UCAS Track website crashes causing chaos for A-Level students as SEVEN times the normal amount of visitors log in
FUMING students were left unable to find out if they bagged their dream university spot after the UCAS website crashed today.
Seven times the normal amount of visitors tried to log in to see where they would be headed in September.
It comes amid chaos for A-Level students who are already getting grades today based on predicted outcomes rather than the typical paper exams.
UCAS warned its Track system was "running a little slow" this morning on Twitter - leading to a barrage of angry replies from students,
One said: "I'd like to see my results why are your servers f***ing up I will come down and fight you."
Another said: "You've had 5 months to get this right. You knew everyone would want to find out online. A crashed system is wholly unacceptable."
One wrote: "This is ridiculous on a day like this, needs sorting ASAP."
While one said: " As usual a shambles with @ucas_online not having a decent backbone for their online service. You would have thought with the current uncertainties for students they would have improved this?"
UCAS later tweeted to say the system is running "as normal".
They said in a statement: "At 8am we saw a surge in demand for our website, seven times higher than at the same point last year.
"We immediately responded and increased our capacity and the service returned to normal within thirty minutes.
"We apologise for the frustration this has caused, and we are here to help students throughout the day."
The Track system is usually available from 8am on results day and this is then frozen until midday at the earliest.
It is used to tell students whether they have received an offer to their chosen university or if they need to go through the clearing process.
But there could be further misery for teens after exam bosses admitted they have not worked out the appeals process.
As exams were cancelled during lockdown, a computer algorithm is for the first time being used to adjust grades given by teachers to 250,000 students.
Four in ten grades have been changed, with many marked down, after teachers tried to dish out record numbers of A*s.
The government has students in England will have the "safety net" of being able to use mock exam results to appeal if they are higher than the calculated grade.
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But those students who miss out on a university place will have to wait until next week to find out how the appeal process works.
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There was a glimmer of hope today though as figures show the total number of students accepted on to UK degree courses has risen by 2.9 per cent last year to 358,860.
The UCAS figures also reveal 316,730 of applicants have been accepted on to their first choice of course - up 2.7 per cent on the same point in 2019.
