Is there a hand holding thread for Y11 parents and GCSE results yet?

Thanks everyone, dd has been better over the summer, the complete lack of pressure has helped!

As expected she didn't get a mark for maths which caused major upset and self loathing

However she did get 3bs 1c and 2ds so pretty impressive considering she missed the second week of exams! She finally calmed down last night and realised she has all the important ones apart from maths and she'll be ok. Fingers crossed she keeps her place at college now.

Katymac we had similar - DD had a C in Drama - A for all assessments, she just flunked the exam. A in Dance even though in her exam she was within the A grade boundary she was told she had to get. But she is off to do a degree in dance in September so although it chafed a bit, in the scheme of things it doesn't matter - though I do appreciate it is easy for me to say that as she is usually quite a sunny little soul. For those whose DCs take things hard (like DD's best friend) it is much more difficult.

Congratulations to all with pleasing results and strengthening vibes to those whose results were not what they wanted. I do think that it's an important life skill to develop the ability to find different ways to your goal than the well-trodden path. It is easy to get caught up in the frenzy and think all is lost when things don't go the way you think they will, or should, but we need to remind DCs (and ourselves, usually) that there are many. many paths to success.

I agreed with It hurts at the time - it does dent confidence - but it isn't the end of the road

DD is going on to study Drama (well Musical Theatre) she has a place already. She got a pass in Drama - her friend came in with a merit saying "but everyone knows your DD is better than me" but there is no point looking into it. It's a pass, she has her place - it really doesn't matter

Purple Alert once upon a time what happened to your daughter happened to me too. Took Eng Lang one year early - was predicted an A and got a C. I was very disappointed and my school wanted a remark but my Dad (who worked in a sixth form college) refused to allow it, saying it was a pass and I should move on from there and not get distracted. It sounded harsh but I ploughed ahed and ended up going to Oxbridge to study... English - they never once mentioned that C. They were much more interested in seeing how thinking and expression had developed in the meanwhile.

That said - if a remark looks sensible - go for it - I don't think it's a bad idea. But I think the bigger picture is that a reasonable if not spectacular grade - it doesn't disqualify your DD from anything. There is no reason at all to think that any hopes and ambitions are now unrealistic. It hurts at the time - it does dent confidence - but it isn't the end of the road.

Thanks frogs. Difficult. I've a few days to think.

greylady does that mean that if there is only a 1 or 2 mark difference between remark and original, then the original stands?

Looking at ds's mark breakdown he got 43/70 (C), 46/80 (D) and 30/50 (C) with a total of 119 (the grade boundary is 120), giving him an overall D. We can't blame it on doing badly on a particular paper (he is only 1 point over for paper 1, 2 under for paper 2 and bang on the border for paper 3) but I guess it is far more likely that a remark would find an extra 1 mark somewhere, putting him up to C, than that it would feel it necessary to take away the 19 that would put him down to an E.

That said getting a D definitely isn't a shock - the problem with English is it seems to be all about understanding motivations and why authors write in particular ways. DS is not good at that!

hmm that is odd then nerf maybe students are being predicted too high grades then , leading to disappointment at final result?
The whole thing has been so stressful for dd. she has ended up actually unwell and referred to CAMHS and the stress of the drama gcse has been a major contributing factor. I am so sad for her.

Interesting about Drama; I know several people upset with their result (i.e. much lower than predicted) yet the national figures are pretty much identical to last years (JCQ publication of all entries/results).

Has anyone been disappointed with History results?

Just to clarify a little. I was an AQA marker and remarker for GCSE English. Remarkers have no idea who has or has not paid. We were told that when we were 'prime' marking the papers we were marking the candidate but remarks were marking the original marker. We were never to hunt for extra marks but to award them if they were there.
I remember being told that 1or 2 marks difference between us and the om was a matter of opinion, 3 or 4 was a matter for discussion round the table and more than 4 consistently led to all that markers scripts being remarked. By the time you get the results of a remarked script it will have been scrutinised by at least 3 senior examiners after it was first looked at.

should add that this was her first GCSE and she is only end of Y9 and did it in one year (which I think is madness but is how the school does it) so overall I think she has done fantastically.
Doesn't help that her older brother - getting most of his results today - got all As and A*s.
They both worked so hard and we are so proud of them both - but I just wish poor dd wasn't so sad.

