Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think Bs at GCSE are ok?

808 replies

catwalker · 28/08/2011 21:31

Some issues with DS and GCSEs/6th form. He didn't get the grades he was predicted (As and As) but then I didn't expect him to as he doesn't put much effort into anything apart from his x box. He got mainly Bs, a couple of As, a couple of Cs and a couple of Ds. I was quite happy until I started reading the secondary education forum where people are tearing their hair out because their dc's didn't get straight As and may have blown their oxbridge chances. I get the impression that anything less than an A just isn't worth the paper it's written on. He could have done loads better but Bs are OK aren't they?

OP posts:
exoticfruits · 29/08/2011 16:28

People do get terribly snobbish! Oxford Brookes is a good university.

Sunday Times University Guide

Brookes has been named the best modern university by the Sunday Times University Guide ten years in a row.

Down the years, the Guide has repeatedly praised Brookes for the quality of its teaching which no other modern university and few older institutions can match.

The Sunday Times? University Guide is one of the most respected league tables and looks at the performance of universities across the UK in fields like teaching, research, student satisfaction and graduate employment prospects.

The Sunday Times says of Brookes, which jumped five places this year to make a top 50 position: "At the heart of Brookes? success is the excellent teaching on offer. A Russell Group-equalling 24 subjects were rated excellent.

Only the small elite will get into Oxbridge-most don't even try-it isn't what they want. You have not failed if you don't go!
I am sure that there are parents who decide that is what they want at the birth of their DC, despite the fact that their DC will probably not be suited by it!

exoticfruits · 29/08/2011 16:32

They do not need 15 GCSE's! If they find it so easy and have time to spare they would be much better doing extra curricular stuff that looks good on a personal statement. Play in an orchestra, do a Duke of Edinburgh Award, get involved in a community project, take part in a team sport etc.

exoticfruits · 29/08/2011 16:33

My quote was from the Sunday Times University Guide.

Xenia · 29/08/2011 16:38

Everyone knows ox B is an ex poly where you go if you cannot manage the better places. However it entirely depends on your career. It may not be a profession where the place you went to matters. However last year three different people involved in work things nearly came totally unstuck because on their CV they pretended to have been somewhere they had not. Cambridge University - Anglia poly; accountancy at Oxford when it was some other organisation in Oxford etc. The fact those pretty important people had lied and it could have caused they a problem in the context of what we were doing to help them (or in some cases we were seeking to have them unstuck) was they were liars. If it didn't matter where you go to they wouldn't be lying. They'd be showing off they went to Oxford B rather than realising it woudl never get them where they needed to be.

Pang · 29/08/2011 16:41

Mrsflittersnoop- getting 12 to 15 GCSEs is very unusual. Actually I've never heard of that before. The average number taken ranges from 9 to 11 GCSEs. I have heard that at today's ratings an A* is equal to an old A, A is equal to old B, B is equal to old C etc. Universities do look at GCSE results as well as A level results. But the Interview is important too.

Good Luck

alistron1 · 29/08/2011 16:42

Polytechnics haven't existed for nigh on 20 years....nice to see the poly prejudice is still alive and kicking though Wink

When I were a lass poly's were the places for courses like pharmacy - vocational/technical stuff. Not somewhere for people who 'couldn't manage better places'

Tchootnika · 29/08/2011 16:44

Do you work with Jeffrey Archer, Xenia?

exoticfruits · 29/08/2011 16:46

Xenia-most DCs are average (even shh.....MN DCs!) Oxbridge isn't the place for them, it isn't even the place for the above average-it is the place for the top few. Oxford Brookes is a perfectly respectable institution with good teaching-it may be the best for some pupils.

cat64 · 29/08/2011 16:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

noddyholder · 29/08/2011 16:48

My ds got one A 3 Bs and the rest Cs. He dropped out of A levels and is restarting in September on a course which doesn't include A levels but which will still get him into uni should he choose to go. There that should make all of you feel betterGrin! I have had more than one of his mates though in my house stressed to high heaven about the pressure from their parents and almost in tears about A instead of A*

exoticfruits · 29/08/2011 16:48

In the days that polys existed they were for the vocational/technical stuff and people went because that is what they wanted. This country will not get the workforce of the right calibre while they continually do down the technical and practical and assume that academic is best and should be the aim of everyone.

