GCSE Math exam today

[HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend]

How did your child get on today?

DC sat paper 1 today (edexcel), came home and said he failed, he only answered 11 of the 17 questions and even then he was only confident he answered 3/4 of them accurately.

He said 4 of his classmates were crying, 1 had a full panic attack where he had to be removed and some just sat with their hands in their heads.

I can't find a GCSE support thread this year, hence me starting this post.

Mine did this paper today and found it difficult.
A couple of their friends were in tears in the exam hall, and from what the teens have told me, this is also the general consensus on TikTok (lots of teens sobbing dramatically into the camera complaining !)

@HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend sorry I am in scotland. does everyone sit different exams in england??? the whole of scotland sits exactly the same exam at exactly the same time. why are there so many different exam boards across england. how can you judge the results nationally if everyone sits different exams?

Mine did higher paper. Gets 7-9 usually. They said today's paper was harder than any of the loads of past papers they've done.

DD is top set maths at a grammar school and is on course for a 9

her view was that it was different to any of the past papers she had sat. Fewer questions (17 rather than 22/23 there normally are) but the same amount of marks. No 1-3 point questions to ease in right into 5/6 point questions. 2-3 on ratios (normally 1) and not many on shapes. Higher doesn’t normally use tracing paper and it could be answered without but was far easier with. Overall fine but different to expected

Mine was on cusp of a pass and in the end opted to do the Foundation paper. She said even that was more involved and different to all the test papers they’d practiced on.

A teacher would have to answer this I’m afraid.

I’m Scottish, sat my GCSE and Highers in Scotland and then moved to England and completed my degree.

The English system is mental, our 1-9 is backward in England… so a 9 is a A and a 1 is a fail.

Unless Scotland has now changed their grading system 🙄then frankly we’re all fecked!

Exams are held on the same day and time tho but for reasonings unbeknown to me and likely many others there are different exam board papers.

The main UK GCSE exam boards are AQA, OCR, Pearson (Edexcel), and WJEC (WJEC in Wales and Eduqas in England). While there are others like CCEA in Northern Ireland, these are the most commonly used in England.

Here's a more detailed look:
AQA:
AQA is one of the largest exam boards, offering a wide range of subjects and known for its accessible syllabuses and emphasis on practical application.

OCR:
OCR is another major exam board, often praised for its rigorous assessments, particularly in the sciences and humanities.

Pearson Edexcel:
Pearson Edexcel is known for including practical and creative elements in many subjects.

WJEC/Eduqas:
WJEC is the exam board for Wales, and Eduqas is the exam board for Wales, used in England as well.

CCEA:
CCEA is the exam board for Northern Ireland.

From google, however I don’t understand the reasoning behind why there are so many boards.

My DD, currently doing A levels asked me why there was more than one exam board today. I struggled to answer, but came up with possibly so that there is choice and variety. A not putting your eggs all in one basket situation - especially given that there are frequently question/timing/leak events. Having a variety of exam boards means that the effects are only felt by a proportion of the cohort. It gives alerternatives to the curriculum too, which i guess can play to the strength of teachers - i know our current secondary quite frequently changes exam board for different subjects.

When is GCSE English exam
That is just the shit show if English exams. Several exam boards. Some seem easier than others but.....this changes from year to year. Marking is often poor too and remarks often gets put up a grade. If you have to move house/area the chances are your kids will be expected to switch to a different specification. I really wish there was just one exam board for each subject.

I'm glad there are choices of board, especially A level. DS1's school had an appalling A level history course. It couldn't have been more boring (I'm a history graduate) and he didn't take history as a result. DD's school has a fantastic course, which he would have taken.

Even when I did GCSEs in 1989 there were different exam boards!

@PrincessofPreSchool the history specicifcation of even the same board has lisds if different options, so can be made boring or intetesting by option choice. I was looking through the spec for DS's history and was silently thinking the school had gone through and picked the most boring topics! Bloody Tudors again- at A Level!

Dd isn’t great at maths but takes the higher paper though we will be thrilled if she gets a 5. Her view is the higher paper was actually ok but her pals doing the foundation paper said it was a difficult paper.

Exam boards don't care about practice papers and what score a student achieves in them. You may think the paper was sent to the exam board but it won't have been. They only mark and review current exams.

I agree she should have sat the foundation paper. She is in top set for maths. And tells me she had a choice after discussing with her teachers. She got a 4 or 5 in the mocks (they did loads of mocks). She went for the maths H paper because she had to get less questions correct for a pass.

I won't be surprised if she has to resit maths tbh. And English too - she's extremely dyslexic and SPaG is very problematic even with extra time. She is very good at the other subjects, just not the essentials!

Her last mock physics result was 3, and her teacher immediately downgraded her to a F paper in that, with no discussion. DD was upset, but it was completely fair. Obviously as her mum I know absolutely nothing and as a teen she is always right!

Ah @ShiftySquirrel yes fewer correct answers needed for a 4 on H but so much harder questions. I agree with you it’s an odd decision – like I say, in MFL, a 4/5 candidate will do much better on F (and have a better experience as they will be able to tackle the paper). Still can’t change now, hope she gets her 4 or 5.

Be warned the entire paper and answers are on TikTok - DD has looked through and is fine (made 2 silly errors) but it could be quite crushing for those who are worried

How do they get them on there so quick?!

I still can’t believe they got rid of the intermediate paper.

Is she at a small school? It seems a bit odd to me she’d be in top set but should be doing foundation?

I have absolutely no idea! And it could really knock someone from the other exams as well if they look and didn’t do well

No, a massive school.
Her other mock physics result were better though which is why she's been top set. The last set of mocks were February, and we had a expected bereavement, but the day before the exam.

She loves science generally, and physics, but the maths part is where she really struggles.

It worked in our favour on this occasion - DD came out of Edexcel higher maths really deflated but was relieved to learn she has hopefully got a high 6 in that paper (aiming for a 6 in maths) if TikTok comments are correct. But can you imagine doing your GCSEs with this extra element of online dissection on top - another thing we didn’t have to worry about in our day…

So she’s in top maths set because she is good at physics? Or sorry have I got muddled up and this is the science paper she needs to be doing foundation for?

Do they not have them in different sets for science and maths? Sorry to hear about the bereavement and one day before an exam, your poor daughter.

At our local school there are 8 maths sets. I don’t know how it works with no intermediate paper now though. It used to be top 2 sets did higher paper, next 3 did intermediate and bottom 3 did foundation. You would never have had someone in top 2/3 sets needing to do a foundation paper as the work they were covering would have been out of their depth. It was all about making sure they just passed Maths.

Is it someone taking a spare paper maybe?! I mean you couldn’t remember them all 🤣
I agree

Grade boundaries haven't been set yet so they can't say X mark = X grace

The higher maths paper always has some brutally difficult questions thrown in for those aiming for a 9.

The majority of DC aren’t expected to be able to answer those questions.

Those that can are just exceptionally naturally gifted at maths ie they’ve never had to work hard to understand it because it just comes so naturally to them. These DC also find A Level maths a breeze and coast through with minimal effort.