How much do grades typically improve between mocks and GCSEs?

Completely disagree. My daughter got all 5s in her sciences at GCSE and took all science subjects at A level and is doing really well. How to demotivate a child by saying if you're not good enough at 15 then just give up!! Hard work pays off, some kids just need a few more years for their brains to advance to a level to absorb complex information. Thankfully my daughter wasn't listening to your advice.

It also works the other way too - so if you want to do maths, physics and french but are predicted 5,5,6 the school say yes to french but ask you to change maths and physics to other subjects. But if you then get amazing grades in maths and physics they may well let you change your subjects back.

A lot of the places we've been to want grade 8 in GCSE Maths to do A level and grade 9 if you want to do further maths as well. Seems to be a mixture of oversubscription (lots of applications for maths) and how much more difficult A Level maths is compared to GCSE.

My son got all 2s in mocks.
This caused a lecture from me.
We created a structured revision timetable.
I printed past exam papers.
Grades went to 2x 4s, the rest were 5s and 6s.

Sixth forms do not admit or reject based on predicted grades.

The process is that he applies for sixth forms. They decide whether they want to make him an offer based on predicted grades and an interview.

So sixth form A might offer eg three 7s and five 5s.
Sixth form B might offer eg all 5 or above with a 8 in the subjects he wants to do.

If he then gets the grades for the offers he is in.

DS has applied to 6 - 4 schools and 2 colleges and the closing dates have ranged from mid-November to February half term.

We've found that they have asked for predicted grades, not mock grades. DS' report gave both. He has his first interview in two weeks time. They have asked him to bring his latest report with him.

In terms of grades most of the predictions are one grade higher, except in one subject where he had a complete nightmare and is predicted two grades higher as the teacher thinks the mock result was just him having a really bad day!

I keep talking to ds2 who has only just started year 10 about this, and he just doesn't seem to 'get it'.

Schools accept or reject students based on their actual GCSE grades. I have never heard of a school rejecting someone outright in advance of their GCSEs – unless maybe it was clear that A levels would not be a good fit for them.

If your lad is hoping for 6s and 7s in his chosen A level subjects, then that’s all good. It’s not like uni where there is a limited number of places. I mean, there are limits but I never heard of anyone not getting in to a regular (so not super competitive) sixth form based off predicted grades.

Both my DC that did sixth form had places at two schools offered. But it wasn;t an issue Honestly.

I don’t know about very competitive sixth forms but I gather they exist – but if your son is ay a regular comp then they will be offer him a place based on what you say here. If he doesn’t do well enough in the actual exams then it may be a different ,atter.

Couple of examples:
DS mate 1: got grades needed in most subjects but a 5 in one chosen for A level; they suggested he did another subject where he got a 7; he said no, they admitted him.
DS mate 2: did worse than hoped in his GCSEs (like, 2s and 3) – had had a place at sixth form but was turned down and went to college to retake (which ended well btw).

My point is that the actual decision is made on results day, and until that point most people will get an offer. It’s not like getting an offer to study economics at LSE or sports science at Lboro.

Can your DC get private tutoring or go to revision classes on one of the holidays? I remember going to a "fun" week of camp for those of us struggling with a subject. Between that, my tutor, and actually studying I went from a C to an A.

Not all sixth forms have closed applications yet - mine is the end of Jan. larger sixth form colleges will accept applications throughout the year, and different for an EHCP anyway as consultation process also has to happen

Sixth forms usually give offers of places based on predicted grades - but actual enrolment in summer will depend on their final results.

Secondary school teacher here.
We usually bank on students making about a whole grade of progress from mocks to summer exams - but that’s an average. Some make more progress, some make less. For predicted grades we take into account how representative the mock grades are compared to previous assessments, and how much of the course was examined in the mocks. For subjects like Art, Music etc, coursework is also considered.

DS was a bit of a mixture. He went up a grade in 4 subjects, up 2 grades in 3 subjects and stayed the same in 1 subject. But he also went down in 2 subjects. It's hard to predict.

HRTFT but DD's sixth form wanted at least a 7, preferably an 8 to study sciences and maths at sixth form.
She achieved the predicted grades in those favoured subjects (8s) but went from a 7 to an 8 in English and French and from a 7 to a 9 in history so two grades is definitely possible.

My experience is that most students will improve a grade between mocks and real exams if they do the work in class, attend revision sessions and do some independent revision.

Some students have bigger jumps but that's usually in situations where:

• they've done an exceptional change in attitude and effort
• they've had an excellent attitude to learning throughout year 10/11 and they continue to pull all the stops out
• something went unusually wrong in the mock exam (eg answered the wrong question, missed some pages stuck together)
• they were unwell or had something outside of school going on that affected their mocks so the mocks weren't really a fair reflection (eg family bereavement, mental health crisis, illness, time off for surgery)

I did say if that is all he achieves in the real things (a)cross the board

So it does all rather depend on whether or not your DS works or not.

(ps I take note re Higher going from a 4 straight to a U without the grade 3.)

One of mine was OK at maths, the next one struggled. The 2nd one did the foundation paper and they both came out with a 5.

I need to add that if you obtain a grade 5, it does not say anywhere on the GCSE certificates whether your dc took the Higher or Foundation paper, it will simply say GCSE (Names of subject) 5.

This is incorrect. The lowest grade you can receive on a Higher Paper is a grade 4 for single Sciences and anything below this would be unclassified i.e. U. In combined science you can obtain a 4,3.
The grade 3 was a temporary measure when the 9-1 courses were introduced and has now been discontinued.
Most dcs do improve by 1-2 grades between mocks and the actual exams. But there are some who do not improve and some who will do worse in the real exams. Anything more than 2 grades is unusual, but not impossible.