How Are Grades Predicted? What a Grade Prediction Actually Does

A grade is predicted by reading your draft against the same things a marker uses: the rubric criteria and the grade bands for your course. A prediction tool checks how well your work meets each criterion, maps that to the band it falls in, and returns a likely grade with the weak areas flagged. It is an estimate of where your work sits, not a guarantee of the final mark, because real marking involves judgement that varies between markers.

Knowing how a prediction is produced tells you how to read it: as a structured second opinion against the marking criteria, not a verdict.

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What does a grade prediction use?

Three inputs. Your draft, so it can read what you actually wrote. The brief, so it knows the task and the question. The rubric, so it knows the criteria and the bands your work will be judged against. Without the rubric, any prediction is a guess, because the rubric is the standard the grade depends on, as our guide to grading rubrics explains.

How does it turn a draft into a grade?

By matching, not guessing. It assesses how far your draft meets each criterion, for example analysis, use of evidence, structure and referencing, then maps those judgements to the grade bands your university uses, which our guide to university grading systems sets out. The result is a likely grade plus a view of which criteria are strong and which are holding you back. That breakdown is the useful part, because it tells you what to fix.

Why is it an estimate and not the exact mark?

Because marking is not fully mechanical. Two markers can read the same essay slightly differently, some criteria are subjective, and your own marker brings their reading of the question. A prediction captures how well your work meets the written criteria, which is most of what decides a grade, but it cannot predict a specific marker’s judgement to the exact point. Treat it as a close guide, and expect the final mark to land near it rather than on it.

How accurate is a grade prediction?

It is most reliable as a guide to the band your work sits in and the criteria that need attention, and less reliable as a prediction of an exact number. The closer your draft is to finished and the clearer your rubric, the more useful the prediction. Use it to find and fix weak criteria, which is where it earns its value, rather than to chase a precise figure.

How should you use the prediction?

Act on the weak criteria first. If analysis is low, add evaluation after your evidence. If structure is low, reorder so each paragraph makes one point. If referencing is low, fix the citations. Our guides to reading your rubric and what markers look for turn each flag into a specific change. Predict, fix, then predict again to confirm the change landed.

Where do you get a prediction?

Upload your draft, the brief and the rubric to Grade Predictor, and it returns your likely grade against the criteria. The first two predictions are free with no card, it is a one-off payment after that rather than a subscription, and your uploads are deleted after the prediction. Your work is not kept, so there is no risk of it surfacing later.