GCSE summer 2020 thread 6 - Carry on Corona Cohort, Further adventures aboard the Corona Charabanc.

@Alsoplayspiccolo are there other state school options you could have in your back pocket?

Interesting stuff @sarahbeans @piggywaspushed Dd doing Eduqas Sociology...I wanted her to do RS as that was her 2nd fave at GCSE and no Sociology experience really. But she has always been interested in the subject and points out is a good compliment to Music ...she hopes to do an academic music degree. I feel a bit less worried about it now after reading your thoughts thanks !

@FoolsAssassin please don't worry we are all going through peaks and troughs at the moment really. Current pandemic doesn't help, nor does moving house !

I've resolved today to try and make 'hay whilst the sun shines' appreciate what we have in the here and now a bit..especially with talks of a second wave. Dd did not have to juggle anxiety and exams, my olive tree is doing well and am not commuting as much anymore.

Also really looking forward to starting 2litres of Blackberry Vodka at weekend! As in making not drinking

FoolsAssassin, you are not to blame for my wobble! It’s been a concern for me for a while, but I’d blocked it out until the Scottish results upset.
I know there’s nothing to be done about the results, but I guess I’m wondering whether we should have had a back-up plan for next steps; her school of choice had previously said they wouldn’t accept anything less than a 5 in maths, and they haven’t said anything since to suggest that they will be taking a more favourable approach in light of the situation.
We can’t afford for her to stay at her current school, and the local state school just isn’t an option.

I have a pretty strong idea of what her CAGs might be (ball park, all at what she needs, if not higher); it’s just the potential of algorithms and moderation that is causing me to have anxiety dreams!

Yes, there are quite big differences. AQA is the most popular because it is the biggest board and markets itself pretty aggressively. I have just introduced it to my school and spent ages choosing the board. Eduqas is the most approachable in terms of how they included the research topics and how they word exam questions (although OCR is even easier seeming). They essentially have nearly all the same core topics (family, education, stratification) but some have more emphasis on crime and youth (AQA) and OCR and Eduqas have slightly more options : so one has new technologies (OCR) and another has Global topics and Health (Eduqas). It's a shame they can't do all the topics really as they are all interesting.

I had originally planned to go with OCR but like working with Eduqas better. I never touch the media topics but AQA is the best for a school hat has media teachers who do sociology.

Thanks @OrangeCinnamon1

I will pass that on. Biology and Psychology are definites. It's just what to do for her third option... I will definitely tell her about the sociology.

@Piggywaspushed is the Eduqas course very different from the AQA one? I'm a non specialist teaching it (my first subject is RS, but there's no way she's taking that...) her thinking in doing the sociology was that I could help her, but I said I wasn't sure if there was too much overlap? Are the exam styles very different?

Hi @sarahbeans and welcome!

With regard to Uni choice she may want to look at the types of placements on offer.

Did she enjoy any of the Biomechanics modules of her gcse? Either psychology or sociology would be good according to my friends in the know (we've just started running Physio undergrad at my institution) there should be elements of both in the Btec...more coaching side with regard to Psycholgy. If she does go down the Btec route the sciences based one is preferred I gather.

I do Eduqas too!! Yay!

so much better than AQA

Thanks Piggy, Good advice. She's looking at Brookes because it's local and she already works as a sports coach (in the sport she used to compete in) and so she could continue her part time job.

The Sociology course is Eduqas. I teach AQA and there are two options either crime or international development. She'd look at the crime one.

Or it's a BTEC in Sport. Again, most units local to us accept it, except UWE. But she's not bothered about going there..

It's difficult making the decisions without having sat the exams. Ordinarily, I'd have said see how you perform in the exams, and that will give some idea. But without them, it makes subject choice so much harder. Eg, she did really well in year 10 PE, was definitely going to do that, had great grades etc... but then, the teacher changed for year 11, she didn't like the new teacher as much, struggled more, grades weren't as good etc. Impossible to know whether grades were better in year 10 because of the teacher or the work.... so cannot get an objective measurement of where she's at.

I think this is what we've found most difficult with not sitting GCSE exams.

I think we all need to start chanting that serenity prayer...

sarah , I teach sociology too!

I am not sure you need business to run a business!

Physio is phenomenally competitive and most physios seem to be sporty. I looked up a few physio courses at theuniguide.co.uk and the most common A Levels are maths, biology, PE and physics.

I'd imagine quite a lot have psychology/sociology too.

I'd say sociology is more directly useful, especially if her school does the Health option.

I think we can worry all we like now but nothing will change. DS hadn't put in his final push, is a high achieving student in a 'meh' school, he probably won't get what he would have got if he'd actually sat the exams having had a chance to solidify a few grades but he should do ok to move on. Annoying but there it is, I am trying (sometimes successfully) not to stress about it.

Dd said yesterday she will cry if she gets a 6! And she doesn’t want to cry because she wants it to be a happy day seeing all her friends!

She knows it’s ridiculous to cry over a 6 and we certainly won’t mind - and she knows too that it won’t matter in a few months... but so many of her friends will get straight 9s! Ah well, it’s a good life lesson for them all - life isn’t fair.

The 20th will come round in no time, we’ll all spend a few days dwelling on the results then it will all be about sixth form/college.

