Knocked unconscious-GCSE exam tomorrow?

[Devonsent19]

My son goes to a special school and the behaviour in his class can occasionally be challenging. On Thursday he got punched in the face and knocked unconscious. At hospital he had a CT scan and fortunately there is no bleed on the brain or broken bones. He now has post concussion syndrome as well as a split lip and swollen and bruised face. He is recovering well at home but is becoming hugely anxious about his GSCE’s-he has an English exam tomorrow. He doesn’t feel well enough to spend 2.5 hours in exam conditions which he finds stressful under normal circumstances. But he’s already done Paper 1 and feels massively aggrieved that he has done all that work for nothing if he doesn’t sit the exam tomorrow. So questions:
1.Are there any circumstances under which he could be given a grade without sitting the second paper tomorrow?
2.If he attends the exam but does very little, can he pass based on what he did on paper 1?
3.Can he do the second paper in a few weeks time or will he have to re-sit next year?
Thanks 🙏

If he's too sick to sit the exam he should be able to get a mark based off the paper he has sat, but will need a doctor's note. Normally you'd need to speak to the exam's officer at the school but not sure if it's different for special schools.

1.Are there any circumstances under which he could be given a grade without sitting the second paper tomorrow?

If he gets a doctors note he may get a concession, they would use his mock grade. Exam boards are really hard with decisions like this.

2.If he attends the exam but does very little, can he pass based on what he did on paper 1?
*
The two exams are joined together to get an overall mark - it would depend on how well he did in the exam.*
3.Can he do the second paper in a few weeks time or will he have to re-sit next year?
Thanks 🙏
He could resit in November.

He needs to not do tomorrow's exam and they will base his mark on paper 1. If he does attend tomorrow but leaves, can't do much, all he will get is special consideration which will only be 2 or 3% at most. You need dr note. Given that the incident happened at school they will be aware already. You need to get hold of the exams officer asap.

1.Are there any circumstances under which he could be given a grade without sitting the second paper tomorrow?

Yes. You will need a medical note and to ask the school to apply for special consideration for him. They will not use his mock grade.

2.If he attends the exam but does very little, can he pass based on what he did on paper 1?

Yes. Again, medical note and special consideration.

3.Can he do the second paper in a few weeks time or will he have to re-sit next year?
No. He can resit in November.

Option one is by far the best option.

Don’t sit the exam. They will use his first paper to determine his grade.

As others say if he sits the paper they will use that with only a small percentage adjustment.

Also, to recover from concussion he needs to rest his brain, which an exam isn’t doing!

This.
Poor divil.

@Pieceofpurplesky is incorrect re, mocks.

If paper 1 was more than 25% marks he can be graded on that with appropriate medical evidence for absence of paper2. If he sits it and does not so well he may qualify for special consideration which can add a couple of % to whatever he scores. Presumably school and exams officer are already aware. If not email exams officer urgently.

English paper 1 is likely to be 50%

You should email the Exams Officer tonight and ring first thing in the morning. They will provide appropriate advice.

Thank you for all your answers. He definitely doesn’t want to do a resit. So we have stayed in and rested today to help him recover. He wants to go in and do the exam tomorrow now. He said he can remember what to do ( he’s had 1:1 English lessons since January). He can have lots of breaks and extra time so we discussed just taking it one question at a time and staying calm. I said to just do as much as he could because I figured it will be a combined score with the first paper. So hopefully this will be enough. He’s had a shower & gone to bed early so fingers crossed for tomorrow 🤞. I am still going to contact the exams officer first thing, as some of you advised. (thanks). Is the exams officer someone in school or is it someone outside of school from the exams board? Can I ask for special consideration even if he sits the exam tomorrow?

It a member of school staff who has responsibility for managing the exams process. You may well have had an email from them outlining the process in school and exam timetable. The exams officer can apply for special consideration for paper 2 although it will only be a couple of % uplift at best.

Listen to @MrsHamlet It would be better to not do paper 2 at all than do it poorly due to the concussion but you'll need the appropriate medical confirmation.

The exam officer is in my school from 6am in exam days, email the headteacher now and I'm sure someone will contact you asap

As others say, he is better off not doing it as special consideration is such a surprisingly small percentage no matter what the issue (even if say, a student had a parental bereavement it’d still be a measly 2%. It’s only significant if they are on a grade boundary).
My ds has SN and his grandad died just at the start of his GCSE exams last year. All of us then caught covid at the funeral so he ended up missing three exams. I know it’s disappointing to have to miss any exam after years of working towards it but especially for maths/English they need the best grade possible. A head injury/concussion will surely significantly affect his performance.

A very close colleague had concussion earlier this term. There's no way she could have sat and done a 2.5 hour exam, even with rest breaks.
I do understand why he wants to, but in the case, I think it's better that he doesn't. Candidates miss exams for all sorts of reasons, which is why different forms of special consideration exist.

Hi again. Just thought I’d give you an update on my son’s exams last week. He did go in and sit his English paper 2 on Monday.
I contacted the exams officer first thing who was pretty clueless . I sent in his medical note, detailing his concussion but she wasn’t sure if he missed the exam , whether he would get a a 'z-score'. (The calculation of the missing mark taking into account the student's performance in the other comparable units of the exam and the national average for those units.) I got this information from the AQA website and sent it to her. But my son was so anxious about missing the exam so in the end , it was better for his wellbeing to go in and do it.
He completed the whole thing over 2.5 hours with breaks in between. His scribe said he did well. Irrespective of his grade, I couldn’t be prouder! He showed real determination and resilience and, to me, that more important than the grade he gets ( but will still appeal if he fails 😉) Thanks for all your advice