GCSE and A-level guidance has been issued

I don’t know. I’ve gone to moderating meetings in the past albeit not secondary. Some teachers are real sticklers for not being over generous. Others really generous. Assessments differ too.It’s pot luck as to what you scenario you have working out your grades

This graphic from the OCR board is a helpful summary.

There is opportunity to sit an exam both in Autumn and next summer, so students could have two chances, if they are not happy. To be honest, I think it is more likely teachers over estimate than under, however, most teachers really do know their students and will have lots of opportunities from the past two years to draw on their decision making and exam boards will be checking this. I think it’s all pretty fair given the current situation.

Some will want to sit the exams for a whole variety of reasons. It seems like such a mess. Some schools/ teachers will be over generous, some not generous enough in comparison. They will all have different levels of experience.Some kids will get less than they would have done if sitting the exams. Some more.Just makes any grade seem pointless. How on earth will they wade through the appeals and deal with them on an even playing field?

I just think a more specific time estimate for resits( for the want of a better word) ASAP would be really helpful. Obviously you can appeal but the best thing for some will be to take it on the chin and just sit the exams.

@aut0replenish - having been both a teacher and examiner for English - both GCSE and A level I can tell you that exam system isn’t particularly fair either. This is a pretty decent solution and as a teacher and parent of a Year 11 I’m pretty happy with it. We have lots of evidence to sort our rank order.

It’s quite vague isn’t it?

I like the ranking element so if a school over marks on the whole, they know which to downgrade.

@aut0replenish they won’t be retakes given the exams haven’t happened but an opportunity to sit the rxam in early autumn term. There will also be the opportunity to appeal the result as well. Obviously this will get tricky if students want to resist lots of papers and are also starting A level or other further Ed courses.

I;ve just read the Scottish guidance and it's exactly the same. (Unusual, as Scotland often likes to go their own way on all of this...)

Scotland's education system is completely separate from the UK. They have gone their own way, there are just many similarities because there were not a lot of choices on how to proceed.

@WombatChocolate

The Ofqual guidance about work undertaken after schools were closed on 20 March is as follows:

"There is no requirement to set additional mock exams or homework tasks for the purposes of determining a centre assessment grade and no student should be disadvantaged if they are unable to complete any work set after schools were closed. Where additional work has been completed after schools and colleges were closed on 20 March, Heads of Centre should exercise caution where that evidence
suggests a change in performance. In many cases this is likely to reflect the circumstances and context in which the work is done."

My reading of this is that schools can but don't have to take into account any work done between 20 March and the submission of the grades, but they need to be careful about bumping up grades based on work done during that period. However, "exercising caution" is not the same as disallowing it.

Why on earth is it crazy?Does Autumn mean Sep, Oct or Nov? It’s ok for those whom this won’t be an issue but for others it’s a big deal. Autumn means they’ll need to study all though the summer and potentially through the beginning of Alevel courses. Would be good to have some idea that is all.

They've said quite clearly that retakes will be in the autumn. It's taken them this long to issue guidance for the summer; that was the priority surely? Now I expect they'll deal with the exam schedule. It's getting a bit crazy now; there needs to be a bit of calming down and waiting. The students and patents can't do any more. You can't change it, you just need to wait.

It just feels as if the kids who are in a position to stay on task all year without issues will benefit. Students differ and have different personalities/ life experiences.

It’s all such a mess. I feel so sorry for them all.

Bright kids can manage it, always worked for me. It’s not just the last minute crammers but those who have had problems outside of lessons that will lose out too. Just doesn’t seem fair. Really need some info re retakes. If they’re not going to happen it would be good to know so time isn’t wasted and focus on A levels starts.

LetterZ and Fuckweasel, thank you so much for posting those docs. The process seems as fair as it can be in the circs.

Subjects like maths and english will be a bit of a nightmare with multiple teachers, but they will manage. Unfortunately those who will lose out are the ones who were planning to cram over the next few weeks - but I doubt that strategy works for many.

So no info on retakes?

Top selectives can still rank their students. They just out more students into the top grades and based on the school and the student prior attainments, more students in those schools will be awarded top grades.

The ones who are less likely to get those grades are the ones who are ranked at the bottom within any grade - but that is always the case - there are students who are hopefully an A*, but when they get an A, no-one is very surprised.

I think ranking is a very good idea.

No, it says work done since schools closed won't be counted.
Have a good look at the government advice to schools and teachers.
It's really important students can now relax and know that judgements will be made and are out of their control at this point.
Since schools finished, some schools have set lots of work and some none - no-one will be disadvantaged and the teacher judgement will be based on their knowledge of students across the course and what they would expect them to get if they sat the final exam.

Remember, teachers know that many students see uplift before now and the usual May exams - because they have school input and revise hard. The grades which will be input will be expected final grade if sitting the exam - not the grade on one recent essay or assessment - those final exam grades take everything into account and the gov website suggests lots of things teachers should consider such as (and it doesn't matter if any school/subject doesn't have all of them) like boo work, homework, assessments, mock exams, NEA if it exists, etc etc - anything that builds the picture.