I remember a friend saying that her daughter felt a bit disillusioned after her GCSE results (all 8/9s) because once she started sixth form they were completely forgotten, it was back to the grindstone and she started to wonder what was the point. I think as a result she got a bit less stressed in sixth form - but is still sitting on an Oxbridge offer!

I know DD will be fine...but she's got her heart set on doing well in a couple of subjects and I just hope it comes through for her. Mocks etc would suggest it will, but the downgrading is a concern.

I am glad I found this thread because even though I can’t do anything about it, I feel less alone.

Deep down, I know it will all come out in the wash but this is my oldest child and I feel bad for her.

I am also worried that not having experienced a real exam, it may suddenly make them anxious when doing A-levels for real.

DS said he was excited about getting his results (had to check he wasn’t being sarcastic) but seems he is looking forward to it.

Not sure how he will do but I think should be OK. Am keeping my fingers crossed for that anyway

God this is awful.

I'm trying to tell myself that there are always kids who suffer from grade boundaries being super high and therefore don't get the grades they expected. Or have a bad day and do worse than expected. The problem with this is that it seems so much out of our hands and in the lap of a computer algorithm.

I'm suppose to get a blood pressure test...think a wait a couple of weeks!

It is possible but very unlikely that CAGs will move by 2, there were some in Scotland according the report, but very few, and GCSEs less likely to move 2 grades than A levels as they are bigger cohorts so more students would have to be moved to have a 2 grade effect.

Her other school may be offering a test is she is not awarded a 5 if the school predicted at least 5.

The schools should definitely not have ranked by set, there should be overlaps.

Ooh, just found this thread. Hope there's room for one more.

My eldest DD is year 11. I think her grades will be mediocre. She hadn't really worked for ever the past two years and had only really started getting her head into the game at February.

Her predicted grades were 6/7s, but at parents' evening a few of the teachers had said she was more than capable of getting 8s if she pulled her finger out, and a couple had said with the right paper, on the right day, she could get a 9. If she had sat the exams, I think she would have got mostly 7s, with a couple of 8s and a few 6s. However, based on CAGs, I think she'll get mostly 6s with a few 7s.

But I've told DD not to worry about them. She's off to 6th form College abs they are offering her a place based on her CAGs, so she's actually enrolling before her results are out.

She just needs to decide her subjects now. She wants to study physiotherapy at uni. Her main subjects are decided (Biology, psychology and Core Maths) but she has her last choice to make. She was going to do History but hasn't enjoyed the prep work. So is now thinking of Sociology or Business Studies instead. Not sure if she's only thinking of Sociology because I teach it, so she thinks I can help her with it... or what. Possibly Business because she might have her own practice when she's older. No idea if she'd enjoy it though!

The stress is ageing me though.

I wasn’t worried before, but I have started to stress recently.
DD needs a 5 in maths to be able to move school. Before mocks, and afterwards, she was consistently getting a 6s and sometimes 7s, but she got a 5/6 in the mocks (2 papers, both written by the HoD).
Additionally, she was in the bottom set maths group, not because she needed to be there, but because she asked to be because it was very small and meant she could ask for help when needed. In that group, it’s possible one or 2 may fail, and the others were due to sit the standard papers, whereas DD was entered for higher.

I’m worried that DD will be placed at the bottom of a grade ranking, just because she’s in the lower group. Or maybe she’ll be placed at the top of the ranking for that group (where the grades expected will be lower?)?
Is it possible for CAG to be moderated by 2 grades? If her CAG is 6, could she end up with a 4?

I am with Piggy on this - GCSEs will not be massively important to our lot as long as they are roughly right, good enough to progress to the next stage of their plan and they pass maths and english. They may not get quite what they would have got in a normal year, but it will be rare for subjects to be adjusted down from CAG by by more than 1 grade and on the whole the grades will be more generous than usual so there will be more winners than losers.

DS2 concerned that A levels will be his first external exams and seriously considering full set of AS levels for the proper exam experience (he is so much more mature than his big brother!).

I think it's worrying whatever situation you're in. Dd's friend at a comp was telling her that dd would be fine because 92% of grades are 7 plus at her school. But dd may be ranked in the bottom few in a couple of subjects, which she hadn't really focused so much on (e.g.Maths - never revised!) and now thinks she may be one of the obligatory few 5s or 6s, when she was pretty sure she'd get at least a 7 with decent revision and she got 7s in the mocks.

I know she does have a certain advantage in being at a high achieving school - but I think that advantage would have played out anyway in a normal year as the school's results are remarkably consistent year on year.

Of course, every year at any school there are students who underperform in exams. I remember the English teacher telling us that they request the exam papers of any 6s because they wouldn't anticipate getting any 6s, and usually it's because they students haven't written enough. The difficult thing this year is they're having to decide who would end up in that position, where in reality all the girls at this particular school should get at least a 7 if it were based on ability and consistent performance.

Genuinely, I don't know. I think it is best just to focus on he 'they are only GCSEs' mindset.

I have my own question, being a high performing subject in a 'meh' school! I don't know if Ofqual really looked at that kind of data. No one seems to know really....

It is what it is. I keep telling myself , otherwise the lack of control feels crippling.

Do you think it’s better to be a high performing student in an average school so you get ranked high, or a low performing student in a very good school so you are ranked bottom?

I am probably over analysing because I am anxious.