Provisional Timetable Exam

[canigooutyet]

I looked but couldn't find anything.

How people seen the potential exam timetable for next year?

I see the introduction for a lot of languages which is fantastic, I'm just wondering how the fuck they going to learn a new language in less than a year?

Apologies if I've missed something glaringly obvious lol Have also noticed a reduction to subjects and things like history now subdivided. It seems I don't know, bland.

I'm not saying it's bad and should be as was because I'm realistic in terms of changes etc. Just this seems unworkable. Of course could be my sons school had dire choices to being with!!

www.ocr.org.uk/Images/576281-gcse-cambridge-nationals-and-entry-level-certificate.pdf

That's one board and does not reflect any proposed changes That's what kids would have been doing anyway even without any disruption due to Covid.

I don't understand what you mean about having to learn a language in a year?

The dates will probably change by the way.

They haven't decided if they are going to push the dates back. I needed a predicted grades form with dates and the head of year just put June 2021 in. I also don't understand what you mean about languages in a year? We dont use that board anyway but assume they are all waiting for the government to decide.

There is a consultation document out atm from dfe, it discusses in-depth how exams might be changed and possible changes to the timings but nothing is decided yet.

I think you may have git the wrong end if the stick with language in a year.... nothing like that was mentioned except cutting the speaking assessment from the overall mark.

Like I said could also be provision at my sons school were dire to begin with as Ancient History, Latin, Greek and countless other languages weren't offered before.

Oh I know the dates might be changed and all this scrapped

I noticed similar reductions etc on other exam boards. Even highlights the various deviations including date changes etc on their sites.

If that doesn't represent any of the proposed changes then I'm even more confused because they present it as a possibility. I've clearly been googling to find if there are any known changes yet and finding these.

There are several other boards you know OP - OCR is one of the smallest.

There are no known changes. They're in the middle of a consultation. Nothing will be decided till the outcome of the consultation is out, and even then it'll be good few weeks / months later depending on what gets decided.

I can't see any reductions in the proposed timetables published. Can you give an example?

As others have said, this is just the normal exam timetable - the one for this year looks pretty similar (even though no one actually ended up sitting exams this summer).

You sound confused as to what this is - it lists every subject that the board offers. Your school will only offer a limited selection (for example, they will pick which specific history exam they wish to teach towards). Your child (assuming you have a current year 10) is just going to carry on studying the subjects they are currently studying. There may be changes specifically for next year, but the consultation is still ongoing and it's not yet known what these will be.

Yes I am aware that there are several exam boards, it was just the first tab I chose. Other exam boards also have these provisional timetables that seem to have a lot of subjects gone and essentially new ones on there. (which is why I said my son's school may have had small/dire options in the first place).

He will be starting year 10 in September. Yes I know he has 2 years to learn something new if required!!

I am ignoring the dates because it can all change which I am aware of. Same with there is also the "talk" about moving the exam dates to after the Summer holidays, using assessments only etc.

There aren't any subjects gone at all! Or new ones. They look pretty identical to the subjects which they've had for years tbh. What do you think is missing or new?

Like I have explained maybe it was those subjects that my sons school offered before all this was lacking. I cannot think what is missing tbh at the moment.

But it's fine. I found the answer the consultation is still open for a few more days. I should have checked first rather than thinking they must have come out with something by now, found all the provisional things and here we are.

Perhaps some of his subjects weren't examined subjects, like PSE, or they have a topic based curriculum for the first few years which covers a range of subjects. Or Humanities which is RE, History and geography.

I think you are getting a bit confused with what you're looking at. That is OCRs provisional exam timetable for June 2021. It was published either just before or at the begining of lockdown, as that is the usual time for boards to publish their provisional timetables for the following year. It therefore does not include any changes due to Corona virus. Any changes that will be made by all the boards due to Corona have not yet been published as they are still being consulted on.

This is simply a list of all the exams offered by OCR with provisional dates/times for next year as they would have stood before Corona happened.

What do you mean by lots of subjects gone and replaced by new ones?? And learning a language in a year?

Each school decides what subjects they are going to offer. They then look at the different specifications for that subject from each board. They will then decide which board to choose for that subject. All boards offer the main subjects but smaller subjects may not be offered by all boards. Chances are your son will end up taking exams with all of the boards as different ones will be used for different subjects. In England the biggest boards are AQA and Pearson, then OCR, Eduqas/WJEC.

If boards decide to drop subjects or add them, there will usually be at least 2 years notice to allow those just beginning a course to complete it and then they will still be allowed retakes the year after.

If there are certain subjects that your son's school has done before, it may be that OCR has never offered those subjects. His school will have used one of the other boards that do offer that subject. Have a look at their provisional timetables and I'm sure you'll find all of the subjects unless it's something really obscure.

