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.

I’ve got a tear 13 student also, who didn’t do well in exams.

If schools are open for key workers kids why can't they open for exams? This is completely unfair and ridiculous. Privately educated kids always have the best predictions and will get into the best unis. Not to mention, wtf are year 11 and 13 supposed to now until September.

With respect, no one gives a shit about SATS. Those of us with Y11 and Y13 are devastated right now.

Also something to be aware there are a large amount of seasonal workers who have just lost some expected income. We are talking just people marking we are talking to the processing and scanning of papers to warehouse work.

DS predicted are good but his mocks were marked by a peer in another maths class as teacher did not have the time to mark and the marking is a joke.

This is horrific news. No thought whatsoever and makes no sense. We cannot have whole generation who have not sat the exams. Predictions are utter shit and I say that as someone who used to work in HE admissions. It's the kids with mental health issues, poor backgrounds, those who didn't start revising until late who will miss out. I really hope exams go ahead. What's the logic of not doing them? Our school has finished teaching the subjects and was moving on to revision classes only now. Completely unfair!

Why do people keep saying "They hope exams go ahead". They aren't.

Why do people keep saying "They hope exams go ahead". They aren't

There isn't any news yet what is happening delayed, using predicted results yet

We are the other way, DS will be devastated if they used predicted grades. He performed much better in the mocks and all were two grades higher than he was predicted

Could they not hold the exams spread out across the school premises as they’ll be otherwise empty?? Or is that ridiculous?

This year's year 13s are very very weak and their predicted grades reflect that

There needs to be some mechanism to make sure that schools don't over-inflate grades though.

Regarding uni applications, announcing this now is potentially very unfair (wonder how the CMA will deal with that..) - the deadline for offers to be made and accepted hasn't passed. Some kids will have perhaps accepted offers that now they shouldn't have. And others who might know that their exams wouldn't have been great can now accept that out of reach offer. And unconditional offers still outstanding..? Utter nightmare.

I sniff weakness in the Gov comms policy - they shouldn't have announced that yet - the unintended consequences will be far reaching. But DC doesn't have teenagers so guess he didn't think about that one....

Could they not hold the exams spread out across the school premises as they’ll be otherwise empty?? Or is that ridiculous?

I think that's a very sensible course of action actually, particularly as kids aren't particularly affected.

It’s clear they are cancelled. Not delayed, he stated he’d make sure they would get their qualifications fairly. Clearly some people will not feel it’s fair, others will like it.

Gavin Williamson the Education Secretary gave a statement in the House of Commons and said, "Let me make it very clear, their will be NO exams this year".

Shocked! They've not thought this through. My son was not the best behaved and some of his predictions were based on him not applying himself. He pulled his socks up and got 9 x A star in the end. Sometimes predictions are based on student teacher relationships. Also, kids from minority and poor backgrounds statistically get lower predicted grades than others so this is unfair on them. And why should teachers and schools get to decide who gets what? How will they monitor fairness. Appalling.

I think a bit of perspective would be helpful. This virus is expected to peak in May and June- from a public health perspective, we cannot have hundreds of DC packed into a confined space at that point. So, I think people complaining about this decision need to get a grip- the broader needs of society have to come first here.

That is not to say that the individual pupils affected should not be treated fairly and compassionately and I am sure the government will be putting plans in place now to ensure that happens.

Could they not hold the exams spread out across the school premises as they’ll be otherwise empty?? Or is that ridiculous?

Exams are more just sitting them, it’s getting the kids to school it is preparing the school processing rhe paper, opening the school and staffing it for kids coming in, invigorating the exam, dealing with the papers after, marking the papers, loading the results, there is a whole labour intensive process either side that does not include the actual kids.

Another parent of a disappointed A level student here . My DD has quite good predicted grades and mock results but she is disappointed that she won’t get the chance to sit the exams she has been working hard for. That said surely the teachers must know their students. They must know who is an A*star student and who is a B or C student . These courses are 2 years long so plenty of teaching exposure. The big loss is those who are turn it around in the exam but by the same respect there are plenty who lose it in the exam and under perform . So I am interested a question for teachers I guess as a % how many students exam results are a surprise on the day

I am so sad for them. Is that it can they give up revising / studying now? Not just exams but all of the last year of school fun. I know it’s not important to us but to teenagers it is.

There is no point in revising for exams that are not going to happen. The Education Secretary has said "there will be no exams this year."

Mine is gutted. She worked so hard.

@drippingwet - unlikely that they would use mocks. These are marked more rigorously than the real thing often. Predicted grades err on the side of generosity. It’s a minefield.

The teachers will come under some unfair pressure from parents not happy with the predictions, I’ll bet.

I have a devastated year13 too.
She's just completely bewildered, it's literally like the rug has been pulled out from under her.

Most of her friends are celebrating the fact that they don't need to study anymore.

Today I was asked to submit updates predicted grades.

I was asked to base the predicted grades on recent past papers/mocks, coursework and learning.

I was asked to ensure the predicted grade was as realistic as possible.

These are NOT old predicted grades from year 10 or the start of year 11. These will be recent and based on pupil performance, NOT how well you get on with the child.

Think of it more like the American grade point average, rather than a grade based on 1.5 hours of recall ability.