Whole class has done badly in mock A’level. Covid related?

I agree that there is an impact from not having had to revise and sit for a normal set of GCSEs. The actual impact will vary between students and subjects.

My DS has been in the independent sector throughout and exams don't phase him normally. And his (January) mocks in one subject area reflected that. But in other subjects he clearly didn't have appropriate exam technique in a way that I think he would have understood had he sat normal GCSEs.

Covid has definitely had an impact: these kids didn't sit their GCSE exams and they didn't cover all the GCSE content in the teacher assessments. This is particularly an issue for STEM subjects. There is a big jump from GCSE to A level (Chemistry being the biggest jump) and the kids are having to play catch up.

The promises of catch up lessons from the government never materialised either.

I would email teacher and ask for feedback. At least you've got a paper trail then.

Yes, that kind of went away in Covid for a lot of schools but really nothing is like 'real' exams, not even mocks in exam halls. They are in a league of their own. That sad I'd be surprised with all the anxiety around Covid and assessment if any DCs hadn't done loads of assessments and mocks before.

My biggest problem has been getting through the spec!

But a mock isn't a 'proper external exam' either.

Obviously I'm talking about the pre-covid cohort here, but DD's school treated the mocks like they were the real exam, by sitting them in the exam hall and using the previous year's exam papers.

They started using the exam hall from year 9 to get the pupils used to the idea.

*disparities within this cohort

They will be somewhat disadvantaged compared to any of the past few years cohorts, so say if looking at really competitive courses where there might be people on gap years. There will though be major disparities, but hopefully some of the WP initiatives will help.

For that reason I personally feel that allowances should be made for this year group and probably next years too.

But any allowances would be applied equally (e.g. advanced info as last year) so the variation in cohort experiences would still have an impact.

I don't think there's any way to even out the disparity in educational experiences between schools during lockdown, and of course it wasn't just between schools but different for different pupils too depending on e.g. home life and access to technology.

Try not to worry, my dd got ccba in her mocks (Jan) and a*aab in the real exams 4 years ago. It's normal to underperform in the mocks, I think schools mark harshly to give them a proverbial kick

Dd in a similar boat, she got a C in her mocks and needs a B/predicted a B. She is feeling very worried about it but all she can do is carry on doing her best...!

@cptartapp hang on sorry, I'm getting the year groups mixed up. It's my year 9 kid who missed SATs! So many lockdowns, I get confused!!

I actually think the inequalities between different schools provision has been accentuated by Covid. In normal times there'd be good schools and bad schools , private schools and state schools, but ultimately they'd have roughly similar experiences in that their learning will have consisted of teachers in classrooms. Pupils sit and listen, teachers stand and talk. Same basic model.
During Covid the educational provision ranged from back to back online interactive live lessons, to work being set on platforms that some pupils couldn't even access at all.

For that reason I personally feel that allowances should be made for this year group and probably next years too.

I think the lack of exams at GCSE level will have been a factor. Exam technique and not having nerves can go a long way. I can think even many years ago of people in my class at school as good as me or better who ended up with lower grades because of nerves or lack of exam technique.

My whole class did badly at the mocks for an A Level subject. It turned out the teacher was teaching his version of the subject, not the exam syllabus.

We all got shit marks on the real exams too and it messed up our university choices.

Yet no allowances made for this cohort.

They are being judged against their cohort who have all been disadvantaged by covid. Obviously they will have had varying experiences, but it's not the same as judging them by pre-covid standards.

The last public exam this year group took was the year six SATS. And many went into year 12 not even having completed the GCSE syllabus because of COVID disruption. DS2 is doing science A levels yet spent the first part of year 12 playing catch-up on topics not covered.
Yet no allowances made for this cohort.

Also the current y13 spent all their y11 not knowing how their gcse grades were going to assessed.As my dd put it, everyday was an exam day because they just did not know which tests, which pieces of work might be used.I know the sixth form team say this year group has had the worst mental health of any they have ever known

The bold bit shouldn't be bold, it should have been two lots of A*

I think it's really harsh that this year's A levels are being marked using 2019 standards and boundaries.

They're not. They're being marked using the 2019 grade distribution. This means that roughly the same percentage of pupils will get an A or whatever grade as did in 2019. Obviously during the pandemic, the percentage of pupils getting an A and other top grades shot up due to different assessment methods being used, so the percentages needed to be brought back down. This was done so that last year the percentage of A*s were about halfway between 2019 and 2021, and this year they'll be back to normal.

Given that, as you say, these pupils will have been affected by covid, the standard of work that they will achieve could well be lower than the cohort in 2019, but they will get the same spread of grades that they did. The grade boundaries will be set after the exams to fit the grade distribution needed, not the other way around. (This always happens in normal years to prevent grade inflation).

I'm guessing you didn't have a child in year 10 during Covid. They essentially missed about half the syllabus, and because time ran out, schools were allowed to assess them based on just a proportion of the actual course. This meant that they started their A level courses having not fully covered the GCSE course, which of course has disadvantaged them hugely.

I think it's really harsh that this year's A levels are being marked using 2019 standards and boundaries. The current year 13 are still massively hindered by their Covid experience, and haven't ever sat proper external exams. My DS barely went to school in 2020 due to lockdowns and class isolations. One of his A levels is a language and they didn't have any spoken language assessment at all for GCSE, so the idea that he is as well prepared as a 2019 candidate is ridiculous.

There were school closures in January/Feb 2021 as well, and they did not sit normal GCSEs...

Autumn 2020 was massively impacted in some schools as well because this was still the stage of sending home whole year groups for self isolation if a few tested positive.

Many current Y13s have been significantly impacted by this.

But a mock isn't a 'proper external exam' either.

My dd is in y13 - they all did shockingly bad in their mocks too. I assume it is a factor that this is because this is the first exams they've ever sat and they have no experience in sitting proper exams in proper exam conditions. The teachers don't seem too concerned though. (The kids are all completely anxious about they).