GCSE 2019 support thread 6

@steppemum I know what you mean! My DD feels her level 7's are a bit low, but when you realise that is an old fashioned A! Heck my DD got an A in Spanish (and most of the higher grades go to people with Spanish as a Mother tongue).

fortyfifty we are in the same boat at igcse English. A 9 in literature and a 6 in language. Seems crazy doesn't it. Dd also got an 8 in drama and RS.

Morning!
Just spent ages catching up on the thread, so many lovely stories. Thank you all for such a supportive thread.

We spent wednesday doing the 16 hour trip back from south of France, definitely the way to avoid pre exam day stress!

Dropped ds off to collect results, with lots of - if you need me to come and support you talking to sixth form etc, just text. Got a text 5 minutes later 'amazing'
could have cried with relief.
3 x 8
4 x 7
1 x 6
1 x 5

The annoying thing is that in old money that is 3 A and 4 A but in the numbers it doesn't feel as high. Some of his friends disappointed they didn't get 9, but their 8 would ahve been A. All seems a bit unfair really.

He is delighted.

Got his 8 in maths which allows him to do further maths (he thought he had missed that)
Amazingly he got an 8 in Eng language, where he was predicted a 5 (and I have been worrying about all summer, really not a strong subject) Not AQA though.

Bit disappointed he didn't get his predicted in a couple of subjects, but overall, he is in to sixth form, he got his English, and even passed his French.
Somehow that 5 in French is as valuable as the 8 in maths!

Wasrelaxing, but those are all passes! What grades did he need?

A friend's ds was a grade below what was required for the, relevant gcses and they still went to the interview, explained he did better normally (supported by letter subject teachers) and got him to do a bit of maths and English there and then.

And he got in.

How far below the needed grades is he? If it is one grade, you might still want to try

What exactly is being measured? Good question.

DS school is "famous" for coaching kids through the aqa English exam. It's all about exam technique, not much about reading/loving English. Sadly. It is cynical, but it works.

We've now had contact with the English teacher and they are going to recall DDs eng lang exam, which costs £14, and decide if something looks amiss in the marking. If yes, we'll go for a remark.

If the grade 6 stands then I'd say the exam is not fit for purpose. How can someone score a grade 9 in eng lit and RE and an 8 in history without having a good grasp of English? Plus she got a 5A in her English Sat's in Year 6. And she's someone who still reads books for pleasure and any interesting articles I send her way. What exactly is being measured?!

tactum
Similar for DD. She got. 6 for Spanish. Her lowest paper was the reading. She got full marks for the speaking in yet can't really converse in Spanish at all. She was always terrible at the listening but fine at the reading and writing. She's happy with the 6 - it looked doubtful she'd scrape a 5 at some point, but it's odd that the reading paper stood out with the lower marks.

@mumma24 if there's one thing I've learned from my eldest DS, if things don't always go to plan ( they don't get into the school you want/they don't get the grades you hoped for) in the end it's OK, because while they can't continue on the path you expected, and are lead down another path, there's probably a reason for that, and lots of great things will happen for him anyway.

Email the school and ask for his mark and if they are close to grade boundaries.

AQA grade boundaries filestore.aqa.org.uk/over/stat_pdf/AQA-GCSE-GDE-BDY-JUN-2019.PDF

I think DD might be one of the very few kids who actually got what she was predicted for both the AQA Englishes!

Hi all. My son was predicted an A* for English but got a 6 and 7, not sure if it was aqa though.

He’s so strong in English that I’m not worried about it, he’s going to do an English a-Level and I think his school will support him.

I think he skipped Hard Times and is paying the price.

just came to this thread, another AQA english grades well below what was predicted and achieved in her Mocks.
Consistently receiving 7 and above in her mocks for the last 2 years but today results 5 and 6.
Lots of her friends also received way below what they had been predicted.

Well, dd has finally had a meltdown. She's just found out that her friend, who rubbished RS and classics has done much better than her - a 9 in RS and a 8 in classics - these are the results that dd wanted. She can't get beyond the 6 in classics! And now thinks she will be the worst performer in her A level group. Tbh I am a bit disappointed with her classics and rs results, she was doing brilliantly in class and felt the exams went really brilliantly.

Sigh.

Re AQA English we are opposite - DD predicted 6/7 got 8/9.
Anyone able to shed any light on my post from p17 about DDs language - got a 6 with 3 8s and a 2 in reading wtaf?! How can that be possible - you can listen,speak, write but not read it?!

@lissie123 yes. Everything you said.

Interesting what everyone is saying about AQA English, dd’s School appears to have had similar.......

No haven’t spoken to anyone. I feel so sad for him. He struggled at school and he shouldn’t feel like this.

@GingerbreadTeen I think officially 4-3 is just under a four, it’s like getting two GCSEs between a 3 and a 4, but his college might be happy with 4-3 as it’s so close to a pass.

Page 9 6.38 am by Tabbystar .

Re AQA English grades.
A lovely poster put the grade boundries up on page 11 or maybe earlier between 6-7 am
Rubbish at linking sorry you will have to s
scroll back .
They look like there are o ly 10 marks per grade which is tight .

Conversely, DD has done rather better than might have been expected in English language (9). Her friends, including one planning to do English A-level, have much lower than expected results.

Same issue here with aqa English language. Predicted 8/9 and ended up with a 6 which was highest across the whole year group. This has always been her best subject since primary and always done well. All other subjects as predicted 7s/8s.

It makes no difference to her next step, however friends have slipped to a 4 and that has made a massive difference to next steps.

We have also had issues with AQA English. DD and others in her class were predicted 9s and regularly achieved them in class tests and mocks. Grades today were a mixture of 6s, 7s and 8s. Still good grades obviously but agree something doesn’t seem right.

DD has done much better than mocks and predicted grades except Geography which she is a grade below but still can take it at A Level. Though her teacher said she could see how nervous was she was before the exams.

I think my message might have got lost.
Has anyone else had results that are much lower than the mock results?
DD got mainly 6’s and we are so pleased for her but she got strong 7’s / 8’s in her mock exams and 8/9 as her predicted grades.

@Mumma24 I sent him back into school to speak to the exams officer to find out his grade. English is one of his best subjects so it just didn't seem right. Fortunately his English teacher was in the office and said if it was within 5 marks it was worth applying for a remark.