Anybody's DC done AQA non-calc today?

Yes, that's the reason you can see 'raw' marks and 'scaled' marks for past results. There are rough guidelines as to how many marks are needed per grade however, year by year they are adjusted (if needed) by a couple marks either way to make it fair. So if everyone scored low then the boundaries will move so it is fair reflection, similarly if it's too easy ( but the latter is more unlikely!) this applies for all exams through to university.

As far as I know, grade boundaries aren't decided in advance of seeing what all pupils achieved. Interesting that so many people are saying that the Edexcel was particularly hideous though.

starystar - are you sure about that?
I would like to reassure DS that all is not lost and he could still get his A if everyone scored low. He has to do paper 2 on Friday and this has really knocked his confidence. I've looked on Edexcel website but can't find anything about grade boundaries, DS is convinced he had to score 53 out of 60 for A and thinks he got 51 if he's lucky.

i've heard it was a difficult exam as well. If everyone scored lower than expected, the grade boundaries will be scaled accordingly so not to worry.

You gave me a heart attack, but you must be talking about the old specification exams. DS has his the week after next! Phew.

DS's was edexcel as well. Really hard was the verdict.

Sorry meant to say he took the edexcel paper.

DS1 (year 10) took it yesterday. He wants to do Maths A level and is gutted as he thinks he dropped at least 7 marks. He said it was the hardest test he's ever done, lots of questions he's never seen before and many of the kids were in tears afterwards.
He's worked his socks off revising for this. He has been getting 100% on practise papers and has all A*s before.

Does anyone know whether the grade boundries are decided in advance? Will they lower the marks required for an A* if all candidates score lower than expected?

My DD also said Edexcel Maths was the hardest maths paper she had ever done and her class were very upset (and a bit bewildered as well I think). A friend's school is submitting an official complaint to the Exam Board regarding the exam though I don't know on what grounds.

Our school (and dd's school) are the same as Goblin's - although the school I teach at will sell them stuff if they've forgotten anything.

Ours all have to bring their own equipment to exams in a transparent case.

Edexcel harder than last year, I would say, and they needed compasses to construct an angle of 30 degrees :(

In answer to PonceyMcPonce; where I work, students are expected to bring their own equipment. We keep a few spares of pens, compasses, rulers, calculators, etc, but today I had to run around looking for more protractors in other exam venues because SO many flippin students didn't have one!

Nell - dd1 has done a lot of revision and her room is currently covered in post-it notes with lots of Science stuff on them! She's done past papers etc for Maths and then got the mark schemes on line where available.

She went for a revision session before the exam today but said it wasn't with her usual teacher and they shoved all of the pupils in together, whatever their level, so it wasn't at all helpful. She was not v happy about it and would have been better off using the time at home tbh by the sound of it.

Nell799, DS has been doing past papers, they posted the answers on the school's VLE so he could check what he'd done right or wrong and correct it.
He's also been using the BBC bitesize revision stuff and attended extra maths revision in school.
|Y11 can have study leave or come in for optional revision sessions in their subjects. DS knows he finds concentrating at home hard without guidance. Sometimes he's been the only one in the session, teachers don't seem to mind.

My DS did Maths today but he did OCR (Higher) and said it was OK. Sounds like the AQA and Edexcel exams were much harder than OCR, fortunately for my DS at least.

I also invigilate, but today I did AS Physics where a load of the candidates did not think to bring a protractor - just unbelievable!

Ours can't have been AQA (shows what attention I paid ). Definate compass requirement with us.

Just checked with dd and I lied - she did Edexcel!

DS1 did spec B said it was easy, no compass required, did it and checked answers twice in 45 minutes.

wotno Don't panic! DS did AQA and said no compass involved.

Another invigilator here - they mostly seemed OK, but a fair few panicky looks. And a massive shortage of compasses - we ran out and ended up roaming the school nicking them from wherever.

dd sat hers earlier in the year but reports today from her friends are that it was 'ok but harder than expected'

DS found it hard. He needs an A or A* but reckons he'll only have got a b.

He said most people struggled with it, which may mean that the grade boundary will be lower, hopefully.