Whole class has done badly in mock A’level. Covid related?

[billyblueblood]

DD is devastated. She’s a very hardworking kid, has to put in a lot of effort to get good grades but has done a lot of revising. Apparently most of the class have done badly so not sure what is going on. Not sure if it’s a result of a lack of exams during covid or something else. How’s your year 13 doing?

For that reason I personally feel that allowances should be made for this year group and probably next years too.

But any allowances would be applied equally (e.g. advanced info as last year) so the variation in cohort experiences would still have an impact.

I don't think there's any way to even out the disparity in educational experiences between schools during lockdown, and of course it wasn't just between schools but different for different pupils too depending on e.g. home life and access to technology.

They will be somewhat disadvantaged compared to any of the past few years cohorts, so say if looking at really competitive courses where there might be people on gap years. There will though be major disparities, but hopefully some of the WP initiatives will help.

*disparities within this cohort

But a mock isn't a 'proper external exam' either.

Obviously I'm talking about the pre-covid cohort here, but DD's school treated the mocks like they were the real exam, by sitting them in the exam hall and using the previous year's exam papers.

They started using the exam hall from year 9 to get the pupils used to the idea.

Yes, that kind of went away in Covid for a lot of schools but really nothing is like 'real' exams, not even mocks in exam halls. They are in a league of their own. That sad I'd be surprised with all the anxiety around Covid and assessment if any DCs hadn't done loads of assessments and mocks before.

My biggest problem has been getting through the spec!

I would email teacher and ask for feedback. At least you've got a paper trail then.

Covid has definitely had an impact: these kids didn't sit their GCSE exams and they didn't cover all the GCSE content in the teacher assessments. This is particularly an issue for STEM subjects. There is a big jump from GCSE to A level (Chemistry being the biggest jump) and the kids are having to play catch up.

The promises of catch up lessons from the government never materialised either.

I agree that there is an impact from not having had to revise and sit for a normal set of GCSEs. The actual impact will vary between students and subjects.

My DS has been in the independent sector throughout and exams don't phase him normally. And his (January) mocks in one subject area reflected that. But in other subjects he clearly didn't have appropriate exam technique in a way that I think he would have understood had he sat normal GCSEs.