I'm not talking about reassurance that they think that you'll pass (which hopefully most teachers will offer if required!).

There are a number of people who take an exam and say that their teacher said before the exam that they would get a merit or a distinction or at least 110 or something. Teachers I've heard about say they don't do this because it would put extra pressure on the pupil; surely if you were told that your teacher expects you to get a distinction in the exam you would feel under more pressure. So does your teacher do it and if so do you think it is a good idea? Teachers are welcome to answer this too just read the question as do you tell your pupils...

(I would have put this in the general discussion forum but for some reason it's not possible to put a poll in there, and I wanted one because I've never started one before )

I have spent ages thinking about this and then clicked on the view vote results and now it won't let me vote, bother. Mind you I can't decide what to vote for anyway, perhaps you should have had a "don't know" option.

I suppose it could put undue pressure on a student if they were given a predicted result, ie distinction, then again it could make a student work harder if they were told they were only going to scrape a pass.

In my case I have told my teacher that I want a decent distinction pass if I am going to take my grade 6, not sure if that was a good idea to say that as I might blow it. So I suppose I would want her to tell me if she feels I need to do more work in order to achieve my aims.

Well, actually what my teacher did was this:- she had mock exams where all her same-grade students would take turns playing their scales, arpeggios and so on... then she'd be a real hard marker and when I got my "result" (we can choose not to reveal our results if we want to) it would normally be like 5-10 marks below what I got in my exams. So it did not put any pressure on me, but I looked through her comments and tried to improve on those areas. I do that with my students too and most of the time they don't feel pressured either. Unless they'd gotten a "Fail" .. well normally I don't give THOSE students mock exams anyway, since it would be pointless.. I just tell them straightaway that they'd have to practice more, since you'd only fail if you didn't work hard enough or tell them their weak points which, if improved would help them to pass their exam.

I usually give my exam students a mock exam 2 or 3 weeks before the day, and tell them "you would have scored about --- today". I take care not to overmark and it's a good opportunity for the pupil to spot some of the weak points.

They normally get between 5 and 15 marks more in the exam.

Maggie

I've never been predicted a mark in any exam... I think that's a good thing, because then it was me pushing myself and not other people pushing me. It's a bit like the predicted A-level grades at school... I suppose they can be a good thing... but not always.

I was predicted a C in AS Maths earlier this year - this really disappointed me because I wanted to read Physics at university, and I began thinking I wasn't clever enough to do it at a top university (most Physics courses require Maths and Physics). It's always been my ambition to go somewhere really really good but this just completely threw me. So I did absolutely no work for the module in January and came out with a scrapey C in that (it was Pure 1).

If it hadn't been for my parents I wouldn't have retaken it in June, because they know I'm fairly intelligent and capable of doing better in Maths... eventually I picked up a bit and started actually working in Maths... came out with an A in the end... but I had been on the verge of giving it up several times that year!

(I've now decided to read Music at university instead of Physics... that's provided I get in of course...)

I think that for the ambitious student it's best not to give predicted marks, as it may just discourage them if they're not expected to do as well as they might. However, if they're told that they CAN do better if they work hard, it really helps to motivate them, and they may come out with a much better mark in the end.

I've never given my pupils predicted marks or mock exams (except in theory, where I think it can be very useful as it shows what needs to be revised), but I may think about introducing them as soon as the next one is ready to start working for an exam, because this has given me a lot of food for thought!

my piano teach says that at that moment you would probably get such a mark for ur piece, if u do this then itll bring ur mark up.

I hate being given predicted grades because I feel really pressured. I've only ever been given a predicted grade for grade 5 theory.

My violin teacher is awful at putting pressure on his students. He always says that we should get distinctions and anything less is a bit of a disappointment. I've never managed to get the distinction yet - merit's my best! My clarinet / sax teacher is very fair though and honest with predicated grades.

nope...not really..... but i know where i'm going to end up....