Predicted Grades
Predicted grades are requested by many different universities as a part of the application process. At St Andrews, predicted grades remain confidential between the school and the university. The reasons for keeping grades confidential are to ensure there is no pressure put on teachers to inflate grades, and so that students continually strive for further progress. Students can get an indication of their predicted grades by considering their report grades and Be Ambitious grades - this calculator can be used to help. When determining the final predicted grade teachers use evidence from classwork, homework , tests and exams. The final date that teachers can submit predicted grades to be included in applications is December 1st.
References vs Letters of Recommendation
All Year 13 students have a School Reference (also known as a Tutor Reference) written for them. In this Reference the tutor writes about the student and combines sections written by each of the student's subject teachers. References are used for UCAS applications, along with many others.
A Letter of Recommendation (LOR) is written by a subject teacher. It will cover many of the same points as a Reference, but there will be a heavy focus on the student's skills and achievements in the teacher's specific subject. Some US (or US system) universities require LORs, but not all do. If a LOR is required for an application, the student should speak to the University Guidance Counsellor to discuss which teacher would be best to write it. The student should only ask their teacher to write a LOR after speaking to the University Guidance Counsellor.
Reporting and Transcripts
An important document that is often requested by universities is the Transcript. A Transcript lists all report grades issued for the final 4 years of secondary education - this means Years 10-13. End of year and mock exams grades are not published on the Transcript as these are not always a good representation of a student's progress. Instead, only the report attainment grade for each term is published. For Year 11 and Year 13, the Term 3 attainment grades that are published are the final IGCSE or IB grades.
Students who joined St Andrews after the start of Year 10 will need to contact their former school(s) and ensure they have sent a copy of their Year 10-11 transcript to the University Guidance department. School can then send it to universities if they request it.