Though as I think you've gathered by now, these provisional timetables are probably about as helpful as a chocolate teacup now as they will almost definitely change, possibly quite dramatically, before next year!

What subjects have gone? What are you learning in a year?

The list of GCSE’s available is huge - there’s no requirement for schools to offer all of them.

Like I explained I cannot remember what has gone and I don't really feel like trawling through local schools to try and remember. lol.

I didn't know that these had been issued prior to CV. This is the first time I had seen exam boards showing provisional exams. Pearsons also shows an increase in languages also. Not sure how they equate either to exams in terms of how widely used.

qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Examination-timetables-for-UK-Edexcel-GCSE/June-2021-Provisional-GCSE.pdf

All I can do is like millions and wait another week and hope something more will be published by then. And like I said in the op, there's probably stuff I have glaringly forgot 🤣

@xyzandabc oh I realised a long time ago that things change at the drop of the hat!! And in education even before cv things changed on a whim 🤣

OP nothing is going to be published for weeks. Certainly not the new timetable

And there's no increase in languages

On what basis do you think Pearson have increased the languages offered?

If this is the 1st time you've seen a provisional timetable, I'm guessing you've not seen a confirmed timetable either (which can also change, helpfully!). Nor looked at the subject lists offered by each board before. So if you don't know what they offered before, how can you know that they have increased?

There are far too many subjects for all schools to offer all subjects so just because none of your local schools offer say Turkish or Biblical Hebrew, is not to say the board haven't offered it before. There will be some schools with certain demographics of students that offer these subjects every year.

Pearson are not offering more languages. The provisional timetable and subjects have been the same for at least 3 years-why do think they are offering more?

As I explained in my op - I'm not saying it's bad and should be as was because I'm realistic in terms of changes etc. Just this seems unworkable. Of course could be my sons school had dire choices to being with!!

I also mentioned I may have missed something. And I posted Pearson because the other board I randomly chose was hardly used.

Just because I haven't seen a provisional timetable before doesn't mean I haven't see any time table. Just usually I wait for school time tables etc, this year it's all a bit different, and wanting to know a bit about my sons education I went looking, fucked up because the consultation hasn't finalised yet.

Thank fuck I'm out of education (Gcse not my field..Last school I worked in used Ocr loool). I wasn't a part of the team that timetabled exams, nor facilitated them. When my others have gone through them I didn't sit and watch for constant updates etc unlike now. Could roughly work out next year based on last year and all that, and of course taking into consideration changes.

Sorry OP you're really not explaining well. What is unworkable? What has changed?

Nothing's changed, and no one can comment on what's workable because we don't know what next year will look like.

Those exam slots are for the same subjects as they have always been. Schools only offer a very small number of those. That doesn't make your school dire.

What is certain is that your son will take more or less the same GCSEs that he is expecting to.

Is the concern about what your child's school has said he'll be doing? What is he doing?

What is unworkable? What is dire about your son's school?

As yet nothing has changed, no one knows what next year will look like as it's not been decided yet.

Nothing has changed yet for 2021 and no board has added new languages. They were always there. Not many schools offer Ancient Greek (mine does).
I really think you have got yourself into a state over nothing.

You still don’t make much sense. Were you a teacher? A teacher that had no idea about exam boards and the subjects they offer?

OP, do you understand now how it works? Each exam board has a timetable for the subjects they offer (and these are coordinated so all the boards have maths on the same day, so that there won't be clashes).

Your child's school will offer a small proportion of these subjects (including all the fairly standard ones), and enter pupils for those, choosing which exam board they prefer if there's a choice. There are loads of minority languages which are taken only by a small number of pupils - quite often pupils who have that language as a first language and haven't necessarily had any teaching of it.

Before it gets to the exam period, your child will be given a list of the dates and times for their exams. The only real reason to look at the exam board timetable is to check when the last exam is if you're booking a holiday - but this year you should not make any assumptions about that yet.

I suspect in some countries things are a lot more prescribed and so the public exam timetable is probably simpler and closer to what an individual does.

How long ago was it since you worked in a school.
There were changes to some GCSE subjects when the system changed to 9-1 grade GCSEs from the old letter grades A*-G in England. If you look up GCSE reforms in England you may find out about what has happened.
If your ds is starting Y10 this September then he won't be taking any exams until 2022 so you don't need to look at timetables for 2021!
The school should give out a full list at the start of the course to say which exam board, syllabus etc they are taking.
For some subjects such as History there is some choice about which topics schools study and in English Literature there will be a choice of set texts etc.
Most state school pupils take approx 8-9 GCSEs in total.
For most schools the language choices are limited to either French, German or Spanish. Offering other languages is rare.
You don't say what options your child is studying, but it is likely to be normal to have a limited choice of options.