Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

dd given a past paper to do at home under exam conditions - what would you do?

134 replies

LetterOfTheLawFella · 23/01/2021 20:53

dd was meant to be taking her gcses this year but obviously things have changed. She's been struggling with French and got a 3 in the mini mock she did before Christmas. This was the higher level. We talked about maybe doing the foundation paper instead and it looks like her teacher is thinking the same as he's sent an email asking parents to supervise her doing a foundation level past paper under exam conditions. 45 minutes and no external support. He's confirmed this will be used as part of the teacher assessment.

Would you help your child in this situation?

OP posts:
beelola · 23/01/2021 21:34

The teacher will absolutely know if she cheats. You haven't been in the lessons to know how things have been taught so will almost certainly have different knowledge than your DD. Plus it shows really crappy morals and isn't actually helpful long term.

OppsUpsSide · 23/01/2021 21:34

Can you imagine having the GCSE’s your mum ‘earnt’ you? I’d never undermine DD like that.

WTAFIhavelosttheferret · 23/01/2021 21:33

WFF is the mumsnet advert on this thread- but as a post rather than an advert box

Access a Mumsnet exclusive GCSE survival revision bundle from Your Favourite Teacher

Please dont- you do not need to do this at all. I can't see any declaration that it is a paid advert.

Shocking- no-one needs this- it is all freely available via. achool or online.

bravefox · 23/01/2021 21:31

He's confirmed this will be used as part of the teacher assessment.

I wouldn't spend too long worrying about this @LetterOfTheLawFella . Ofqual haven't finalized how teacher assessment is going to work and their circulated proposal is to use data from assessments students will do in May and June.

Lucieintheskye · 23/01/2021 21:29

OP how much of a control freak are you that you can't even let your daughter do a test by herself in case she makes mistakes? Fucking hell let her live if she gets a bad mark no one will die!

ktp100 · 23/01/2021 21:28

@LetterOfTheLawFella

What about this scenario - dd does the paper in the right conditions and you see she has made some silly errors. Would you say/do anything?
No.

A mock test is a leveller of where they are currently. They need to know this so they can put measures into place to make improvements.

StepOutOfLine · 23/01/2021 21:28

@LetterOfTheLawFella

If the teacher wanted to ensure strict exam conditions why wouldn't they have got the students to do the paper during a video lesson. It feels like an opportunity for some parents to help.
Because unscrupulous amoral parents would help them during that kind of test too.
ilovesooty · 23/01/2021 21:28

@LetterOfTheLawFella

If the teacher wanted to ensure strict exam conditions why wouldn't they have got the students to do the paper during a video lesson. It feels like an opportunity for some parents to help.
Only if the parents are all like you. Hopefully most of them don't condone cheating.
PenguinLost · 23/01/2021 21:27

The teacher will know if she's cheated - they will know the level that she's currently working at, and what her strengths and weaknesses are. If her paper looks markedly different to her usual style then it will be obvious.

Is the risk really worth it? If centre assessed grades are used then it will just be one piece of evidence that goes to the overrall grade. What is the school's policy on cheating? Could she be expelled if it came to light?

She will find the foundation paper much easier to complete than the higher one as the most difficult questions will be at a 5 rather than 9 grade. Surely better to let her do it independently and to be proud of herself if she does better than expected - much better for her self-confidence.

You can, of course, help her with revision!

ktp100 · 23/01/2021 21:27

Absolutely not!!

If it says exam conditions it means exam conditions.

Don't help her to cheat. If she struggles it's a good sign she needs to revise more. Helping will just give her a false sense of security.

TheLetterZ · 23/01/2021 21:24

@LetterOfTheLawFella

What about this scenario - dd does the paper in the right conditions and you see she has made some silly errors. Would you say/do anything?
Submit silly mistakes and all. Then afterwards (probably the next day) go through it with her. Then correct those little mistakes.
Ohalrightthen · 23/01/2021 21:23

@LetterOfTheLawFella

If the teacher wanted to ensure strict exam conditions why wouldn't they have got the students to do the paper during a video lesson. It feels like an opportunity for some parents to help.
They probably assumed that most parents have a decent grasp of right and wrong, and don't want to encourage their children to lie and cheat?

Generally speaking, most people want their children to be honest. Not you, obviously, but most other people.

