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

Solo it's simply not credible that an exam board marked more favourably where parents paid and less favourably where the school paid. Are you sure the story isn't apocryphal? It just isn't how it works, even if marking does sometimes seem an inexact science.

smokepole that's really good about your DD, my DS has to change schools, his doesn't have an academic sixth form so he is going to a local Grammar school sixth form. We had to go there today with his results and the Headteacher was pleased to see him with his results!

I've just found out my niece's daughter got 4 A* 4 As and 2 Bs, despite years of bullying. One in the eye for the haters She's a bit of a goth and stuck out like a sore thumb at school. Unique and amazing, am so proud.

Sorry smokepole was that to me? DS1 is going to the college joining his secondary.

My grandchildren rock. My DD1 stayed at a secondary modern , despite my determined efforts to get her in to a 'grammar/private school at year 9/12.
Like your son she did very well at GCSE and has gone on to get ABB at A level from the school. The school in effect made her the 'head girl' and made her feel very special. Is your son going to the grammar , or is he staying on at the secondary .?

a mental health nurse.

U2 that's fantastic

DS1 just got his results today and was pretty happy. He got 4 A* and a few As but the B in science has narked him a bit as he now wants to do A level chemistry and biology. He got A physics B chemistry and C in biology. I just hope they let him take it for A level? He'll find out tomorrow.

He wants to work in mental health (like myself) and aims for psychiatry but I've told him even if he can get to be mental health nurse it'll be a great career, so rewarding.

My boy only had two this year and does the rest this year. In his school they do them in year 10 as well.

He got two C's. He was predicted B grades so he was a little disappointed.

Can I just say that this was the boy who was so delayed that his consultant said he would need help with the basic things as an adult, she also thought he would never get to even take exams at one point.

So this is a huge achievement!!!!

Solo - the exam boards do not mark for free. There is a standard fee across the country. So someone has to pay, either the parents or the school. The exam boards return the money if they remark shows the original marking was way off. All remarks are paid for. The exam board will not care who pays for it. But they will not remark for free otherwise they would be inundated with remarking requests and they could not pay their examiners doing the remarking.

My son had a geography result (C) remarked and it came out as B ( a few years back). The C was very surprising and even a B wasn't very good for him. So sometimes remarking can be worth going for if the school and you and the child are surprised by the grade and it is different from most other grades. I have marked A level papers for extra money and although you do your level best to produce fair marks as it is so important it is never an exact science.

The hardest thing I found was to mark those papers you can hardly read because the writing is so terrible (my own handwriting was always terrible at school so bad I learned to touch type at 15 and am faster at typing than any secretary I have ever had) no worse than those where the script is easy to read, copperplate perfect handwriting. Of course you try not to let that get in the way but it is difficult if you can hardly make out the words.

But it's strange then that the parents that paid had a positive result, but those that didn't had a negative result. Strange coincidence.

Forgossake I know how you feel. I suffered terrible guilt, convinced I should have done more, but, with the benefit of hindsight, I could not have done anything more than I did. It really is down to them.
DS2 was naturally v. Bright. Sailed through school, 6th form and Uni. Very, very proud of him, but I just have so much respect and pride in DS 1 for what he has gone on to achieve.
Also, in all honesty, had DS 1 pulled it out of the bag originally, I know he would have failed at Uni - time would have been spent partying and not much more.
Just as babies and toddlers develop at different rates, so do adolescents. It really pisses me off that they are basically written off at 16/18.

Sorry - essay over

Fuck it to hell. (And I know this sounds like stealth boast but it's not) dd got a 2 as, 4 bs and a c. She is in bits. And will be worse when she sees all the a s her friends have got. I want to tell her 3 months down the line it won't matter.

DDs English Language Mark is 239 ~ the A grade boundary is 240
might ask for the remark even if the cohort do not go through

Thank you for all of your lovely comments .

Congratulations to everyone who has done well and much love & hugs to those who are disappointed.

MASSIVE relief here - 6 a and 6 a * including all her a-level subjects and maths. She's happy, we are very happy
I want to thank you all for the support I've had through these last few months, it's been so helpful. Congratulations to everybody who got what they wanted and a big to those who didn't. I hope everybody can get on to the next steps they want.

If it helps, my DD did GCSEs last year and was 2 UMS off an A so school asked us to apply for a remark at our cost. We did and she got an extra 15* UMS marks. The examining board do not know who is paying for the remark (we made a cheque payable to the school, so the school would have sent in one big cheque to cover everyone's request for a remark) so I really don't think 'money talks' in this case. Because the exam board realised they had made a mistake they sent us the money back by way of a cheque.

My advice is that if your results are at the high end of the grade (ie NEARLY an A or NEARLY a B) then get a remark as it is unlikely that any reduction of marks will lead to a lower grade. Unis don't look at individual marks for GCSE so you will not have lost out (except the cost of the remark) and you may well find the grade going up if only one or two more UMS are required. Good luck to you all

How to get the grades/marks detail of CIE IGCSEs? (Sorry if this was already discussed)

DS's sat them as private candidate at his school. So the school gave us the results, but without the ums and withour the breakdown by paper. How could I get those?

Thank you for posting that, Tooldtobearsed. I really am devastated for my Ds. He worked hard once his mock results came in so I'm gutted that he did not really improve on them. But he was a lazy so and so before that and is now suffering the consequences .

He's really matured in the last couple of months. Has worked hard over the holidays at his part time job and was excited about starting college.

I just wish I could shake the feeling that I have let him down. I didn't want to try and force him to revise more. I nagged, encouraged, tried to boost his confidence and excite him about the future. But he had to do it for himself, didn't he?

If you are 1 ums off the next grade boundary am I right in thinking that is less than 1 raw mark? ds is 1 ums short on one subject and wondering whether to go for a remark.

In another subject his CA went down 10 ums and I am not sure if having been moderated once they would be likely to change it - he'd have to drop a fair bit to go down a grade but if he was able to recoup just 2 of the ums he dropped, it would change his overall grade upwards.

He's gutted even though he has done well - taken himself off to the gym to work it out of his system

Talkin I hope it is a better result for you and your Dd.

My Ds is absolutely gutted with his results. No idea where he goes from here.

Santa that's a brilliant result for your Ds. Well done to all of you :)

Well done and/or commiserations to everyone and their Dc's. I hope it was at least as good as you all hoped for.

LIZS
AQA English Language - Unit 1 is the bit they are unhappy with.
Lots of kids who were expected to get A got B in particular

which board is that Talkin ?

Solo / CaptChaos
DDs head of English has already submitted the 20 test papers for a remark and if they go through, the whole cohort get rechecked - no cost or paperwork for us.

It is REALLY mean what they have done with the English results two years running - last year was the C/D boundary, this year is the B/A boundary

Changes to the rules should be made at the START of the course, not the end.