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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be fuming at GCSE results?

60 replies

cherrypez · 23/08/2012 11:34

Quite prepared to be told I'm BU. DD, year 10, got a B, some Cs but also a D and two Es. Considering she is capable and was predicted As and Bs I'm mightily pissed off with her as she admits she didn't revise. I'm starting to feel a bit guilty for being so cross with her. Should I look at it as a lesson learned and hope she pulls it together for year 11? Or pile on the pressure?

OP posts:
SoozleQ · 23/08/2012 12:48

I am a solicitor and interview university students for trainee solicitor positions at my firm. There a minimum requirements for GCSEs and A Levels - if you don't meet those your application will not progress. We do take notice of an applicant's GCSE results - they are not the most important consideration but if someone has only average results we would take note and may question them about it.

redexpat · 23/08/2012 12:49

Could you not sit her down and talk to her about how she feels about her results? Discuss the reasons for the discrepancies, what she'll do differently in future and what if anything you can do to help? MAke it all about her rather than how you feel about her results. Mention that if she goes into the exam fully prepared then she will know that she has done her best and no one can take that away from her.

Gatorade · 23/08/2012 12:52

I'm with sizzle on the importance of GCSE's, I work in corporate finance and we use GCSE results to help select which graduate applicants to interview (we have in excess of 50 applicants per place). GCSE's are the only time when students all take similar exams and can be compared like for like.

eslteacher · 23/08/2012 12:56

My secondary school was obsessed with its standing in the points-based GCSE results league tables, so a lot of bright students got entered for GCSEs in year ten, so they could do even morein year 11 (like further maths, statistics etc)

I only arrived at this school a term into year ten, so it was too late for me to join the fast track classes. I took GCSEs at the normal time in year 11 and got all As and A stars. A lot of my friends who had been fast tracked ended up with lower results (but more GCSEs overall), even though many were undoubtedly brighter than me.

I think that squeezing in two years of work into a short time, or expecting bright but young students to have the same capacity for time management and self-motivation as older ones (esp expecting them to get on with revising when none or few of their peers are revising yet), can often backfire.

So yes, I think YABU.

DontmindifIdo · 23/08/2012 13:00

Well, at least she's done them early so she can resit all of these next year.

numbertaker · 23/08/2012 13:01

I feel for the kids at the moment. I do know that countries like Germany laugh at us because of the fact that somehow our children get cleverer on a yearly basis. Something was not right, because what I am seeing as a home-schooler worries me. I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the schools/gov/exam boards and league tables.

mrsscoob · 23/08/2012 13:05

I think it is normal now to do some GCSEs in year 10 and then the rest in year 11, so I don't think the school would have put her in early, thats certainly what they did at my sons school anyway. You can retake but then that means lots of extra work in year 11. If she was expected As and Bs and didn't revise then I would be cross too although I fail to see how you didn't notice that she wasn't revising?

Summerblaze · 23/08/2012 13:09

I got rubbish results for mocks in yr 10 but did way better in yr11 for the real thing.

InkyBinky · 23/08/2012 13:10

Can she do retakes in year 11, not getting B's in English and Math isn't a great plan. Was she planning on taking A'level's next year?

Did she just bomb the last set of exams or had her earlier modules/ coursework also been relatively poor?

I would mostly just be feeling sorry for her and disappointed rather than cross with her. I presumeshe misjudged how much rebision she needed to do, espevially as others (teachers?) were predicting high grades. Hopefully, she can learn from this and turn it around for A'level's. It's not ideal but it's not the end of the world either.

Good luck.

EmpireStateofMind · 23/08/2012 13:11

If she was predicted As and Bs (rather than A*s and As) why did you let her sit them a year early?

Surely it would have been better to sit them in Y11 and get As and A*s.

I too think she has been let down by her school.

Olympicnmix · 23/08/2012 13:19

There's certainly a 'realignment' with the results this year which was heralded after the exam board debacle and scrambling to be the govt's exam board of choice.

We have a very steady cohort intake, teachers the same. Whilst our A for my subject has increased a bit, the number of As is significantly down, far more many Bs than we normally get. It's about what we expected, as to drop them any lower would lead to mass protest and remarking en masse from schools. And call me cynical, but not one of the B or A grades is near the cusp of an A or A where you might contemplate a remark.

Olympicnmix · 23/08/2012 13:23

And sometimes yr 10 students are not mature enough to sit them and do significantly better in yr 11. Although the school may not want her to because they are after the point scores, it would be in your dd's interest to resit her GCSEs and get a nice crop rather than more at similar grades that are beneath her suggested ability.

