GCSE’s summer 2020 thread 5 - And then there were none..

DD isn’t thinking of doing any resit, but has a friend that is planning to for anything that she thinks isn’t good enough. I think it will be a nightmare, balancing A levels and resits.

@crazycrofter yes I would if she feels she’s been ‘short changed’
She was to sit 11 GCSEs and FM but dropped 1 after mocks (graded 9) leaving her with 10 GCSEs and FM
She too is moving schools, and has been ‘cracking on’ with A level prep work whilst also forming new friendships via social media.
That said, they’re all different

@ProggyMat out of interest, do you support her in that or would you rather she didn’t resist any? I think Oxford usually want 8 or so 8/9 grades don’t they?

I have to say re-sitting alongside starting A Levels seems like a stressful option to me but maybe that’s partly because dd is changing schools so will be focused on making new friends! If dd doesn’t get that many 8/9s I’ll be happy for Oxford to be ruled out!

My DD will resit any subject that she feels does not reflect her ‘attainment grades’ and her January mocks results, given the further revision that she would have done in the time period up to and including the exams proper
She wants to have a punt at Oxford.

@RoiseCap - DD is in the same position. Predicted to get a very strong set of results and aiming for medicine, maybe Oxford. She has muttered about resitting if she drops 1 or 2 grades but I suspect when it comes to it she'll have moved on and be focussed on her IB studies.

It's a shame that this year will be different as I was hoping a really strong set of GCSE results would set her up nicely for at least one med school application. But who knows now?

Ds won’t be resitting anything (unless he fails maths or English which is unlikely). His target grades were 7-9 in everything and he’ll be happy with 6s in most things except his #1 subject which he’s doing at a level anyway so although he went through a “I’ll resit if I don’t get a 9” phase for a couple of weeks I can’t see him bothering once he’s into the a level course. He’s not a medicine or oxbridge person but, like a pp said, they’ve already lost the demonstrating sitting 9+ subjects at the same time thing.

Anybody worried that once employers and uni’s see 2020 as the date of GCSE’s taken there will be eyebrows raised? Obviously I’m sure measures will be taken to make sure this cohort aren’t discriminated against but it is a worry...my DD has done GCSE’s a year late as her mental health was in tatters in year 11 and bloody hell...would give anything for her to have done them last year and escaped this.

DD not interested in the autumn exams either. She’s moved on to A level bridging work and not looking back.

I think DD would just like to be in the strongest place possible instead of having to worry, and that would be her way of minimising worries if that makes sense! I do know when our niece got 7A*s at GCSE she did have to rule out certain schools that said at their open day that they wanted 8 or more. She is now studying Medicine somewhere that prioritised her very high UKCAT score. DD1's friends this year have also had varying success with their medicine applications so she too picked up a lot. Hopefully it will mean DD2 is well advised if she does go for medicine.

@RosieCap I really think the med schools will be careful about the weight they give to GCSEs from this cohort as it will be generally accepted that they are mostly, but not exactly, what they would have been if it was a normal year. My understanding is that one of the reasons they like strong GCSE results is because it shows you can balance a wide variety of subjects at the same time, so if people don't sit all together that will no longer show that.

DS1 is starting medicine in September so I have picked up a lot of medicine application knowledge. Less than half the med schools score the GCSEs, most just set their minimum requirements.

@Monkey2001 My DD2 has written a list of the grades she expects or wants based on mocks and class. If any are below that I think she would consider sitting in November. Not more than two or three though. She is also keen on either a medicine course or Oxford or Cambridge so would like the best grades possible. If she wasn't I think she would accept anything that got her into A levels.

DS won't countenance resits. He should get generally decent grades but both Eng Lang & Lit were poor mocks, although with recent improvement in class/home work so who knows.

If this group is representative, it looks like November exams will barely register. That means that moderation will be really hard - the cohort could be English and maths candidates trying to get a pass and high achievers who did not get their 8/9 grades!

I suspect that GCSE heavy medical schools might change their admissions process for our lot.

DS is not interested at all in sitting the exams. Even in a worst case he should get what he needs for A levels and he will just concentrate on them. He has zero interest in doing subjects he is dropping like french or geography to go up a grade.

Dd definitely won't be taking any GCSEs in November. She hasn't done any work since March and will be focusing on A Levels come September. One of her best friends is adamant she will retake a few as she wants to get the best possible results - but I hope she'll be persuaded otherwise when the time comes to decide.

I can't see that many kids will want to when they've had time to digest their results. Obviously some will need to retake Maths/English, but that would always be the case. As long as they've got what they need to move on to the next stage, I don't think it would be advisable really? We all know that GCSEs are fairly irrelevant in later life. There are a small number of degree courses where GCSEs matter - probably just medicine, dentistry and Oxford? Surely though, there's a risk that if they spend Sept/Oct/Nov focused on GCSEs, they'll struggle to really get to grips with A Levels?

DS has no appetite to take the GCSE exams, even if his grades are way below what he was expecting. He (rightly I think) realises he won't get his motivation back up to the levels it needs to be.

The only exception to this would be if he got less than a 4 in English as obviously this would be an issue in later life. (same is true for maths, but DS won't have any trouble getting above a 4 there).

Now that the exams will be in November does anybody have DC who think they might do GCSE exams? DS2 will only consider doing his 4 best subjects (the ones he is studying for A level and a couple of others). Definitely not up for the others even if the grade awarded is a couple of grades away from where he was aiming.

Just posting random comment on here as the thread fell off my threads I'm on!

Nothing to report... as you were.

Fiddlers Green - they no doubt will use the prior cohort attainment as well as the demographic modelling mentioned above for your school.

To wrongdissection - this has been the same for all three of my daughters (DD) no matter what age! They are all so bored now and actually want work to complete I think. Is your DD needing grades for sixth form or college?

Our school was new 5 years ago and this would have been their first GCSEs so I’m not sure how that is going work here

Haha, DS's cohort is also a particularly good one - I think the school sad back in Y7 that the average CAT score was 108 even though it is non-selective. The guidance says that "prior attainment at cohort level" is used in the standardisation model, so hopefully that will support predictions of higher grades than usual.

I can't see that anything really changed as a result of the consultation, but they say they are looking into rules re appeals:

We have listened to suggestions about how we could take into account evidence from a centre that it believes shows exceptional circumstances which justify changes in how the standardisation process should apply to its students. Specifically, where a centre can demonstrate that there has been a significant change in the demographic make-up of its 2020 cohort in a subject which indicates students would have performed better than in previous years, and that using the normal standardisation process as set out would disadvantage this year’s students.

They will still be using the prior cohort attainment though. The use of historical weighting is instead of trajectory weighting so a bright cohort can still get better than usual grades but a school that has improved its teaching etc won't necessarily be given that uplift if the prior attainment is a standard level.