folks!

I'm about to start my second year of IB

English HL 6

Psychology HL 4

History HL 4

Maths Studies SL 5

Biology SL 4

Italian Ab Initio SL 4

... And after how our mocks went in the first year, I'm really worried that it's too late for me to pull it together now - I have my hands in the air on the fact that I didn't quite work as hard as I could've/should've/would've through the first year. I've got all my CAS hours (though hardly any of the paperwork done for that), but my mock results were... Actually I'll just put them next to the subjects above.

This means that I didn't have to re-take anything [unlike a lot of my class], but it's still far less than I should be aiming for. One of my teachers said that generally, teachers predict our mock grades +1 on UCAS forms, so I'm looking at a predicted grade total of 34. 34!! But I want 37 at least. How else will I get to do Law at KCL??

Ahhh! Someone tell me that if I buy WHSmith's full stock of Pukka Pads and really knuckle down in the second year, I can still make it!

[chrypton]

I'm actually in the exact same situation as you.

I got the following predicted grades, in addition I took the exam in Maths SL and English SL:

Maths SL: 5 (got a 7 as my final grade)

Physics HL: 5

Chemistry SL: 4

History SL: 5

Norwegian HL: 4

English B SL: 7 (got a 6 on the exam, I'm going to get it remarked)

that is a total of 30 points. I'm currently doing Maths HL(as we take the SL course in one year) and hoping to get a predicted of 6. I think I should be able to convince my teacher to give me a higher grades in the sciences as I usually score 1-2 grades higher on exams, rather than tests.

The unis I'm thinking about require grades predicted grades from 32-38 points. As I didn't know that predicted grades played such a big role until now, I'll be working my ass of to get at least 1 extra point in every subject, and aiming for 35-36 points in predicted. I know that I can at least get a 6 in chemistry and physics.

I think what you should do is to consult your individual teachers, and ask them if they can give you a type of a mock exam before the application deadline and reconsider your grades. And even if you are 1-3 points lower than what unis ask for, I think they usually give you an offer(depends on the uni of course).

Please correct me if I'm wrong, those of you who have been through this.

[Sandwich]

Have you found out how your teachers are going to do the predicted grades? At my school they based all your predicted grades (the ones submitted to Universities) on how we'd done in our mocks, so in that sense you may already have problems getting into Kings.

I don't think anybody could say how much you can pick up your situation except for yourself, but what I would suggest as a possible option, if you can't convince your school to up your predicted grades, is to perhaps consider a gap year? That way you have less stress on your actual results (in a sense) and can apply for unconditional offers in 2011. Obviously only as an alternative, not as a plan, but it's actually a really good option! There's loads to do in a gap year

As for picking up, there are definitely places it's easy to pick up (Bio, for instance, is just learning), but you really will have to knuckle down a lot to compensate. It's also the case that with highly competitive courses at highly competitive universities, what they publish as their minimum offer is usually the minimum offer they will make as opposed to the minimum offer they will give offers to, if that makes any sense. I mean, technically you could get into Medicine with 36 points, but they're more likely to give an offer of 36 points to somebody who is actually predicted 40. So, in other words, you really want to be aiming above what they ask for to be competitive. I assume here that Law at KCL is pretty sought after! I mean, it's certainly no rule, you can still get in with less, but you really definitely need that minimum when you consider the other candidates you're up against.

You can turn it around, but you have to do so with vigour. Go back over everything you hadn't learnt or didn't understand and get it sorted in your spare time, before you go back to school. Make sure you're in the best position you can possibly put yourself in, and speak with teachers about mock results, is my advice. It may also be possible (at least it was at my school) to take "second mocks" for predictions. So if you screwed up the first mock, you could do a second one to try and pull up your predicted grade with a bit more studying, seeing as predicted grades were so essential.

Best of luck - and I'd try to clear it all up as soon as possible about your predictions, if you haven't already!

[Tilia]

English HL 6

Psychology HL 4

History HL 4

Maths Studies SL 5

Biology SL 4

Italian Ab Initio SL 4

I might be wrong, but most of your subjects (psychology, biology, Italian) seem to be memorizing subjects to me, so to get them rigth, it's just about finding time and the motivation to study. English A1 is hard, so a 6 is well done

I say as Sandwich, you probably know the best if you're going to make it, but since you actually ahve a goal to fight for, there's no lack of motivation.

Just study as efficiently you can and ask your teachers for help what you can improve.