Exams

[MrsElijahMikaelson1]

DD is distraught, she has worked so so hard. I really feel for this cohort of students who won’t have their chance to shine and will miss all those special times.

Predicted grades are used every year - compromised papers, hospitalisation/illness, disasters such as fires. it's not ideal but really what else can happen. You cant keep them all back a year - universities would fold with no new intake, students would be so bored as they've already covered the work and schools dont have the space or the staff or another intake

@EdithWeston How on earth would they moderate predicted grades across schools?

Exam grades are always adjusted to form a bell curve nationally (most students get Cs, some get Bs and Ds, few get As and Es). The predicted grades will probably go through the same process.

Shit my son had fell to pieces and they were done before Christmas. Under CAMHs. He’s so upset as been working hard on mental health, grades, has moved forward.

It's completely unfair and kids are just going to stop working full stop. Why carry on revising ? And sad for those kids whose predicted grades were not accurate reflection of their abilities due to various reasons.

oh its so hard for them all. DS has had his last term and end of his masters at Cambridge cancelles. DD2 Yr13 is in floods of tears and dd3 in yr11 is panicing about how/when/what GCEs will end up doing. Im a doctor, Dh a teacher. We still have to go into work. may have to send dc into school on a rota basis to stop them killing each other. Im so, so stressed.

My kid is saying he doesn't have to doanything now just wait for uni offers to roll in on predicted grades. Refusing to go to school or carry on with any work.

I also have a Y11 and a Y13. The Y13 will be thrilled if they use predicted grades, but his mocks were brought forward a week and he only found out about some of them on the day they happened so hadnt done much revision yet (he was working his part time job in the evenings, which he wouldn't be doing during the actual exams).

The Y11 will be devastated. He messed about a bit in Y10, so his targets are low. He has worked really hard this year and was aiming for mostly 7s and 8s, instead of the 5s and 6s he was predicted. Now he won't get the chance to prove he can do better than his teachers think. We don't have his mock results yet, so I'm really hoping he did well enough to change his teachers opinions.

another one here with one doing GCSE and one doing A levels. DS (Alevels) is gutted he has worked so hard for these exams and obviously has a gigantic amount of questions, all we can say is " we don't know"

Unfair! Really?

And predicted grades may not be perfect but they are something rather than just scrapping the whole year group!

Something has to be done... What else do you suggest, in such extraordinary times?

I am rather hoping my MBA goes the same route 🤷‍♀️

Dd1's mocks were not good, and her predicted grades are modest as a result. But she has worked REALLY hard in the last couple of months and I am sure she would have performed better in May/June.

She needs a higher grade - 1 grade higher than the most recent prediction - in one subject to get her preferred A-Level courses. I really hope the grade predictions aren't yet set in stone and the next few weeks of remote learning can make a difference to them.

She's actually really disappointed by this, after 2 years of moaning about GCSEs lol.

Predicted grades are shit - they're completely unreliable, as they are vulnerable to an anxious HoD inputting what SLT want to see, and if they're following bastarding flightpaths from KS2, they're not worth shit because then they're based upon subjects that haven't even been taught yet, don't allow for physical disabilities (grade 7 in PE for a kid with missing limbs was a particular highlight in my last place) or for ESOL kids - grade 2 everywhere because they only arrived in the country a year before, when they're actually, once they've learned English, Grade 8+ for all subjects - the native French speakers being predicted 2 for French were particularly ridiculous results.

How will using predicted grades work for Uni places?

One Uni we went to said they have 30 places but offer 100 because they know that only 30% actually get their predicted grades.

Also, what's to stop the schools that rely on Year 13 leavers destinations, Ie private schools and selective schools, bumping up their predictions for their kids go to the top Unis which is what prospective parents look for.

Dd1 in yr13 would be ecstatic if it’s based on predicted grades because hers are 2 A’s and a B

Exam grades are always adjusted to form a bell curve nationally

Actually they're not (not a bell curve at all!), but they are adjusted. Using raw predicted grades will be an absolute total disaster for student from disadvantaged backgrounds and poor performing schools.

I suppose if exam boards then adjust those predicted grades using cohort data both nationally and at the specific school, it is possible some of the obvious issues will be mitigated.

Truly dreadful for those kids though.

Yes completely unfair! Predicted grades are either inaccurate or over inflated. Unis over offer places on the basis that some kids miss the mark. If schools are open for key workers kids open them up for exams ffs. Most teaching has ended near Easter and it's revision from there. Kids should revise from home and go in for exams. I'm speaking as a mum with a kid sitting exams. I'm horrified.

One Uni we went to said they have 30 places but offer 100 because they know that only 30% actually get their predicted grades.

That won't be true. They make 100 offers because they know that 65 won't take the offer and 5 won't get the grades (made up figures).

@titchy That's not necessarily fair either. Our cohorts vary hugely year on year. This year's year 13s are very very weak and their predicted grades reflect that. Should they have their grades boosted up just because in other years the cohort has been stronger?

Also I mentor a lot of kids from deprived backgrounds and this will massively impact them in a negative way. Some of them have terrible predicted grades but with support this year they are on course for top grades. Well, not any more. Private schools will nab the uni places with their inflated grades.

How do online exams work?

Wouldn't it be easier to cheat?

I hope they do not use mocks. My DD has much better predicted grades than the mocks as they did them too early on and had not finished half of the teaching!

@evilcorona essentially they're open book exams which means you have the answers available which is why it makes no sense.

It will be a nightmare for my year 11 as she was unable to complete/finish papers in her mocks due to a hand injury and has been working hard to get her typing up to speed for the main event. The only possible ray of hope is that her marks last summer were rather better than her mocks and might be taken into consideration.

Does anybody know if the same applies to SATS (i'm assuming it does)....

Mine is in pieces, just uncontrollable crying.
Her predicted grades aren't so good and mocks were a joke with many not adhering to exam situation.
It may be ok for those with high predicted grades but i feel for those who it all seemed to fall in place for, after mocks.
I have never seen a more dedicated student, she's been working night and day to catch up with what she didn't understand.
I know she'll not be on her own with this, but it's such a shame for them all.

Has this ever happened before? Are they the first cohort to not take them?