Y11 2023/24 thread 5 - results!

DS 16 only passed English language.
got a u for maths. We expected a low grade for maths as he absolutely despises it and struggles massively. Me and DP don’t believe kids on the spectrum or various other SEN students, should have to sit exams if they don’t want to, if he was graded on his portfolios he’d have got 5/6’s across the board. it’s massively stressful environment for them, as it is for other students. DS walked out of 2 of his exams as he got very overwhelmed and stressed. His life is routine and every single exam started late, which then meant they finished late. he said the exam invigilators kept talking too much. He was very anxious, very overwhelmed. We are proud of him no matter what, for a while we didn’t even think he was going to sit any exams as he was so stressed. we know what he is capable of, he could school me on many topics, just because kids don’t pass from a range of topics they’ve been told they have to learn, the are more than thier grades, they don’t show who you are. DS can tell you everything about abandoned places, natural disaster, the titanic, the history of alton towers, the reign of hitler. He can show you how to fix computers, he can produce algorithms, he has an appetite for creative media, when based only on his work he did on his own time, the course leader was so impressed, the college gave him a place straight away. I know he will never work in a customer focused job, any job he gets will have to be either in an office with very few people or from home because he hates strangers. Or talking to people in general.
these kids get told GCSEs are so important and the pressure put on them is immense. This years year 11 were year 7 when covid it, they missed out on 8 months of education, the basics of high school. The stuff you learn to set you up for the GCSEs.

That's mind boggling. Potentially thousands of pounds.

How do reviews work? DD two marks off a grade for English Lit and teacher mentioned it. She still got a good mark though so not sure if it is worth it. Could the mark go down as well as up? And then you have to accept the lower mark?

Yes it can and there's no grade protection.

Does the review see the paper marked again from scratch or does a new marker review the original marker's marks? (Clumsily phrased but hopefully you get what I mean!)

The reviewer checks the original marking to make sure it's reasonable. That's an OFQUAL term, incidentally. Reviews have to follow OFQUAL rules. We're not looking for extra marks.

It isn't unless it's a clerical error - like a section being missed

How do reviews work? DD two marks off a grade for English Lit and teacher mentioned it. She still got a good mark though so not sure if it is worth it. Could the mark go down as well as up? And then you have to accept the lower mark? Does the review see the paper marked again from scratch or does a new marker review the original marker's marks? (Clumsily phrased but hopefully you get what I mean!)

DD happy and got what she needed. Well done to all the young people of folk on this thread - whether they got a string of 9s or hard-fought for 4s.

I thought the review was no longer looking for missed marks?

DD's school is the same (and they really don't have any money!). I think it's all papers where the grade is 2 marks from the boundary automatically get sent for review. School pays.

It is really strange. I'm not putting my DD down, but her and I know where her abilities lie.

In all mocks the best result she got was a high three, a five is dream level for us. There is no way she is at the same level as her friends that consistently got 8/9s in mocks.

Sorry I meant Eng Lit for DS but language also bad among friends.

@Love2dance8 yes I remember hearing about unexpected poor results last year although not specifically within DSs school. Dropping from a 9 to a 5 or 6 is a huge change which definitely feels like something odd has happened.

Just read this and messaged above. It happened last year too.

This happened last year as I remember on last year's Yr 11 thread. The children who were predicted 9s got much lower than expected and the kids predicted low got better. For example my ds was predicted a 4 but got a 7.

Just catching up this evening and see the comments about AQA English. DS’s worst mark is a 6 for Eng Lang AQA was predicted a 9. Most of his close friends also 5s and 6s with 9s predicted (grammar school and a very bright group of friends with all 9s and 8s otherwise). I don’t think the school has seen such a low set of grades for this subject ever. Nothing new in the exam that the teachers don’t know how to teach. Very, very odd.

School is backing up three reviews of marking for DS - they are 3 or 2 marks below boundary. In English I would say remarks are worth it. I've heard of people who got improved grades in English through remarks. Having said that we got 2 papers remarked in the past for DD and they didn't yield any improvement. Good luck everyone.

It won't fit: there are too many sets of data.

When i said the school did it, I meant the school had already flagged that it was worth sending for review for the clerical error one, the one away and the three away. He still had to fill out and sign the pink forms, which they helped him with. And I still have to pay for the review for the 2 v close ones (not the clerical error one), to be refunded if they go up (£78 per subject).

2018 rings a bell

They can't do anything without his express permission. If he's not done a form for English, they can't do anything.

fingers crossed x

It’s just an admin issue - ask the school as they will be able to tell you x

Do you know when they introduced reviews as opposed to remarks?

Thank you, do you know why they don't put the mark for English Language?

Just trying to understand the results slip.

There is a score for every other subject. I'm looking at how close ds was to the higher/lower grade out of interest/for A level purposes.

DS said the school actively encouraged him to fill out a form because he was one mark off on his Chem exam. We are hoping they will look at English Lang again due to this. But my source is a harried 16 year old boy so please take it with a grain of salt!

DS did AQA language and literature. He got the grades he expected based on his mocks.

He didn't get a mark in language, just the letter for the speaking element taken in year 9.

Merit. For the spoken.

Does anyone know what M means for AQA English? There was no mark equivalent on the results slip however under 'End1' there was an M.

Also, ds was 1 mark off an 8 for history and 3 marks off a 7 for English Lit. Has anyone ever heard of schools getting the papers re-checked or anything like that?