To think that going from 6 in year 10 to 7/8/9 in year 11 is possible?

[IDontGetOutMuch]

Dd has done year 10 exams. She got 6 in a couple of science subjects. Ha I g looked at her papers, she either got nearly 85-90 per cent or a poor mark.

Is it reasonable to think she can improve significantly between now and next year's exams, given that she seems to understand some areas really well and we know where she needs to improve? Or am I being unrealistic?

Would be great to hear from parents with fairly recent gcse experience!

Or teachers of course!

Yes that's possible, 9 might be a stretch but I would generally expect students to improve by a grade between mocks and real exams and she has almost a year to put the work in.

Sorry-reread post-for individual questions she either got 85-90 per cent or a really poor mark. And grade 6 overall according to school's boundaries-wasn't an actual past paper. Only 3 questions per subject.

They've had a crap year with very inconsistent learning.
If they can actually stay in school next year I would definitely expect improvement.

Of course a kid can improve their GCSE grade over the course of Y11! Depending on the reason for the grade in Y10, the improvement can be significant.

She needs to look at where she went wrong and see what she needs to do to improve.

Of course she can improve
Exam technique is really important and may not be taught until later in the course.
Does she plan to study science at A-level? That motivated my dd to put the extra effort in.

She's improved loads, but still has a way to go with the graph interpretation questions. That was where she lost significant marks on biology. I'm thinking that this is an area where practice really pays off-she now gets full marks on plotting graph and is much better at talking about the trends it shows. The big graph question on the mock just went disastrously for some reason.

Of course she can

@TotorosCatBus it really depends where she settles career wise, as much as they know at this stage. She veers between wanting to do a vocational medical thing and an arts subject. I have told her that her a level choices shouldn't influence her work at the moment-that her job is to do as well as she is able on all subjects, especially as she hasn't consistently committed to a level subjects yet, not that she has to, of course, but some are in no doubt by end of year 10!

Mine has just done year 10 mocks and he's got 4-6 in all. He said he wanted to see what would happen if he didn't revise. I think we know the answer to that. He's been given the kick he needed to knuckle down now and he did the kicking himself...!

He got 7/60 for chemistry.....

Bless him. He's got a good incentive to work!

A 9 might be a stretch but a 7 is definitely achievable and an 8 possible with some hard work

Mock exam grade boundaries are pretty useless, especially if they've only done 3 questions. If you happens to get a topic that you have revised recently, your grade would be artificially much higher whereas over a 90 mark paper that would be evened out a bit.
If she really wanted an 8 or 9 it might be a good idea to hire a tutor.

Get tutors then op, the one on one time... Can help enormously, one hour a week targeting specific areas.

Maths teacher here. I would usually expect pupils to go up by 1 grade at least between year 10 and 11 if they put in an average amount of work and 1.5 - 2 grades if they work harder than average. I work in a rural comp. if that makes any difference.

In the previous system I once had a student predicted a C get an A by force of hard work and dedication. Similarly another student got a C after predicted E. It is possible for students to outperform predicted grades.

Good to know tutor being recommended-just committed to an hour a week! I am getting the idea of what's needed for science papers because we did a fair few recently-I am a teacher but not secondary science-but tutor we have asked has exam marking experience and lots of secondary science experience too.

Thanks Sophia-that's helpful to know. I think dd is setting her sights a little low. I don't care what she gets if she has worked hard and not settled because she thinks 3 questions. mock defines what she can get!

They can definitely improve if they want. How do they feel about their grades? Do they want to improve them? Grade 6 isn’t a bad grade, it’s just above a B in old grade system.

My dc went to 9 in 2 sciences from 6 in January Y11 mocks. Your dd could do very well. We didn't use a tutor but do have scientific backgrounds....

We've arranged a summer English tutor. Once a week for the holidays. And a maths tutor once a week from September. No college unless gets those

Thanks helpmum. The last thing I want is to be super pushy, but equally, I feel her teachers are setting rather a lot of store by target grades based on ks2 sats. DD is a different person altogether from then and has steadily exceeded expectations in y10. But I don't want a 3 question mark to slow that progress and self belief.

My eldest got 88 in science from a 56 mock and an 88 English from a 46 mock both in January. More than possible

That's very encouraging.

Science teacher here. Yes you can improve but realistically to an 8; 9 is a push especially with the disrupted learning due to Covid. A tutor is a wise investment.