Tchootnika · 29/08/2011 16:52
noddyholder · 29/08/2011 16:52

Yep exotic you are so right Smile

mrswoodentop · 29/08/2011 16:55

there is no need to have more than 10 GCSEs as long as those 10 are in a good selection of traditional academic subjects and show a breadth of ability,eg double or triple science ,maths ,preferably a modern language,two english and another humanity.at a minimum.

10 As is better than 12 Bs.

Its all about horses for courses,the academic traditional universities will now mostly look for As at GCSEs ,but the courses are for those who want the academic approach,more practical courses at less prestigious but still very effective and valuable institutions will want lessor grades .

There is no doubt for example that if you want to be a lawyer and work in a top 100 firm (not just city) you will need to come from one of the older/redbrick universities,an ex poly or less simply won't cut it.On the other hand less traditional professions have helped developed some fantastic courses at the newer universities and these are not to be sneezed at.

StealthPolarBear · 29/08/2011 16:59

Oxbridge does exist

I used to live near it

I did 12 GCSEs back in 1995, and I don't think I was the only one

ragged · 29/08/2011 17:00

Damn, lost a post, but funny the mention of Archer, his O-level results were unimpressive. :)

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 29/08/2011 17:03

Xenia Everyone knows ox B is an ex poly . . .

And your point is?! Think your views are a bit out of date there! Will they still be being called an ex poly in another 20 years? 100 years? At what point will an ex poly be considered good enough by you?

exoticfruits · 29/08/2011 17:06

I wouldn't like to tell Xenia where my DS is studying-she would visibly shudder with horror!
However it was his first choice of place because he is doing a subject with a technical skill and his university has very high ranking for his particular subject. It wasn't easy to get in and he had to have an interview and a portfolio. It is what he really wants to do so why channel him through an academic route when he wouldn't be happy? He hasn't failed-he has followed his dream and succeeded.

alistron1 · 29/08/2011 17:07

Xenia, did you go to university? Where did you go and what did you study? It would be invaluable for the youth of today to know this.

MrBloomsNursery · 29/08/2011 17:08

THANK YOU EXOTIC!!!

XeniA I didn't understand your post - mainly because of the lack of punctuation or grammar...but from what I have gleaned, are you trying to say that Oxford Brookes is nothing more than an ex-poly and that it is not on par with other universities? If so, then let me tell you, that you are talking complete and utter shite.

Please do come to Oxford and sit in a few business lectures or perhaps take a trip to their new nursing school, and lets talk about this again. I managed to get a brilliant job, and get into an MSc of my choice with my degree from Brookes. I know people who studied in Brookes when it was a poly who are high earners working around the world now. Equally, I know Oxford grads who lived off Mummy and Daddy's money and have done nothing with their lives.

exoticfruits · 29/08/2011 17:09

Incidentally his cousin went to the same university and has never looked back. He lives in London and earns more than DH and I combined and can pick and choose his jobs. (probably he wouldn't have been able to do the same with a History degree from Oxford).

exoticfruits · 29/08/2011 17:13

There are lots of ex poly students from my era working in highly paid jobs around the world too MrBloomsNursery.
There is an enormous amount of snobbery on here!

noddyholder · 29/08/2011 17:13

Exotic my ds is also now pursuing his dream with something highly skilled but not academic Smile. Xenia is such a snob about these things she must have been a huge failure in a previous life there can be no other explanation.

Tchootnika · 29/08/2011 17:14

exotic - you and your son sound completely and utterly sane and sensible.

Why is it that this isn't the approach everyone takes?

  • OK, I know why it is, it's because of 3 decades of the English educate system being pissed about with by successive governments under a very thin smokescreen of 'equal opportunities'. But why is it that so many people are so easily taken in by this, and that so many schools seem to be willingly dragged into it?
LRDTheFeministDragon · 29/08/2011 17:15

This is really silly. B's are ok.

FWIW, I know someone who got B's at GCSE 12 years ago. He got a double first from Cambridge and used to teach Maths at Warwick. I don't think grade inflation has happened so very much over 12 years that this isn't worth making the comparison!