Schools will be keen to have their students achieve as well as possible - rest assured that no-one will be 'doing them down' but the rank order is to ensure schools can't be overly generous and that if the statistical models suggest X amount from Y school should get a grade A* in Chemistry, it will be X amount who get it and if the school has suggested more than X amount, it will be the highest ranked (once prior attainment and school previous performance) has been taken into account.

It is unlikely schools will see lower results for their overall cohort than previously as the gov will have to be a little bit generous. Unless this cohort have substantially worse GCSEs than previous years in the school, results will follow a similar pattern - so similar %s of students getting each grade in each subject. As always,with exams too, schools with excellent attainment year on year, and students with excellent prior attainment at GCSE will do better - that's what happens in exams too. The teacher will have a chance to reflect where an individual student has outperformed what their GCSEs might have indicated (or underperfomred) but across whole cohorts each year, it is possible to project forward with some degree of accuracy from prior attainment.

Universities always take students who did not quite meet their offer. They will do so again.

No joint ranking allowed @BubblesBuddy.

At my Y10 DD's school they'd all been entered for the exam in one subject, had sat the mock alongside the Y11s and are now unlikely to get a grade. Guidance says Ofqual will consult on this but it's because the Y10s don't need the grade to progress to the next stage. Whilst I do understand the logic, Y10 is already going to be hugely disadvantaged by having to take statutory exams next year without any active teaching for a significant proportion of the course. It seems unreasonable to expect them to re-revise for a course they'd completed on top of that.

Luckily for DD, it's not a subject she'll continue with and isn't a core subject so I expect we'll withdraw her from it if need be.

Ranking could be very difficult in schools that have lots of very bright DC such as the super selective grammar schools. Will they allow joint ranking I wonder? The top of the ranking could be quite crowded.

I'm still not entirely clear on whether any work done at the start of next term will count. Schools vary widely in their approach to this and how can Ofqual ensure that kids who haven't done anything since 20 Mar won't be disadvantaged?

Can I ask a question that I appreciate might make sound foolish but here goes ...

I have picked up on a pp saying that there is no point struggling through with subjects that they were sitting in June 2020 (year 10 English Lit in my son's case) as the marks they already have will be the ones that will be used.

Would I be wise to tell him to concentrate on the subjects that are important only? DS had a tutor for English Lit to try and get him up to standard for June but I don't want him to spend a lot of time on this subject if it's a done deal. I would rather he completed the work that he would take at A level.

Hope that makes sense but would appreciate any replies. Thank you

Sorry Alevel prep

Anybody know about retakes, my dd might might want to do them if her grades aren’t what she wanted. Like many I suspect she hasn’t had the best year for a variety of reasons. She needs a time frame so she can revise for gcse retakes and focus on prep. Didn’t find the advice that useful or saying anything new.😩

I;ve just read the Scottish guidance and it's exactly the same. (Unusual, as Scotland often likes to go their own way on all of this...)

I have a 17 year old who should have been sitting Highers - our university entrance qualifications. He's relieved that the SQA are taking a holistic approach and not just looking at prelim results as he did badly in one subject, although well in others. They will also look at the coursework which he has already submitted (except in Maths, which has no coursework).

The ranking in order and comparing to previous years makes a lot of sense too.

I trust his teachers to get this right. I know how busy teachers are going to be with all this and I also believe the right checks and balances are in place to stop a school saying everyone was on track for an A*.

It's very tough for our young people, especially for those who are planning on Uni places on the basis of these results.

The advice is totally as expected -teacher grades will be issued based on expectations if they had sat exams, then the boards will put that data into a formula along with the rank order, student prior performance and historical school attainment to deliver annoverall grade.

It is the best that can happen now. It is good that schools are not totally responsible - what they submit might not be final grade once student prior attainment and school preformance and establishing similar attainment to previous years are considered. It is good that students should not ask and schools not reveal what is input.

It is good that students are clear that they do not need to submit further work or try to continue to prove themselves. It is now out of their hands (like after exams) and they just have to wait and see.

Did anyone hear More Or Less on Radio 4 abiut predicted A Level grades this week? It mentioned that 75% of UCAS prediction grades are over-predictions. This year too, many students won't be awarded their UCAS predictions because they are overly generous. Usually those students are a bit disappointed but know it was based on their exam. This year they might feel a bit cheated, even though many wouldn't have actually got those grades anyway. However, the option to challenge via an Autumn exam remains, which is good.

Remember too that even very good Unis often take students with less than their UCAS offer when it comes to results day. The same will be the case this year too.

Hope students feel reassured that they do t have to keep producing A Level work and can start to look forward a bit now.

Phew! Not out of the woods but DD is very good at some subjects and far worse at others (probably like most I guess).

It's going to be really hard for the Y11s to work out whether or not to re-sit as they won't have revised or done the exams and are likely only to have a handful of weeks to decide and resit. Perhaps if resits would be "upwards-only" but otherwise it's going to be a real gamble.