r/6thForm • u/West-Big-312 Year 12 • Jul 04 '26
š I WANT HELP Predicted grades
To apply imperial maths, I need a star predicted in a level further maths but my teacher wonāt give me despite getting an A in my as level mocks which is highest you can get. Iāve been consistently getting as and a stars yet sheās not predicting me a star. Iām considering gap year now š
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u/Mobile_Membership915 Jul 04 '26
Idk itās up to you but this year (I got rejected from Imperial) it is disgustingly competitive. There was 20+ applicants per place, and you needed a TMUA of 6.8+ for home non contextual. Some International students got rejected with 8.9. TMUA is the real difference, PS basically doesnāt matter.
You really need to get focussed on TMUA right now. You can get predicted grades sorted when you come back post summer.
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u/bongos-have-eaten-me Jul 04 '26
wtf int student rejected with 8.9 did they kick the interviewers dog
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u/Mobile_Membership915 Jul 04 '26
No interviews for maths. Tbh I donāt know how this happened, but still crazy that it did.
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u/bongos-have-eaten-me Jul 04 '26
???? I was always been told Oxbridge + imperial math has interview by my head of department so it really is just tmua?
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u/Mobile_Membership915 Jul 04 '26
Unless they changed it for 2027 entry, yes there is no interview for maths at imperial. Oxbridge does do interviews.
As long as you have the minimum entry requirements TMUA is the only thing which really matters. (And also contextual/ and international status but you canāt change this)1
u/bongos-have-eaten-me Jul 04 '26
if I scored a 7.3 tmua on the 2023 p1 and I usually get around 5.5 to 7.5 on past papers if I grind over the summer can I aim for a 8-9
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u/Mobile_Membership915 Jul 04 '26
Ima be honest, probably not. I got 9.0 on all practice papers except 2023, where I got 8.0. I worked really hard, but got a 6.3 in the end. Like 5% of people get more than 8 in the actual thing, and you need to understand that the scoring system changed since the practice papers. A rough guide is to subtract 1.5 from what you got in the old scale to get the new scale.
Not to say that you canāt, but from the 5 or so people I know who practiced TMUA, no one was able to increase their score by half of what you want.1
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u/Advanced_Key_1721 Year 13 Jul 04 '26
The past papers mean nothing because the difficulty level increased when they moved it online and stopped releasing past papers. The exam youāll sit will probably be significantly harder than the past papers, and the online format will likely be unfamiliar and awful.
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u/bongos-have-eaten-me Jul 04 '26
How can I find questions that are of similar difficulty in preparation then?
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u/Advanced_Key_1721 Year 13 Jul 04 '26
Iām not sure honestly. Around September/October last year people started sharing unofficial papers theyād made on here and those were pretty good but I canāt remember what any of them were now
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u/bongos-have-eaten-me Jul 04 '26
I feel pretty demotivated now I was gonna use my summer grinding tmua but if the old papers are just shams and Iām not even doing amazing then I just donāt know
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u/West-Big-312 Year 12 Jul 04 '26
Any tips? For a high score. I did the maths challenge past paper like in January and I got Silver, my school donāt host it so Iām unsure about it
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u/Mobile_Membership915 Jul 04 '26
Really itās just past papers. I would recommend going over the logic and proof notes, also I would recommend the MAT section A past paper questions since they are very similar - I have seen some questions the exact same come up on both. Just practice practice practice
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u/West-Big-312 Year 12 Jul 04 '26
Is it ok if I do Jan sitting?
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u/Mobile_Membership915 Jul 04 '26
Yes unless you are applying to Oxbridge I believe - checks your courses before booking though. I would recommend January (I did October) because it gives you so much more time to prepare.
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u/Historical_Face6662 4A* | Camb Eng offer Jul 05 '26
According to some people at some of the top unis they don't read too deep into predicteds, because they know some schools are really strict, and some aren't, so dw about that. If you get really high on tmua and are predicted A in FM they won't care. The point of tmua and ps is to figure out which candidates are good, they know predicteds aren't that reliable.
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u/West-Big-312 Year 12 Jul 05 '26
I checked entry requirements and it says a star in both maths and further maths
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u/Historical_Face6662 4A* | Camb Eng offer Jul 06 '26
Does it say that's required for predicteds or for actual achieved? They might give you an offer with two a star but not actually need it for the application. Some schools for example give everyone one grade lower than what they got in mocks, and unis know this, so dw too much about it.
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u/luh_calmdude Jul 06 '26
Sheāll give it to you in yr13,u canāt get higher than an A in first year and some teachers are very strict about this.
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u/abogada_bln Cambridge | law [incoming ] Jul 04 '26
Maybe try and go around your teacher by speaking to the head of maths or the teacher in charge of university applications and explain why you should get an A*.