GCSE and A-level guidance has been issued

Great glad your son is ok. I really don’t buy it that most kids do their best for mocks. Aside from anything they all had different lead up times, course coverage etc. They’re kids, many learn from mocks and there can be a big gap between them and the real thing.

That’s the thing, some kids who were planning to pull it out of the bag in the last few weeks will lose out. But then some parents expect their kid to finally do some work in last few weeks and they still don’t and don’t do well. The process is as fair as it can be given the circumstances. You can bet every GCSE teacher will get mileage out of the seriousness of mocks until the end of time now. My son worked really hard for his mocks, he said the teachers kept telling them it was super important. Of course no-one could have predicted how important or anticipated this

My DN hasn’t worked for 4 years! Can’t see him coming out of this with glowing results! He’s a typical do it at the last minute and pull the rabbit out of the hat. Possibly won’t be so great for him. However he did choose to be lazy and was repeatedly told to do his homework!

Sorry, meant for that post to be aimed at Guyonhere1

Oh do give over. There are 101 reasons why kids may not have done as well as they should have done in mocks, some will have plenty of justification

Which is why just mocks won’t be used. Don’t worry! This guidance is, very fairly, allowing for that.

Oh do give over. There are 101 reasons why kids may not have done as well as they should have done in mocks, some will have plenty of justification . They’re exactly that - mocks, Dont remember my child being told before she sat them that mocks were the real thing. Kids often treat mocks very differently to the real thing. They’re not just using mocks anyway probably for that very reason. That and the fact kids sit them at different times, cover differing amounts of the course before and with have differing content set in the exam.

I think this is fair. If you didn’t revise for mocks, it’s the child’s own fault

Just from a common sense point of view, sixth forms will have to be sympathetic - our problem isn’t selecting students to come to us, it’s about trying to get enough students every year so we’re not likely to start being stupid about grades!

I think it’s as fair as it can be in the circumstances. My son did revise a lot for his mocks but even if he didn’t, his predictions are based on 4.5yrs at the school and they have a lot of data on that

I presume that although he has 5 offers he will need to drop 3 of them as normal? If he doesnt get into his Firm and Insurance then he goes into Clearing?

Yes the cycle operates as usual, although dates have been amended. Do make sure he firms and insures on time otherwise he'll be outright rejected. He'll get his uni place outcome on Track as usual and yes if both decline him he'll automatically be in clearing.

Yes, the UCAS selection has remained the same although the deadline for making those choices has been put back.

If all 5 offers were received by 31 March - deadline to make first and second choice is 19th May.
If received hem all between then and 20 May - deadline is 4th June.

Thank you. Our school asks us not to ask the teachers presumably to stop any arguments about what is being submitted until it it too late to do anything about them. I do agree with this approach btw.

So he will get his grades lets say August and then he will be told whether he has made either of his two university choices.

I presume that although he has 5 offers he will need to drop 3 of them as normal? If he doesnt get into his Firm and Insurance then he goes into Clearing?

Will 6th forms be expected to be sympathetic?

Yes. They have already told to be, when the whole exam thing first was cancelled.

Some schools/ teachers will be over generous, some not generous enough in comparison.

The assessment boards will still be moderation using school past data, so if their exam grades overall are higher than their normal ones in previous years it will be noted.

How will he know how he did in the end?

He'll get his results in the summer as usual. Hopefully around mid August as usual.

Does Autumn mean Sep, Oct or Nov?

It says in the Autumn session or the next summer session.
So I would take that to be when the normal Autumn retakes are, which is usually November,

Can I ask a question please?

If the students dont know the grades submitted how do they know what university will take them? I have a DS who is predicted 3 A*'s and has 5 university offers the highest being at AAA.

How will he know how he did in the end?

So will they be able to start alevels and do retakes at the same time. Will 6th forms be expected to be sympathetic?

It’s pot luck as to what you scenario you have working out your grades

If a teacher/department don’t have a range of data/evidence on a pupil after practically two years of teaching them, then that is appalling.

If you look more closely at the guidance (there are multiple documents giving more in depth guidance), it is very clear to outline what evidence teachers can use (explicitly not just mocks and NEAs) in order to make it much more fair. In all honesty, if a student has not ever produced anything (give it homework, classwork, tests, mocks, projects) of higher grade work in two years, then it is highly unlikely they would have pulled it out of the bag in the June exams anyway.
For those pupils who can pull it out the bag with very short crammed revision (a tiny minority) then that is what the Autumn exams are for.

I fully appreciate that this is a very stressful time for you and your daughter but these grades are not just going to be picked in just a couple of seconds/out of thin air)
Give the schools and exam boards a little more time to collate this guidance so that they do everything they can, not to misinterpret anything and not disadvantage anyone.

There is no system that would be completely fair to all unfortunately.

Absolutely - impossible to create a system like that. But I think that across the UK the exam boards have made the best decisions for the majority, in a very short time period. Who knows, had this outbreak started in August/September when the exams were still 6 months or more away, decisions may have been different. But Scottish Highers were due to start on something like 28th April. They just didn't have the time to come up with lots of alternatives, evaluate them, consider impacts.

The fact that the whole of the UK is adopting the same approach makes it much clearer for students and universities.

No but having every single exam taken away from you after a difficult period is very different to a consistent plodder buckling in one or two exams or having an over zealous marker in one or two.

@aut0replenish I get what you are saying BUT - as various posters have pointed out previously, the exam system isn't perfect either and there have always been issues with the marking of exams as well. Some exam markers are much harsher than others.

In the same way that the last-minute crammers potentially lose out under this system, the consistent hard workers who might crumple under the stress of exam conditions will potentially benefit. There is no system that would be completely fair to all unfortunately.

Scotland's education system is completely separate from the UK

I suggest you brush up on your geography... Scotland is PART of the UK.

But the point stands - exactly the same approach to awards as the exam boards south of the border which is as it should be given that Scottish students will be applying for places in English/Welsh/N Irish universities, and vice versa.

Frankly we’re resigned to what ever she gets as can do nothing about it but need some kind of a plan ASAP re sitting the exams in order to move forward. It’s not just having grades she’s not happy with forever but getting on Alevel courses she has applied for. She won’t be alone.

I think where it’s going to fall down is those poor classes who have had a series of supply teachers over the last two years. For instance in some very challenging schools with high staff turnover and absence will not have a lot of data to go on.