Aboutlastnight · 23/08/2012 13:28

I did badly in GCSEs and then got AAB in ALevels. Frankly GCSES bored the pants off me and I spent alot of time smoking in the toilets.

It's done now. Perhaps it's a necessary kick up the backside to get her working hard for her ALevels. I got offers from all my RG universities by the way, but this was 20 years ago.

Ismeyes · 23/08/2012 13:28

I think taking GCSEs early is am awful idea and I say this as someone who was entered early for one GCSE in Y8, three in T9 and 5 in Y10 with the plan being I would sit 8 more in Y11.

I did get all A and A* grades, which pleased the underperforming inner city comp I went to no end, but the unrelenting pressure for four years completely fucked up my life at the time. O was petrified of failing, getting anything less than A in anything, I would regularly get 100% in things because I was killing myself with studying, hours and hours.

One day in Y11, I walked out of the school and refused to ever go back. I took my remaining GCSEs in a behavioural unit for excluded children as arranged by the school, which meant they still retained credit for my marks and they didn't have to bother helping me in any other way.

I went on to spectacularly fuck up my A Levels which was the best thing that ever happened to me. It enabled me to find out who I am as a person, rather than attaching all my self worth to a grade.

lljkk · 23/08/2012 13:31

Just listen to the news, OP, your DD's problems are all over the BBC newsfeed.
I couldn't rise to fuming, sad & frustrated maybe.

If she's disappointed then hopefully some good can come out of this, she'll see the value of being self-motivated.

MrsKwazii · 23/08/2012 13:33

I did my Maths GCSE a year early and got a C, one year later I got my A. Sometimes it's just how it is, fuming at her will get you nowhere. She needs support and encouragement to reach her potential next year.

InkyBinky · 23/08/2012 13:35

ismeyes wow! Glad it worked out for you. There are some silly parents and schools out there......

Birdsgottafly · 23/08/2012 13:39

My DD met an arsehole of a bf at your DD's age and has underachieved because of it.

It ended in year 11, but it has meant that her GCSE results that she got today were not as good as she could have done.

I think that it is important to speak positively infront of them, to keep their self esteem up. My DD now realises that she has let herself down and the comfort is that she is doing that at 16 and not 25.

I wouldn't over pressure her, i would just keep her on track and keep discussioning what it is that she wants to work towards.

Although my DD has undersold herself, she still has the results that she needs and it shows her that with no work she got C's, so with effort she can easily do her A levels (she did an equivalent one last year).

Keeping her on the end goal and not just lots of GCSE's is as important.

LoopyLoopsOlympicHoops · 23/08/2012 13:39

Excellent post ismyeyes.

Mrbojangles1 · 23/08/2012 13:45

oopsi easy to blame the school the op admits her child did not revise so my question is were was the mum in my view when its exam time

Facebook
Haveing a jolly with mates
Tv
Boyfriends

All get put on the back burner
I do not belive for a minute the op was not aware her child was not studying

Its mot the schools fault op daugter did not want to study if she is able to get as and she choose to not put the work in how exctaly is that down to the teachers

Mrbojangles1 · 23/08/2012 13:50

And also if it was indeed to early to sit the exam then again were was the op

She should of raised her objections its our job to resist ideas we dont think are good for our children

But the bottom line is as the op said he child didnt put the work it if you cant be asred to study it wont matter if they waited till she was 20 to sit the exam

GragPop · 23/08/2012 13:54

I would explain that you're disapointed and ask her what you can do to help her to improve her grades.

Maybe make a plan together on what she wants to achieve and what she needs to make it happen?

noblegiraffe · 23/08/2012 14:05

Can't believe that some schools are still doing early entry, the DfE specifically advises against it and the evidence clearly shows that it leads to lower grades than if GCSEs are sat in Y11 as they are designed to be, even with the availability of resits.

Birdsgottafly · 23/08/2012 14:11

It can prepare them for sitting exams, though.

It must depend on the GSCE, because all of my DD's choices are part, some mainly, marked on the coursework, although the overall grade may be a C, the coursework can be a A*, so when she applies to a collage for a coursework based course, they will look at her as a whole, including voluntary work.

She luckily enough has an apprenticeship, though.

Mrsjay · 23/08/2012 14:14

I know you are fustrated but dont be mad at her be dissapointed as you know she can do better, can she resit ? I am not in england/wales but will she move on to A levels, it really isnt the end of the world you know, just let it go and make sure she knuckles down when she goes back to school. and she got ok marks she didnt fail them all,