Predicted Grades for UCAS: How Private Candidates Get Them (2026/27 Guide)

If your school, college or tutor can't provide predicted grades for your UCAS application, you can still apply — and you're in the right place.

Educo London is a registered UCAS centre (centre number 21393). We assess private candidates through invigilated online mock exams, issue evidence-based predicted grades, write your personalised UCAS reference, and submit your application directly through UCAS as your official centre. From £325 per subject, fully online, available worldwide.

Every year we support students in exactly your position: resitters whose old school won't predict grades for exams they're not entering, late deciders, home-educated and private candidates, and international students studying A-Levels independently.

This guide explains how predicted grades work, how our process runs from enquiry to submission, what it costs, and how quickly we can turn it around.

What Are UCAS Predicted Grades?

Predicted grades are the grades a teacher or tutor believes you are most likely to achieve in your final A-Level exams. Universities use these predictions, alongside your reference, to decide whether to offer you a place, and they expect them to be realistic and based on evidence of your work.

A strong predicted grade can:

• Strengthen your university application

• Help you meet the entry requirements for the courses you want

• Give you confidence heading into exam season

But what happens if your school or current tutor can’t give you one?

Why Students Come to Educo London for Predicted Grades

Every year, we support students who:

1. Have decided late to apply for UCAS

Maybe you weren’t planning to apply this cycle, until you changed your mind. No problem, we can help.

2. Have a tutor who cannot issue predicted grades

Not all tutors are qualified or able to provide predicted grades for UCAS. Educo London can, as long as you complete the required assessment process.

3. Are resitting, and their old school won't help

If you’re retaking your A-Levels, your previous school usually won’t issue predicted grades for exams they’re not entering you for. That’s the single most common situation we deal with. We assess you fresh, based on how you’re performing now, so your predicted grades reflect your progress since last summer. Your previous results will still appear on your application, and your reference can explain how far you’ve come.

4. Have extenuating circumstances that need explaining

If something outside your control affected your results, such as illness, bereavement, family circumstances or disruption at home, it can be explained in your UCAS reference, with your consent and supported by evidence. We take the time to get it right, because an admissions tutor looking at a disappointing grade needs a reason to look past it.

How Our Predicted Grades Process Works

The process is the same for every student: one clear standard, which is why our predictions stand up to scrutiny.

1. Enquire and confirm your details. Tell us your subjects, exam boards and application deadline. We confirm coverage and book your assessment dates, working backwards from your deadline. Your dates are confirmed once payment is received.

2. Sit two invigilated mock exams per subject. Real past papers, sat online under timed exam conditions with a live invigilator supervising you 1:1. Sessions are recorded for our records. Two independent assessments give us genuine evidence, not a one-off snapshot. (Some subjects are assessed on three or four papers to cover the full specification, International A Levels are assessed by unit, and if you’re early in your course we may set AS papers.)

We choose the papers deliberately. Both papers come from the same exam series, so your two marks sit on one standard, and we select the combination that covers the most of your specification rather than two papers that test the same content twice.

3. Your papers are marked by experienced subject tutors using the official exam board mark schemes and that paper’s real grade boundaries, with detailed feedback on your performance.

4. Your predicted grade is issued within two weeks of your final mock, with the marked papers as supporting evidence, so your prediction is defensible if a university ever asks how it was reached. Your predicted grade is our judgement of the grade you’re on track to achieve in your final exams. Your mock results are the main evidence, and we also take into account your progress and the time you have left to prepare.

5. We write and submit your UCAS reference. If we’re your registered centre, we write your academic reference, enter your predicted grades and submit your completed application to UCAS. If your school is your centre, we send them a predicted-grade statement instead.

Need teaching support too? We offer 1:1 tutoring separately, before your mocks or throughout your resit year. It’s entirely optional, charged separately, and has no bearing whatsoever on your predicted grade. Just mention it when you enquire.

One Centre, Not Two

This is the part most people don’t know, and it’s worth being clear about before you plan anything.

UCAS will not accept a split application. Your academic reference and your predicted grades must come from the same centre. You can’t have your school write the reference while we supply the predicted grades, or the other way round.

So there are two routes, and you need to know which one you’re on:

Your school or college is staying on as your centre. They write your reference and they decide your predicted grades. We can still assess you, and you’re welcome to share your marked papers and written feedback with your school as independent evidence of where you’re performing now. But the prediction itself remains your school’s decision.

Educo London acts as your centre. We write your reference, issue your predicted grades and submit your application. We’ll give you our centre buzzword when you book so you can link your application to us. If it’s currently linked to your school, we’ll talk you through moving it. We need to assess every subject that needs a predicted grade, because we can’t predict a grade we have no evidence for. Subjects you’ve already completed go on your application as achieved grades.

If you’re not sure which applies to you, tell us when you enquire and we’ll work it out with you.

When Do I Need to Start?

Work backwards from your UCAS deadline. Your mocks need to be sat and marked, and your reference written, before you submit. So the real booking deadline is earlier than most students expect.

Applying by the January deadline (most courses; 13 January for 2027 entry): mocks completed by early-to-mid December, which means booking by early November at the latest. That way you have your marks before Christmas and plenty of time for the reference. Bookings made from 1 December are charged at our late-booking rate. [See the January deadline plan →]

Applying by the October deadline (medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, Oxford and Cambridge): mocks completed by mid-September, which means booking by early September. This is the tightest deadline we work to and it fills first. If you’re aiming for October, start the conversation in the summer rather than after results day. [See our full October deadline plan →]

Places are limited. Every candidate gets 1:1 live invigilation and individually marked papers, and our December slots fill first, so book early to get the dates you want.

