Teacher Accessed Grades - what a joke

It's awful isn't it.
Different schools doing different things.
Children don't know what they are being tested on and when. So how can they revise efficiently?
Teachers taking on the extra work of possibly arranging the assessments and having to mark them.
Grade boundaries which are normally spread across the whole country - who even knows what's happening with them now!
Little motivation here too after staring at a screen for months.

I have a year 11 and year 13 and honestly don't know whose got it worse.
My poor Year 13 will have done most of his A level study remotely over the whole two years. Still not back in full time and unlikely to be now.
My year 11 has only been in school for about ten weeks in the whole of the last twelve months due to lockdown and self isolations. He has seven class tests next week.
Still not finished the syllabus for subjects he's chosen for A level.
Bonkers.

Our school are doing 2 rounds of testing for y13. Dd has exams this week and another set after the Easter holidays.

Scary that they aren't considering next summer's exams too.

I had a DS in year 11 last year who had an extended holiday on X Box peppered with a tiny bit of an EPQ project work, knowing full well his sixth form place was secure etc etc.

I also have a DD in this year 11 and their is absolutely no comparison she has now had 12 months of worry, rubbish online provision, rushed lessons and the worry and stress are still ongoing.

Agree total shambles
The lack of clarity is astounding It was obvious from last September that exams were not going to take place. I really don’t know why this incompetent government left it to the very last minute to cancel exams
My year 11 son missed out on much of last year because of lockdown and numerous self isolation periods .
The school haven’t told us how they are going to assess the students
My ds has little motivation

I would also argue this year is horrible. Last year, everything just stopped. No exams. No more work. But they had covered the content. They went home and dealt with the stress of what was to come on results day.

This year they have missed content. Exams on, exams off, exams on again. Constantly tested since September with the understanding that every bit of work they do may count, whether they're prepared enough or not. And with the disparity going on in schools - even between classes - results days is going to be yet another shambles.

Good grief, this year is so much worse!

Last year, dd, y13. Did almost the whole course normally, then school closed shortly before they'd have started revision at Easter. Exams cancelled and grades will be awarded by teachers somehow - but the kids don't have to do anything other than put it out of their minds and go get a job to occupy themselves for 6 months. Results week is a farce.

This year, ds1, y11. What with the curriculum being suspended last year and a load of SI fortnights and another lockdown, he's missed half the teaching time for his entire GCSE course. He hasn't had any extra revision sessions at school cos they're still finishing the content. He knows he's got to sit exams but has no idea when, how long, where, or what will be included. He has had no experience of exams. He's heading into this exams period at absolute rock bottom, exhausted, demotivated, utterly bored. And yeah, I expect Results Day to be a farce, again.

It wasn't a competition. DD sat some GCSEs early in Nov last year, so has had two lots of this. Although tbf whilst stressful at the time, she is now glad of getting to actually sit those exams. Sitting the exam, despite missing so much lesson time was far better than what they have to do this time.

I don't want to play top trumps about who has it worse either. It's shit for this year's exam students. But it was also shit for last year's exam students and they have just had to get through it. Stressing about it does not help anyone (which was meant to be the point of my original post).
And remember that some of last year's exam students are also this year's exam students (do they win the "who has it worst" poll?)

Sorry about the typos. Stupid Swipey keyboard on my phone.that should say I don't want to play top trumps about who has had it worse.

That is not the case. Our children will be sitting exams. The information about what will count and what evidence will be needed has still not yet been released to schools and colleges. The uncertainty, has gone on since exams were canceled at the beginning of this year. There won't be study leave. Different teachers, even in the same schools are telling kids different things from day to day, because they are having to keep the students working, and just hope they are making the right decisions for their Sydenham until they know otherwise. The level of stress has been huge, since new year, and continues. Please don't think students are being gifted their grades on the basis of past work. They are being tested and don't yet know what on.

But they don't know and they've had far less teaching than the previous years yr11s.

They know it will be teacher assessed based on work they have covered.
Previous year 11s didn't even know this time last year whether they would have exams or not!

remind your children that at least they know the basis on which they will be assessed now, whereas their year older counterparts didn't know right until the last minute

But they don't know and they've had far less teaching than the previous years yr11s.

Ds2 (yr 13) has just told me he has two weeks of exams from Monday -teachers were told today.

Just crossing fingers that he does ok and they take last Nov mocks into account - he got his predicted then which is what he needs (and this all that matters really).

What a mess though. Public exams, while very much not favouring some students (inc two of my dc) at least have clarity, rigour and consistency.

Another one with a studious and organised DD, reduced to a stressed, tearful mess thanks to the disparity in schools.

She is part of a joint 6th form - two schools under the same name. One teacher has gone through the paper with the students, given them a comprehensive list of what's on each paper. DD's class has been given a vague, much shorter list of topics which in reality has meant she's revised everything to be on the safe side.

Both schools are going to have all results pooled and compared to give grade boundaries. Which class is going to fair better I wonder?!

Absolutely sick of this shit show year already.

(That is not how it feels here in my household. If my DD gets the grades she needs, it feels like they will be more hard won than if she'd just taken the exams as normal.

I think that's the problem. There is no way to distinguish between the students who got lucky with teacher assessed grades that are flattering, and ones that have had a tough year and jumped through a zillion hoops to get potentially lower grades than they might have done in an exam.

That is not how it feels here in my household. If my DD gets the grades she needs, it feels like they will be more hard won than if she'd just taken the exams as normal.

Hang on a minute. I sat through a departmental meeting last night where we looked at the evidence we already had (mock done under strict exam conditions, performances recorded under exam conditions, compositions mostly completed etc.) We will apparently be using these mini exam things.

However, the information has not yet been released to schools from OfQual. It won't be released until 31st March, the day before we finish for Easter. So I don't know how schools can be so certain of what they are doing until we get the information.

We are telling all our students it's business as usual. We have completed all the content for GCSE/A level examined components. They know they won't be performing to a visiting examiner and their performances are shorter, as are their compositions, but they also know that they need to keep pushing on so that the evidence we collect and use shows them at their very best.

Stumbled upon this thread. I have a DS who was involved in the exams debacle last year, so was hoping to read that things were much better this time round. Sad to hear that it sounds like, once again, it will be a case of each school doing its own thing with no standardisation across the piece.

DS went to a school that internally moderated, so his results are not only lower than they might have been, but everyone assumes they must be inflated because many other schools gave more aspirational grades. So they've been doubly devalued.

My advice to those going through it this year is that you just have to accept that this is not remotely fair, and to concentrate on moving your child to their next step, whatever that might be. If it helps (in a sort of negative way that other people had it worse), remind your children that at least they know the basis on which they will be assessed now, whereas their year older counterparts didn't know right until the last minute.

Dd's 3 a-level subjects each seem to be doing something different. She is so stressed and demotivated. Heaven knows what her results will be like...pre pandemic she was on course for A* A A but I suspect it's looking more like ABC, so sad and unfortunate. Just hope the universities are feeling generous!

DD is still being taught, they've no where near finished the courses in some subjects. The amount of homework is insane and the online provision has been dreadful.

DD v stressed this morning thinks her exams are the end of March sat in class most last 45 minutes but thinks photography is a 7 hour paper. How can they sit replacement GCSE’s early when they have missed so much schooling etc. Its shambolic.

She has three weeks to sit them with no knowledge of content"

What makes you think she won't know what she's being examined on?

Well if it is anything like the GCSE mini exams the school will not get the papers until the day the students break up for Easter and the exams are the week after they go back! Absolute madness!