Unlike any other major country in the world, UK students apply to university with predicted grades, rather than actual exam results.

Apart from being a pretty strange system, this also puts certain groups of students at a disadvantage

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My research w/ @RichMurphy_Econ @lindsey_mac @CatherineDilnot @jakeanders showed

i) Most students are overpredicted by teachers
ii) Among high attainers, low SES and state school pupils more likely to be underpredicted

https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/uclcepeow/20-14.htm
https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/uclcepeow/20-07.htm

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Many groups such as @suttontrust & @ucu have highlighted issues with predicted grades in the past, fearing the impact on disadvantaged students:

Low SES are more likely to undermatch – attend a less selective course than expected given their A levels

https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/uclcepeow/20-01.htm

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New @suttontrust report today shows:

1 in 4 students would have made different applications had they known their actual grades before applying

13% would have applied to more selective universities, and 11% to less selective institutions

https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/pqa-reforming-university-admissions/

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Could the tide be turning towards so-called Post-Qualification Applications PQA?

While not a 'silver bullet' for university access, it would remove one more driver of inequality from our system

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