Do my mocks matter?

[dylanestbeau]

So I'm almost at the end of my first year of IB (yay?) and am extremely stressed about my mock exams (which I'm currently doing).

I reallyreally want to apply to QUT in Brisbane to do the creative industries course there, and the entry requirement is 28 points.

I've make the mistake of leaving revision for my mocks a bit too late at will probably get very low marks (I estimated the range of marks being from [very bad to best] 24-30 points).
Because I want to apply to Australia, I get to use my final IB grades when submitting my scores.

Should I be worrying about my mock exams? I've been given A LOT of external pressure by both friends (who are trying to go to the US) and my subject teachers who say that if I don't do well in these mocks, it's a clear indication that I don't understand the material that I've been taught.

I take:

HL English lit

HL Psychology

HL Economics

SL Biology

SL French ab

SL Math Studies

My worst 3 subjects would be (from least worst to worst) - Econ, Psych and then Bio

I dont know what to do

[cricketcrazynerd]

Aussie unis don't really care... those mocks mean nothing too them and they normally just consider the predicted/ final grades. I go to an Australian school and this is what the teachers have been telling us for the last 2 years. Don't worry too much...

[Sandwich]

Unless your teachers are basing your predictions off your mock grades (which is relatively common) in which case obviously there will be an indirect impact.

[Guest Marioti]

They will matter if the university looks at your predicted grades (which they usually do)

Like said above most schools base the predicted from your mocks. They base it on IA's and other things also but mostly your mocks.

If the uni you're going into doesn't care about the predicted then you're fine

[dylanestbeau]

I'm only applying with my final grades as I will have already finished IB and would have recoeved my final results. I don't need to send them any predicted grades.

Thanks though

[flinquinnster]

Australian universities couldn't care less how you do in your mock exams in terms of admission. Moreover, most universities never ask and are never told what predicted grades you get. Seriously, most people's attitude at our school towards IB predicted grades/mock exams was that they didn't matter and you didn't have to bother studying. Theoretically speaking you could go from getting 24/45 in your predicted grades to getting into a course with a 44/45 requirement in your final exams (e.g. domestic undergraduate entrance into Sydney Uni or UNSW law).

Having said that, certain competitive courses like medicine (though not law!) will look at your predicted grades, and typically scholarship applications will consider performance in mock exams and predicted grades.

Whilst I don't know the specifics of QUT, I assume that it operates much like other Australian universities. You apply through QTAC, and then QUT will determine the minimum entrance ATAR/OP you need to get into a course - and the ATAR/OP requirement should be based solely on your final IB Diploma Score. You can find conversion from IB score into ATAR online (though the conversions may be for an earlier year - e.g. 2013). Even if your predicted grades/mock exams mattered (which they don't!) if you also got a score of around 24-30 in the final IB Diploma will get you into some courses (more info here).

Having said that, there's no time like the present to work on improving your score. But don't stress too much about your score for now, you've still got time to improve. Good luck!

[Kiwi22]

Hiya!

I think your question has pretty much been answered but since I'm from and going to New Zealand for Uni I thought I'd tell you about my experiences.

Predicts are generally based off of your mock grades and for students going to the US and Canada this is a BIIIIG deal because they generally need to show their predicted grades. For Aus and NZ however we just use our final grades and they ask for nothing more, so your sweet if these fail. Just be sure that for your final finals you start studying way ahead of time (speaking from experience as I just graduated ).

I know what it feels like to have all that pressure from the US applicants and teachers so let me tell you this: Just ignore them. When they start stressing or nagging just say (either to them or yourself) it doesn't matter because that doesn't apply to me. Fullstop. End of story. Because you just don't need that extra pressure ) Also when teachers say that if you do bad on the mocks it indicates that you don't know the material they are generally trying to scare you into studying harder. This (bad mocks indicating a lack of knowledge or understanding) is true if the student has studied hard, and properly, but in your case and millioooooons of other cases (there are many people, including myself and I did fine, who don't study properly for mocks) the bad grade just indicates a lack of studying for the testing.

What I'm really trying to say after all this is: You're fine and don't have to worry about your mocks. Ignore whiny teachers and classmates because their a waste of your energy and just don't stress toooooo much )

Have a good one, and enjoy the rest of IB. It's challenging but worth it! x

[Simmo2108]

They don't matter at all. The predicted grades don't either. Look at the University Application Centre FAQ on IB, it talks about current conversions from IB score to ATAR. So as long as you get 28 points you will get a ATAR of 78. All they need is for you to authorise the IBIS (IB Integration System) to send your final scores to the UAC.