Predicted grades normally come from a school. If you are not at one, nobody is generating them, and you cannot make a competitive UCAS application without them. That is the problem, and it has a straightforward solution that very few people explain.

A registered centre that teaches you can set and submit your predicted grades. It does not have to be the school you left. It does have to be somewhere that has actually seen your work.

Key Takeaways

• Predicted grades must come from a centre or referee that has taught or assessed you. You cannot set your own.

• Only 16% of applicants are correctly predicted across their best three A Levels, and 75% are over-predicted (UCL, 2020).

• For 2027 entry, the Oxford, Cambridge, medicine, dentistry and veterinary deadline is 15 October 2026. Most other courses close 13 January 2027 (UCAS).

• An evidence-based prediction, set from marked papers, is more useful than an optimistic one.

• We set predicted grades from formal mock papers sat at our centre in West Bromwich.

Who is allowed to set a predicted grade?

Someone who has taught or assessed you. UCAS is clear that an applicant cannot predict their own grades, and the prediction has to come from a referee or centre with academic knowledge of your work. A parent cannot do it. Nor can a friend, a partner or anyone else with a personal connection to you (UCAS).

This is where home-educated students and private candidates get stuck. The requirement is not unreasonable, but the system quietly assumes everyone is sitting in a sixth form somewhere. If you left school, moved country, studied independently or are returning to education after a gap, there is no default answer to the question.

The answer is that a tuition centre or exam centre that teaches you can do both the predicting and the reference. We cover the reference side separately in who writes your UCAS reference if you are not at school.

How are predicted grades actually decided?

Properly, they are decided from evidence. A centre looks at marked work, mock examinations and progress across the course, then estimates the grade you are most likely to achieve. Done well, it is a judgement grounded in papers someone has sat and marked.

Done badly, it is a guess. Research from UCL found that only 16% of university applicants were correctly predicted across their best three A Levels, with 75% over-predicted and 8% under-predicted (UCL, 2020). At the level of individual grades, 51.7% were accurate and 41.7% were over-predicted by at least one grade.

Read that again, because it matters: the dominant error is predicting too high. Schools are not being harsh with predictions. They are being generous, and it does students fewer favours than it appears to.

Why does an honest prediction help you?

Because an offer you cannot meet is not an offer. With 75% of applicants over-predicted, a large number of students hold a firm choice all year that was never realistic, and find out in August.

A prediction set from marked papers tells you which universities are genuinely in range, which makes the firm and insurance decision a real one rather than a hopeful one. It also tells you how far you have to move between now and the summer, which is the number that actually changes outcomes.

There is a second reason, specific to private candidates. An admissions tutor reading an application with no school attached will look harder at where the prediction came from. A prediction a centre can justify, from papers it has marked, carries weight. One that appears from nowhere does not.

What are the UCAS deadlines for 2027 entry?

Applications for 2027 entry opened on 12 May 2026, and completed applications could be submitted from 1 September 2026. You cannot submit without a reference in place (UCAS).

The deadlines that follow are firm:

• 15 October 2026, 18:00 — Oxford, Cambridge, and most courses in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine

• 13 January 2027, 18:00 — equal consideration deadline for most undergraduate courses

• 25 February 2027 — Extra opens for applicants with five choices used and no offers

• 30 June 2027, 18:00 — last date applications are sent on to universities

Work backwards from those dates, not forwards from today. If you need mock papers sat and marked before a prediction can be set, that takes weeks rather than days.

How do we set predicted grades?

You sit formal mock papers at our centre on Lodge Road in West Bromwich, under exam conditions. They are marked against the exam board's own mark scheme, not an impression of how it went. The prediction comes from what the papers show.

That means the grade is defensible. If an admissions tutor or the student asks where it came from, there is an answer, and there is marked work behind it. We would rather give a student an accurate B they can plan around than a flattering A that collapses in August.

We can also write and submit the UCAS reference, and if you need to sit the real examinations, we are a registered exam centre, so the teaching, the mocks and the exams happen in the same building. A Level entry is £350 per subject. Full details are on our UCAS support page, and pricing is on the fees page.

Frequently asked questions

Can I predict my own grades?

No. UCAS requires the prediction to come from a referee or centre with academic knowledge of your work, and applicants cannot write their own reference or set their own predictions (UCAS). A family member cannot do it either, even if they are a qualified teacher.

Can my old school still predict my grades?

Sometimes, if you left recently and they still have current work from you. Many will decline, because they cannot evidence a prediction for a student they are no longer teaching. It is worth asking first, and worth having a second option if the answer is no.

How long does it take to get predicted grades?

Allow several weeks. Papers have to be sat and marked before anyone can responsibly set a grade. If you are aiming at the 13 January 2027 deadline, starting in November is comfortable and starting in late December is not.

Do I need predicted grades if I already have my results?

No. If you have already achieved your A Levels you apply with your actual grades, and no prediction is needed. Predictions only apply where you are still to sit the examinations. If you are resitting, see our guide to A Level resits for 2027.

Can you predict grades for subjects you do not teach me?

Only where we can assess you properly in that subject. We will not put a number against a subject we have no evidence for. If that applies to one of your choices, tell us early and we will be straight with you about what we can and cannot do.

The short version

Predicted grades have to come from someone who has taught or assessed you, which is why private candidates and home-educated students get stuck. A registered centre can solve it, provided the prediction is built on marked work rather than optimism.

If you need predictions for 2027 entry, come and see us at Lodge Road on a Saturday or Sunday between 12:30pm and 2:00pm, or send us an enquiry. The January deadline arrives faster than it looks.

Sources: UCAS, Writing undergraduate references for independent applicants, retrieved 1 October 2026, ucas.com. UCAS, Dates and deadlines for uni applications, retrieved 1 October 2026, ucas.com. UCL, Predicting A-level grades accurately a near-impossible task, August 2020, retrieved 1 October 2026, ucl.ac.uk.