another one here with a dd disappointed with drama result - but ed-excell not AQA so maybe more to do with an across the boards tightening up on boundaries etc...
both unit one and two (controlled assessments) she had got an A for, but then one went down to a b when sent off to be moderated (and not on the a/b borderline either!) and then she was predicted an A for the performance module and got a C.
Overall grade came out as B - which is obviously still a great result but she is very disappointed and nothing I say makes her feel any better.
Seems she has done better than most of her friends though who got Cs or below so harsh marking for all it seems
so sad for them all because I know her group worked so, so hard.

Dame that's not what I was saying.

Molio haven't seen that word used in years!! but no; the comments came from a teacher, not hearsay from disgruntled students or their parents.

Anyway, I don't have the money for re marking and Ds's grammar school have a strict no resit policy, so Ds is stuck with what he has.

Onwards and upwards!

So pleased for everyone's DC results. I just felt I ought to mention that if your child was within, say 3 marks, of a grade border it will already have been carefully checked. So there is less likelihood of movement than a paper a little further away. But that is no reason not to apply especially in English which is so subjective.

As an English teacher I would say 100% get it remarked! It shouldn't cost you anything. We got 3 of ours remarked last year and they were 2/3 marks away from the 'C'. Good luck

Thank you barefootgirl I'm very private about our complicated relationship with mainstream education and very few people in real life know what a battle it has been to get any recognition of his problems.

I texted his English tutor with his results (she obviously already knew) & she was delighted. She is a lovely, warm woman who has captured his imagination, stretched him and opened up communication for him. She's 'A' star and I will never forget how marvellous she has been.

unexpected on the grand scheme of things (uni admissions; job applications) there will be no difference between A* and A

I may be completely misunderstanding the grade boundaries here but DS, doing Edexcel Add Science, got a high A in Physics, a comfortable A in Chem and a very high A in Biology. If I am reading it correctly, he got 71 in Biology and needed 72 for an A in that section. His overall mark was 286 and he needed 288 for an A. So should we get Biology remarked? It doesn't make any difference really if he gets A or A and I am thinking that Science-based subjects probably have less scope for changes in marks but there's nothing to lose is there? Or have I read this completely incorrectly?

8 A*'s, 1 A and a C.
DS worked really hard and we are very proud.

Snapespeare I am so pleased for your DS and for you. Somehow that one A means more than a whole clutch of As and As for kids who have not had such a tough time.

Dunlurking DD did mention something about the paper being 'weird' and the question format being different from anything they'd done before. I'm not convinced it could be so different for those who were consistently getting A* throughout the course to drop to D/E grades though.
I thought it might have been my DD having a concentration lapse, but hearing about others' experiences is making me think again. We were definitely going to get a remark anyway, so will see if it makes a difference. I won't worry if not - a B is fine, but would like to know if that's definitely what she's got (we've had 7 papers remarked over the past 4 years and all but 2 have resulted in a higher grade, so worth a punt).

Ohwhatfuckery - sorry to read dd is disappointed. I feel very lucky that my dd is happy with her results. It's a few marks either way that can make it all difference. Once she gets in to the swing of a-levels I'm sure she will be fine. Can you treat her to a new bag or something for the new school year? She HAS done well but it's no consolation when they're hoping for more is it?

Molio, it gets expensive if there are a lot, but statistically one in 3 or 4 are likely to go up (the marking really is that bad), so if you have the cash you could take a punt on any that are 1 or 2 marks short of the grade boundary?

I guess it really depends if you are going to be left wondering 'what if..' if you don't or not and whether any of your dc's future plans are likely to be critically affected by the number of *s

Oakmaiden
talk to the school
At DDs school the remark forms for the most urgent 20 had been pre prepared by the HoD and were in the envelopes with the results

I'll add my moan about AQA drama. DD got very low mark (by her standards) for written paper and her overall grade was only salvaged by the fact that she got full marks in the practical. And this is a child who got A* for English so can obviously write a bit. Very strange marking or maybe just a very strange paper?

My son missed his C for English by 1 mark... I'm wondering whether to go for a remark - do you reckon it would be worth it?