Will DD likely be penalised for this

[curiousitygotthebetterofme]

DD(15) sat a GCSE exam yesterday, which she prepared so well and worked hard for.

She is aware of all the exam hall rules including that you can’t bring mobile phones in with you.

Yesterday, she had her phone with her but forgot to leave it at the school reception until after the exam was finished.

She was not using her mobile phone during the exam nor did she attempt to. The phone was also switched off.

It was in her pocket and it fell out onto the floor and invigilator seen it happen.

Her head of year rang me yesterday to inform
that they are obliged to report it to the exam board and that they could very well take marks off her or disqualify her.

I feel sorry for DD as she worked so hard for these exams and she has been quite distressed over it all and the possibility of being penalised. It just slipped her mind but she knows to be more aware for future exams.

I get that exam boards have to follow procedures, but surely the fact she wasn't actually using the phone will work in her favour?

No, it's a ridiculous rule that a switched off phone on the floor would earn discredit.

When did we move into a black and white world?

They are if a student sits GCSEs as all boards who provide GCSEs are bound by JCQ, scottish highers may be different (SQA), but none took place last Thursday.

Yeah, I made it up for the laugh.

I struggle with grown women piling on to a stressed out, anxious teenager.

Considering the teenager in question isn't on MN, I really wouldn't bother worrying about it if I were you!

No one is doing that, just pointing out the seriousness of it which is completely irrespective of whether the phone was on/off or used/unused which has become a sidetrack. OP asked as the seriousness and it's very serious, the debate about intent is sadly irrelevant.

I think people have been honest and direct, @minutesturntohours - and again, as the child in question is not on this thread, nothing said here - either supportive or ‘battering’ can have any effect on her.

People have done their best to give @curiousitygotthebetterofme the best information they have about what the outcome might be for her dd, and I believe people have been supportive. But they had to be honest about how bad this might be for her dd, because it would do her no favours if we all said that there will be no consequences for this mistake.

@Simonjt I didn't realise you could sit GCSEs in Scotland, I thought it is a completely different system. 😳 I had a right panic a few years ago when I almost had a new student moving from Scotland and was told they would need to sit their exams with us!

The invigilator saw a switched off phone on the floor.
A minute earlier it could have been a switched on phone she was looking at.
I would imagine it's pretty easy to put a phone in your blazer pocket. Put your hand on your blazerpocket and push it up your sleeve, switch it on though the sleeve , bend over your paper and look up your sleeve at the cheatsheets on your phone
Also remember students have calculators in exams, from 30 metres away an invigilator couldnt tell the difference

I hope you've enjoyed battering an already stressed out teenager. Again I ask - would you accept this vitriol towards your own child?

Why are you so invested?

You’re the one that’s so invested. Just look at your posts! Shocking.

Please quote me where I have “battered” a stressed out teenager.

You can flick back a few pages where you will see my initial comment, towards the OP stating I hope her daughters ok and she should sit the remaining of her exams and try her best.

My point is that actions have consequences. Rule breaks have consequences.

If a teenager can’t accept that, then there’s a lot of growing up to do.

I don’t know if you can, I just know from the book I was given as a private candidate that no matter the country any centre holding GCSEs must follow both JCQ and examboard specific regs.

No, it's a ridiculous rule that a switched off phone on the floor would earn discredit.When did we move into a black and white world?

when it comes to fairness in exams? you can't imagine a situation where someone gets the opportunity to use their phone and then turn it off and for it to be discovered after it was turned off?

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This is the SQA guidance on prohibited items for this year’s exams:

Prohibited items are things that you must not have with you at your allocated seat or desk in the exam room, unless they have been approved by us as part of an assessment arrangement for the exam you are sitting.
Prohibited items include the following:

Electronic devices such as iPods, tablets, earpods, smartwatches or any other device that stores information or can connect to the internet

Mobile phones

Extra information

– books, sketches or paper, and anything written on your clothes or body

Pencil cases or calculator cases

Calculators, except for exam papers where calculators are allowed

Dictionaries, except for exam papers where dictionaries are allowed

Notes, except for exam papers where notes are allowed

Before you go to your seat in the exam room, check your bags and pockets carefully to make sure you do not have any of these things with you. You must not take any prohibited item to your seat — plan ahead and leave them in a safe place.

