AS level physics results Thursday

[welshmist]

not sure where to put this, or how many schools still do AS exams. Did anyone do well in physics? We were shocked at the results for the class on Thursday.

Um guess you all did well then...

You can see national results here:

www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/a-levels/2018/main-results-tables/a-level-and-as-results-summer-2018

We had poor AS results across all three sciences at my school but we only entered a very small handful of students

bookbrain you are a star will go look now. Friends child who is brilliant 11 A* at GCSE got a d and an e. Son a c and a d.

eek I do not understand it. Cumulative percentages what does that mean?

So if 3% get A*, 10% get A and 15% get B, the cumulative percentages are:

A* 3%
A 13% (10 + 3) = percentage with A or above
B 28% (15 + 10 + 3) = percentage with B or above

OK did not understand the above, sorry. Here is what I found.

Our school doesn't do AS in the sciences so cannot compare your DS' school's results to ours.

Friend's child who is brilliant 11 A at GCSE got a d and an e.*

A Levels are hard. A big step up from GCSE, even from A* candidates. Also, many students don't revise as rigorously in Y12 as they did in Y11, bearing in mind that for GCSE they - particularly candidates wanting to do well - would probably have undertaken some revision for end of Y10 internal exams., (at least one round of) mocks in Y11, and then the real GCSEs, which overall is a great deal of revision.

There are only two in the class. Son and girl. They also did a weeks course at xmas and a weeks course at Easter with the upper sixth which we paid for as an extra. I know the girl works her socks off, my son not so much. They were IGCE board exams.

Welshmist is your spreadsheet for A Level grades or AS?

AS results. Locked out

My son did AS Physics and got a B. He said the exam was hard.

son got a c and a d. The other pupil a d and an e. Son thought the second paper hard.

So this year 5.4% of AS Levels taken in Wales were in Physics.

25.3% of those students achieved an A grade, very slightly up on last year's % of 25.1% A grades.

41.3% achieved an A or a B. Therefore 16% achieved a B grade this year.
(Last year's figure was slightly higher at 42.6%).

59.3% achieved an A, B or C. Therefore 18% achieved a C grade.
(Up on last year's 58.5%).

74.3% achieved an A, B, C, or D. Therefore 15% achieved a D grade.

87.1% achieved A to E grades inclusive, meaning that 6.8% achieved an E.

The remaining 12.9% failed the AS this year (fewer than last year's 15.9%).

Incidentally, the 25.3% of A grades for AS Physics is considerably higher this year than the 18.4% for Political Sciences and 15.2% for Psychology.

Hope this helps, OP.

Locked out that is great, many thanks.

Does the fact that they sat WJEC make any difference I wonder.

You could look online for the % of A, B, C, etc. grades awarded by the other exam. boards such as EdExcel.

However, the JCQ (joint council for qualifications) ensures that qualifications from each exam. board are equal for students studying the subject, so there should not be any difference.

EdExcel Physics AS results 2018:

15.1% A (WJEC was 25.3)
28.9% A and B (WJEC was 41.3)
47.4% A, B and C grades (WJEC was 59.3)
67.0% A, B, C and D (WJEC was 74.3)
82.1% A to E grades inclusive (WJEC was 87.1)

17.9% failed the EdExcel AS Level Physics this year.

So yes WJEC makes a difference - students taking the WJEC exams. are more likely to achieve a higher grade.

more likely to get a higher grade

Not the news they were expecting I guess

Worth remembering that WJEC (Wales only) AS levels aren’t decoupled from A-level so the profile of the cohort sitting them will be different to England - every Physics student will take them, whereas in England it will only be certain schools or certain students which may be weighted towards students less likely to continue to A-level, explaining the better Welsh results.

Unfortunately this doesn’t help the OP as not only has their DC done badly, but it will also count towards 40% of their final A-level grade.

OP you/your DC will need to talk to the school about progression to A-level and what preparation will be given for resits.

Yes, noblegiraffe makes an important point.

Just spoken to the other Mum, the upper sixth did badly as well. wtf is going on. The school employed a new teacher head of department over the incumbent teacher who is brilliant. I would like to know a little more of his background. I do know he came from a struggling school in a very challenging area re: poverty, drugs, unemployment. I wonder if that has a bearing on it? A friend did part of her pgce at this school, it was heartbreaking they were hungry, unwashed and neglected.

Meeting with school today, wish me luck. We should know more after this.