Doing an exam with your whole class on zoom would be incredibly distracting.

BornOnThe4thJuly · 23/01/2021 21:23

“Why does your DD deserve a grade she didn't earn herself, when the large majority of her classmates will be sitting the exam themselves? What makes it OK for her to cheat? Because she's had a hard year? So has everyone else. That doesn't entitle her to a 5 if she's only capable of a 3.”

I think they should all be getting better grades to be honest. They’ve not had the chance to learn properly, so I don’t see how they can decide grades based on exams like they usually would. My DC are much younger, maybe I’d feel differently if it came to it, I definitely don’t like the idea of teaching them it’s ok to cheat, as was pointed out by a PP. I do feel very, very sorry for the kids in exam years though.

Original poster
LetterOfTheLawFella · 23/01/2021 21:23

Why don't you suggest this to the teacher?

That's not a bad idea actually.

OP posts:
bourbonne · 23/01/2021 21:21

@LetterOfTheLawFella

If the teacher wanted to ensure strict exam conditions why wouldn't they have got the students to do the paper during a video lesson. It feels like an opportunity for some parents to help.
Why don't you suggest this to the teacher?
Original poster
LetterOfTheLawFella · 23/01/2021 21:20

If the teacher wanted to ensure strict exam conditions why wouldn't they have got the students to do the paper during a video lesson. It feels like an opportunity for some parents to help.

OP posts:
TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 23/01/2021 21:19

@LetterOfTheLawFella

What about this scenario - dd does the paper in the right conditions and you see she has made some silly errors. Would you say/do anything?
You really have no integrity at all, do you?
bourbonne · 23/01/2021 21:19

[quote sofiaaaaaa]@bourbonne presumably the answers are available online as past paper[/quote]
Ah right. Well then, why does she need Mummy/Daddy to do the googling for her?Honestly, if I had to choose between the two, I'd rather have the memory of cheating on an exam in secret than the memory of my own bloody mum or dad standing in the corner doing it for me!

Obviously I'd rather have neither memory and be able to look back on my grades and know that good or not-so-good, they were all mine.

Heyha · 23/01/2021 21:17

The only vaguely naughty thing I (as a teacher) would say would be ok here is that I would not make her stop exactly on the time limit if she was just finishing off a sentence or something. In the classroom it would be very much "pens down now please" but at home I wouldn't be too worried about saying "that's time up, just finish that little Q" if need be. Cheating helps nobody in the long run.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 23/01/2021 21:17

@LetterOfTheLawFella

all her peers who are not cheating

Do you really think all her peers won't have help? Are you all saying you wouldn't do everything you could to support your child to do the best they can?

But you're not supporting her to do the best she can, are you?

Stop trying to dress up the fact that you want to cheat your way to a good grade for her as something altruistic. You're not doing her any favours at all.

sofiaaaaaa · 23/01/2021 21:16

@bourbonne presumably the answers are available online as past paper

bourbonne · 23/01/2021 21:14

@LetterOfTheLawFella

What about this scenario - dd does the paper in the right conditions and you see she has made some silly errors. Would you say/do anything?
How good is your French?

If, like most people, you've used about three words since your own schooldays, what makes you think you'll be better than your DD?

Imagine if you "corrected" her and it turned out she was right!

Let her take ownership of her own exam. She's a young woman. It's not about you.

SleepingStandingUp · 23/01/2021 21:14

@LetterOfTheLawFella

What about this scenario - dd does the paper in the right conditions and you see she has made some silly errors. Would you say/do anything?
The right conditions do not include anyone looking over her answers and correcting them
SleepingStandingUp · 23/01/2021 21:12

@LetterOfTheLawFella

all her peers who are not cheating

Do you really think all her peers won't have help? Are you all saying you wouldn't do everything you could to support your child to do the best they can?

So your plan is to make sure she gets a good mark so her grade is inflated so she gets better GCSEs even though she presumably won't really need that grade for A Levels etc and even though she'll know every time she thinks about it that you cheated?
Ohalrightthen · 23/01/2021 21:12

@LetterOfTheLawFella

What about this scenario - dd does the paper in the right conditions and you see she has made some silly errors. Would you say/do anything?
No! What about "exam conditions" is so hard for you to understand?
Swipe left for the next trending thread