Disappointing IGCSE results - CIE board - English, etc.

Both DC had weird CIE iGCSE English results. For DS it was the only result which was not an A. He got a B, even after a remark, but was not too bothered, because the A in Eng Lit covered him for most things.

We were then forewarned and forearmed when it came to DD, who is dyslexic and wants to be a medic, and who was firmly positioned towards the bottom of her (selective) class. The solution was Justin Craig revision courses both at Christmas and Easter, first to confirm she had been well taught and so knew what she needed to know, second to give her exposure to a more mixed ability group so she realised she was not as weak as she though, and then to really focus on mark grubbing (often given lower priority in schools where the norm is A). What does the examiner want. It worked and she has her A, confounding all expectations.

In terms of medical schools I am not sure it matters too much. Very academic applicants often aim for the BMAT schools where the odd duff GCSE result should not matter as long as the BMAT score is good. Other schools focus on UKCAT, A2 predictions or "all-roundedness". And even the ones who look closely at GCSEs are not expecting perfection. Most candidates do not get the string of A*s that seem to be the norm in some selective private schools. You just apply to the schools which seem to be the best fit. Your son should have enough choice.

(DD does not want to do BMAT as she thinks she wont do well on the essay component, and her processing speeds are sufficiently slow that she was always likely to find UKCAT a challenge, even with extra time. She also wants to avoid PBL as she thinks she does better being taught rather than relying on self study, and so the A* has proved valuable. And despite all these filters, and after ruling out two places she did not want to go to, she has ended up trying to whittle five choices down to four. More than enough. Now she justs needs a place.)

Hi to the mum concerned about applying for medicine with a low english grade (B). A friend has spoken to Cardiff univ. about this and has been told that the information on website about English Lang requirements only comes into effect next year (although they have failed to make schools aware of this). So do not be put off applying for medicine with a B in Eng Lang.

Do remember that you want a COPY of the exam paper and not the actual paper as if you get the original paper you can not have it remarked.

Our school takes CIE board for all but a couple of less popular subjects. Our students' results were all in line with predictions this year.

If you want to know what happened with English Language, get the paper sent back.

Thanks, Bike, yes I realized I'd got the Liverpool GCSE requirement a bit wrong but we were on the move again and I couldn't get online! I am hoping we can just dig in with the A and not do anything. :)

It depends also on the combination of units. Did he do coursework and s+l?

Not necessarily a general issue. As I said our results were as usual. More A* in lang than lit, with one or two students doing better in lit than lang. However, approaching a question in slightly the wrong way can result in a much lower mark. I see this often in mock exams and the change to the summary may have caught some people out. We also see some students write a narrative for the descriptive task and this results in a lower grade as well. No one can say for sure until you know the marks for each paper.

Different IGCSE board, but my two got A not A in English langugae, despite each getting an A in English lit and both being in top set for English at an academic school. I was surprised as English language is probably their best subject, but we are not bothering with a remark as it will not matter to their university entrance.

It sounds like from what DoctorD says this is a general issue with changes to English language.

Yes, those asking you can go down on a remark. If you are very close to the next grade up a remark is worth doing - mine is going that for his only B which was half a mark off in one paper (French) and the teacher recommended a remark. He was off an A by a whisker so I don't think a remark will take him down to a C.

The school will have that information. There have been some prescriptive changes to the Language recently - particularly strange is the summary task where there are more marks for the bullet point list than the full write up.

Well if he's only on the boundary of a B/C instead of an A/B I'll be flabbergasted! It's a shame CIE don't tell you online (like Edexcel do) how close they are to the grade boundary.

Yes you can go down on a remark, very rarely happens as must students who select a remark are very near the grade boundary ie 5 marks off an C. So they have a big enough cushion if they drop a few marks the other way so the original grade will normally be safe.

Abraid can you fall down on a remark? I didn't think it could go down, only up. Does it vary depending on the exam board?

Another disappointed child here too. We were expecting an A and daring to hope for an A* in English Language and got a B.

Gutted. Going for a remark though.

CIE results this year have been down mainly because the entry profile changed dramatically - more entries, more at lower end, need to recruit masses of markers plus the usual boundary changes. The mark scheme for Lang is extraordinarily prescriptive: not great for very bright kids who think originally.

Abraid, don't panic to much about the medicine issue. Like you say not all score on gcse grades. I would also be wary about what parents tell you, For example I just looked at Liverpool, yes they score on Gcse grades but they give the same score for A and A*. All the students I know in recent years who got into medicine all have amazing grades but there are occasional As and even a very rare B. Read admissions policies and then get on the phone. You don't sound like you are moaning, it can be very difficult to discuss issues affecting high achieving students without sounding insensitive!

Devastating to achieve 9 A* and a D in iGCSE English language - out of the blue.
Hope the re- marks are taken seriously.

From memory, Cardiff, Leicester, Liverpool. Can't remember the others from my initial trawl of the medical schools of the UK. They ask for a set number of GCSEs to include Maths, Science and English Language, with a tarrif of points for each grade. Really no point in applying to these without maximum marks, I am told by parents of last year's candidates, as you only get four applications for medicine and it is so hard to get in.

Please don't think I am moaning--just a little concerned that it's that particular subject.

At DD's school the CIE Eng lang results across the year seem rather random and there were fewer A* than expected.

My son took maths A* and English language A - both results as predicted by school. However, a much stronger candidate in his class got a B for the English, which is odd.

Do you have a link for the A* at English GCSE requirement
as I've looked at top uni requirements rather obsessively for the last couple of years and not spotted that one

DD was expecting Bs in IGCSE English but got A*s. She still can't believe it.

*should read English GCSE

Which medical schools require A* in gcse?

Our results seem fine with CIE all in line with expectations. One strange one, but it sounds like the student in question didn't answer the right questions and that was literature not language. Our Language results seem in line with previous years' results.
Good luck with any remarks, I know CIE are involved with a bit of a struggle with ofqual and the government at the moment as their exams are not going to count in the new league tables which will of course seriously impact upon their business model. There has been a perception amongst some in the dfe that the IGCSE is 'easier' than the GCSE.

Good luck trying for a re-mark with Cambridge, my DD 2 years ago was predicted A/A for Art she ended up with a D 1 mark from the C boundary, it was sent for a re-mark and it came back with absolutely no change. The best part was it was her essay which was marked so low it was barely a D despite her getting A's in both English exams. 2 other students were also in the same position.