Are GCSE re-takes possible?

[Bouledeneige]

My DS who got good grades across the board only got a 4 in English language (he was predicted a 6). All his other grades were 6 and above. This puts his place at a new school at risk - though he can continue where he is.

I'm concerned it might be a barrier to further education down the line. Does anyone know if you can re-take and if so how to go about it? It's OCR Board.

[smerlin]

Through his new school would be the usual way

[smerlin]

Sorry or through his current school

[Petalflowers]

Yes, you can re-take exams. Either in-school, or at college.

4 is a pass, so that’s fine and shouldn’t affect further education in years to come.

Another option is a re-mark. Was he near a grade boundary? It may go up to a five.

[clary]

I wouldn't personally go for a remark on a 4, it could down to a 3. But yy, retakes quite possible, usually through wherever he is post 16.

[LooseAtTheSeams]

This goes through the sixth form/college he'll be studying at. Talk to their exams office and they will make the booking. As he passed, they will probably charge you the exam fee but it's not too expensive - it would be free if you were trying to get a 3 up to a 4 but he's passed so the government won't fund the resit.

[Tinklewinkle]

Mine is retaking maths along with her 3 A levels at 6th form

She did brilliantly in everything else but fluffed maths so has to re-do it

Although, as 4 and above is a pass, if you want to retake it we’d have to pay for it in those circumstances

[user1467232073]

Excuse my ignorance, on the GCSE results, how do you know how many marks you were off another grade?

[LoniceraJaponica]

A lot of 6th forms don't do GCSE resits. DD's school didn't, but the local 6th form college does.

[Teaonthelawn]

If you get in touch with your son/daughters school they can access marks. I did this yesterday as we were considering a resit for Maths and wanted to know how far my son was away from achieving 5. School sent me his marks for each paper and what he would have needed for five. If we had decided on a resit school would also have gives us access to his papers at a later date.

[TeenTimesTwo]

Remember too that time spent studying for a retake will take time away from the new A levels (or whatever).

[mimbleandlittlemy]

user1467232073 - you get the raw score on the results sheet and you can then go online and look at the grade boundaries and see how far off they were. You can then decide if it's worth getting it remarked. DS has asked for a remark on one paper where he was 3 marks off the next grade. Friend's son was 2 marks off a 9 with one subject so they are absolutely going for the remark.

[Bouledeneige]

Thanks all. I received his raw score as part of the results documents and they had the grade boundaries available when we picked up them up at school. He was 4 points off the grade boundary for a 5 - I have asked for a re-mark but it's not so close that's it's a good chance.

I have emailed his current/old school to ask about a re-sit.

With the new school it was a real problem - he didn't meet their entry requirements or the requirements for one of his A levels (and a number of alternatives). They've offered him a place now because of his other results (and he won a Maths scholarship).

He has a choice between the old and new school so it's not a tragedy but he was gutted when he thought he'd lost the scholarship.

Thanks for all your comments. I really don't want to divert his energy from his new A levels so I will get advice as to whether it matters after the re-mark (cross fingers)!