Year 10 Grades | Mumsnet

Katrinawaves · 2025-07-19T13:57:34+00:00

Please help me interpret my DS’s mock results. He is my youngest child but when the others were doing their GCSEs it was letter grades not numerical ones so I’m struggling a bit. Youngest struggles academically and his mocks were mostly 4 with a 3 in maths and 2 in RE. I’ve just spoken to a potential tutor who told me that this is the expected level for end Year 6 😱. Is that correct - google by contrast is saying that level 4/5 at Year 10 is an average grade so I’m confused. We are definitely not expecting that even with tuition he’ll ever be getting 9s but is he really on course to fail across the board with these mocks? His school has never suggested this at parent teacher conferences but on the other hand it’s not a particularly high performing school either but was the only one to offer him a place locally.

elozabet · 19/07/2025 15:02

Level 4 is grade C in ‘old money’ so a pass.
Level 5 i- high grade C
level 6. - grade B
level 7. - grade A
level 8/9. - grade A*

only 2-3 % expected to get a grade 9.
Sounds like your son is doing absolutely fine.

Tulipvase · 19/07/2025 15:04

I don’t know about the year 6 bit (but I think that’s bollocks) but a 4 is the lowest pass rate (c) A 5 is a solid pass, a 6 is a B and 7,8 and 9 are A/A*

I think it is fairly usual to go up a grade at least from mocks to the real thing. Did you child put much effort into their mocks?

Original poster

Katrinawaves · 19/07/2025 15:06

Tulipvase · 19/07/2025 15:04

I don’t know about the year 6 bit (but I think that’s bollocks) but a 4 is the lowest pass rate (c) A 5 is a solid pass, a 6 is a B and 7,8 and 9 are A/A*

I think it is fairly usual to go up a grade at least from mocks to the real thing. Did you child put much effort into their mocks?

None! Hence the tutor and increased parental focus…

OP posts:

WonderingWanda · 19/07/2025 15:15

How much revision did he do? What have his grades been like in lessons? Do his teachers think this is an accurate representation of his abilities or is he capable of more? A lot of kids bomb the mocks because they don't do much preparation or they underestimate the amount of revision needed...that's sort of the point of them. He still has nearly a year to get that maths grade up to 4 so he doesn't need to retake it. A lot of colleges will require 4's in order to get on to A level courses. Some school 6th forms will require 6's ( I work in grammar and they are meany to get 6's).

A student getting all 4's at gcse could do A levels but would be working at roughly a D grade at A level if those 4's were there best effort. A grade 5 more like a C at A level and 6 a B. Obviously, lots of other courses available not just A levels.

Tulipvase · 19/07/2025 15:29

Katrinawaves · 19/07/2025 15:06

None! Hence the tutor and increased parental focus…

Show quote history

Well that’s better than him having tried!
Assuming he does now put some effort in id say he’s had a good chance of passing.

Original poster

Katrinawaves · 19/07/2025 15:42

WonderingWanda · 19/07/2025 15:15

How much revision did he do? What have his grades been like in lessons? Do his teachers think this is an accurate representation of his abilities or is he capable of more? A lot of kids bomb the mocks because they don't do much preparation or they underestimate the amount of revision needed...that's sort of the point of them. He still has nearly a year to get that maths grade up to 4 so he doesn't need to retake it. A lot of colleges will require 4's in order to get on to A level courses. Some school 6th forms will require 6's ( I work in grammar and they are meany to get 6's).

A student getting all 4's at gcse could do A levels but would be working at roughly a D grade at A level if those 4's were there best effort. A grade 5 more like a C at A level and 6 a B. Obviously, lots of other courses available not just A levels.

Virtually none I think. His teachers don’t give much feedback to be honest though previous reports have had him as predicted 5s and 6s. He’s the classic well behaved not very academically gifted student in a school of less well behaved kids so tends to fly under the radar unfortunately and not get much teacher attention.

He does want to do A levels I think and is interested in maybe sports science or sports nutrition as a career choice at least at the moment.

OP posts:

WonderingWanda · 19/07/2025 15:47

@Katrinawaves sounds like he's blagged mostly passes and will be more than capable of getting better grades and being successful at A level. Looking at college entry requirements with him and then also what A level grades he might need for his next step (uni or apprenticeships) might be a useful motivator for him. Just remind him that they get him to the next step!!

Fallulah · 19/07/2025 15:51

Well I wouldn’t be using that tutor - sounds like they are confusing this with a very old system (the 4a, 4b etc).

4s at end of year 10 suggests he should pass at end of year 11 if he puts some effort into revision. Maths and English are the ones he has to retake if he doesn’t pass them, and if he wants to do A-Levels he probably wants to aim for 6s+

Its not a disaster at all.

Jowak1 · 19/07/2025 20:33

I wouldn’t worry too much about grades in year 10- my son in his year 11 mocks got a 2 in history and a 6 in the real
exam in summer. He has gone on to do
A level history. Of course not all grades from mock to real exam goes up that much but he has a whole year yet.

pointythings · 19/07/2025 21:33

If he buckles down, works really hard and gets the extra tuition, there's absolutely no reason why he shouldn't go up a couple of grades and more. But he does have to do the work. My DS was not great at maths, tried hard but struggled. He was sitting at a 4 at the end of year 10, worked his absolute backside off (no tutors, couldn't afford that) and got a 7. Chemistry went from a 3 to a 7, Physics from a 3 to a 6. If your DS buckles down and works both hard and smart, he will do well. But he cannot afford to coast.

BelugaWh · 19/07/2025 21:48

I would get on with a maths tutor because with a 3 they couod put him in for lower paper where he wouod be limted to 5. Depending on if you think he can get more than a 5?

Octavia64 · 19/07/2025 21:51

if your child gets less than a grade 4 in English or maths they have to resit at college alongside doing their course of choice.

so if he got a 3 in maths in the mocks, if he got that in the real thing he’d need to do resits.

in order to get into a levels many sixth forms and colleges ask for grade 6 or so with the more competitive ones asking for higher grades.
Resits are expensive to fund so many sixth forms will not allow someone in if they need to resit maths or English and you’d need to look at a bigger FE college.

grade 3 in maths is a pretty low grade. Depending on where he is in the band (ie did he just miss a 4 or was he one mark over a 2) it can be a lot of work to get a student up to a passing grade.

focus on making sure he passes maths and English as a priority as if he doesn’t get those it will restrict the courses he can move onto. Then focus on the GCSEs that link to what he wants to do - so if he’s thinking sports science type stuff then maybe biology/science?

clary · 19/07/2025 23:02

Yeh tutor is way off. GCSE grade 4 is not a Year 6 child!

Grade 4s are fine but not for A levels if that's as much as he can achieve. A 6 in the GCSE is a good place to start with A level – a 7 in some subjects such as maths and MFL.

He needs to get the maths to a 4/5 if possible as that will be needed going forward, for apprenticeships and jobs ideally.

How does he revise? There are lots of threads on the secondary ed board which may help. Talk to him about his future plans and research what he will need to achieve those – that might spur him on.

ETA: sorry I see you say something about his future plans. Well sports science will probably need A level biology for which a 6 at least is needed. Maybe also PE A level? Or he could do a college course post 16 which might be more coursework and less exam-focused if that would suit better.