When specific items are allowed in an exam, you must make sure that they meet SQA regulations. Your teacher will be able to give you more information. You must make sure that the items do not give you access to information that you are not allowed to have in the exam.

This clearly mentions smart watches, phones and other electronic devices. According to ds2, who is a teacher in Scotland, analogue watches - the non electronic kind - are allowed in exams.

They’re quite good at imagining things!

I hope you've enjoyed battering an already stressed out teenager. Again I ask - would you accept this vitriol towards your own child?

Well firstly, the teenager isn't reading. However on the whole posters have been reasonably compassionate whilst also being honest about the likely outcome.

What would be incredibly unhelpful to the teen in question right now would be to undermine the rule in question. It matters not one jot if anyone thinks that the rule is ridiculous or stupid. The rule exists and it applies to every candidate sitting a public examination.

Hi all,

I’ve read most of the responses on here but not all as there are too many.

I misunderstood what DD told me but I have since clarified it with her, she was to leave the phone in the car with DH and she switched it off before she arrived at the school gates on the morning of the exam.

She thought she had left it in the car, but hadn’t actually it turned out.

she was not thinking about the phone as she was nervous about the exam and distracted and that’s how it ended up in the exam hall with her.

the trousers she was wearing do have shallow pockets, she moved the wrong way and out fell the phone onto the floor and it made a noise when it hit the wooden floor so the invigilator seen. At that point she realised she hadn’t left her phone in the car but it was obviously too late.

She is absolutely devastated at the impact this could have on her future. Yes, she should have been more careful, but mistakes do happen.

I know my DD and I know she wouldn’t cheat but yes, she does need to just keep her head down and get on with the rest of her exams

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius virtually the same rules for Scottish public exams then, except the analogue watch.
@Simonjt I'm sure the start time is the same too wherever you sit a GCSE so 9 am UK time even if you sit it on the other side of the world. That's why I hate iGCSEs they have a few different core time rules due to being used all over the world.

@curiousitygotthebetterofme
hope your DD is ok what was she planning to do after gcses ?

@curiousitygotthebetterofme please tell your DD she won't be the only student this year to forget a phone in her pocket despite all the rules and even if losing the marks for that exam/subject affect her next year's choices it's not the end of the world, although it might feel like it, there are always other pathways into where ever she wants to go.
I really wish her all the best and fingers crossed she can do her best in the rest of her exams.

I think WJEC have a window within which exams must start. Some of my DD's GCSEs have started at 0830 and some at 0845.

Also yes - she is definitely not the only one going through this. A phone rang during one of DD's exams in the first week. It was in a bag at the back of the hall so not actually in the possession of the student, but they are still expecting to be DQ'd from that paper.

Thanks everyone.

she wants to go on to do her A levels after her GCSEs finish next summer and then go to university to do geography.

This has really hit her confidence levels. This was her first year of GCSE and these exams are the first ever official exams she’s sat so I think she is feeling very upset and annoyed at herself.

she actually told me today she feels she’ll now
end up with no job and will be homeless when she’s older, I reassured her that that won’t ever happen.

I told her to go for a nice long walk and get a coffee and bun at the local cafe

I don’t know if it is the same nowadays but there used to be a regulation that you couldn’t leave the exam hall during the first half an hour , this was so someone with an earlier start couldn’t tip someone with a later start any of the questions. Though how much revision you can cram into fifteen minutes is a moot point!

Everyone makes mistakes - she won't be the first or the last.
She needs to try to forget it and move on. If she's only in year 10, she has at least one more opportunity to sit the exams if she is, as we suspect, disqualified from the paper concerned.

So she's only in Y10? How many other GCSEs is she doing this year? Presumably she can re-take this exam next year?

@titchy there were exams in Scotland this week - Nat 5's finished on the 31st. Highers timetable similar. I know kids that sat exams on Monday and Tuesday.