Based outside the UK? Everything happens online, and we work with private candidates worldwide, including Cambridge International (CAIE) and Edexcel International A Level. We’ll schedule your sittings in a time zone that works for you.

What Subjects and Exam Boards Do You Cover?

Mathematics · Further Mathematics · Biology · Chemistry · Physics · Economics · Business · English Literature · English Language · Psychology · Sociology · Geography · History · Computer Science · Religious Studies · Classical Civilisation · Modern and community languages (including Turkish)

If your subject isn’t listed, ask us. We regularly add subjects where we have a specialist marker.

Exam boards: AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, Eduqas and WJEC, Cambridge International (CAIE) and Pearson Edexcel International A Level (IAL), assessed unit by unit.

Coursework and practical subjects (such as Art, Graphic Communication or subjects with an NEA) are assessed differently, using a portfolio or set task reviewed by a subject specialist. Tell us at enquiry and we’ll explain how it works for your subject.

Tell us your board and specification code when you enquire. We set papers matched to your exact specification, not a generic equivalent.

How Much Does It Cost?

Our pricing is modular. You pay for the subjects you need assessed, and add the UCAS reference and submission only if we're acting as your centre.

£325 per subject — two invigilated mock exams, marking with detailed feedback, and your evidence-based predicted grade with written rationale.

£150 — academic reference and UCAS submission. One flat fee however many subjects you're applying with. You only need this if Educo London is acting as your centre; if your school is your referee, you don't. Prices change on 1 November 2026. Book and pay by 31 October to secure current rates.

So, common combinations:

What you need	Cost
One subject assessed (school remains your referee)	£325
Two subjects assessed (school remains your referee)	£650
Two subjects + reference and UCAS submission	£800
Three subjects + reference and UCAS submission	£1,125

Late bookings. Bookings made from 1 December, or with a first sitting within 7 days of booking, are charged at £450 per subject and £275 for the reference and submission. Late bookings are non-refundable from the point of booking. We can usually fit late bookings in, but short notice limits invigilator availability and marking turnaround, and the fee reflects that.

Tutoring, if you want teaching support alongside, is priced separately and is never a condition of anything.

Our full refund and cancellation terms are here: results.educolondon.com/refund-policy

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: My school won't give me predicted grades. Can I still apply to UCAS? Yes. UCAS allows private candidates to apply using a registered centre as their referee. Educo London acts as your official centre — we issue your predicted grades, write your reference and submit your application.

Q: Do universities accept predicted grades from Educo London? We submit through the same UCAS system schools use, as registered centre 21393, and universities assess the candidate rather than the centre. What we control is that every prediction is backed by at least two invigilated, independently marked assessments, so it stands up if anyone asks how it was reached.

Q: I'm resitting — can you predict grades for my resit year? Yes, this is our most common case. We assess your current performance through fresh mocks, so your prediction reflects where you are now and the time you have left to prepare. Your previous results will still appear on your application alongside it.

Q: How many mock exams do I need? At least two per subject. Most subjects are assessed on two papers, some need three or four to cover the full specification, and International A Levels are assessed unit by unit. If you’re early in your course, we may set AS papers. We’ll confirm exactly what you’ll sit when you enquire.

Q: How and where do I sit them? Online, 1:1, supervised live by an invigilator under timed exam conditions, with the session recorded. You'll need a quiet room, a webcam and a stable connection.

Q: I have extra time or another access arrangement at school. Does that apply here? Yes. If you have an access arrangement approved for your real exams — extra time, rest breaks, or anything else — we apply exactly the same arrangement to your sittings with us. Tell us at enquiry and send us the approval, and we'll build it into your timings. An assessment that doesn't give you the arrangement you're entitled to isn't a fair measure of you.

Q: Do you enter me for the actual A-Level exams? No, and this is an important distinction. We assess you and predict your grades. Entering you for the real exams is done by an exam centre, which you arrange separately, and those centres have their own registration deadlines — usually well before the exams themselves. If you're resitting, sort your exam centre early; it's the step candidates most often leave too late.

Q: I already have my own tutor. Does their evidence count? We welcome your tutor's progress reports and marked work as supporting evidence, and we're happy to speak with them. Your predicted grades, though, always rest on our own invigilated assessments — that independence is what makes your reference credible to universities.

Q: I'm outside the UK — can I use this service? Yes. The entire process is online and we support private candidates worldwide, including international A-Level specifications such as Cambridge International (CAIE) and Edexcel International A-Level. Tell us your syllabus codes when you enquire.

Q: How quickly does it all happen? We can usually book your mocks within days of your enquiry, and your dates are confirmed once payment is received. Your predicted grade is issued within two weeks of your final mock. See the timeline section above for deadline-specific booking dates.

Q: Will I know which papers I'm sitting in advance? You’ll be told the format: how long, how many marks and what equipment you need. You won’t be told which paper, which series or which topics will come up. That keeps the assessment genuine, and it’s why the resulting grade means something.

Ready to Get Started?

Tell us your subjects, exam boards and deadline, and we'll confirm your dates and price the same day. Send us a WhatsApp or an email info@educolondon.com