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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

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Original poster

Disapointing GCSE results

100 replies

happysunflour · 24/08/2023 19:23

So DS got three 9s, three 8s, a 7 and two 6s for his GCSEs and his disappointment is so huge that he doesn't come out of his room ALL DAY. He is regarded as an academic child and I can see he expected him to have done better. But are they that bad for an academic child?? OK he could have done better in some areas but I still think they are good enough and however the results I would like him to celebrate the end of the stressful year. Perhaps he has friends who got all 9s or something I don't know. How could I tell him he did just fine??

OP posts:

Theborder · 27/08/2023 10:21

Does anyone else think the grades are just all round shit and confusing. Just bring back A, B, C ffs.

Theborder · 27/08/2023 10:23

I got a D in my maths. That was a big, fat fail and has never enabled me to progress to teacher training, nursing or all manner of roles. A-C was a pass.

noblegiraffe · 27/08/2023 10:50

Failing to meet entry requirements isn't the same thing as failing a qualification.

A grade D means you have a GCSE in maths at grade D, which represents a higher level of achievement than someone who has a GCSE in maths at grade E or F.

Needmorelego · 27/08/2023 11:00

@Theborder that's sad you were told you "failed". You didn't. You got a D. Not a high enough grade to move on to what you wanted to do at the time but it's still a GCSE and some jobs wouldn't have worried between a C and a D.
Did you retake it? To get up to the course requirements?

Theborder · 27/08/2023 11:01

@noblegiraffe

In the real world however it’s completely and utterly pointless. Doesn’t get you anywhere fast, hence why at 35 I need to redo my maths GCSE to get to where I want to be.

Needmorelego · 27/08/2023 11:02

@Theborder why have you waited until 35? Why didn't you do a November resit after your GCSE?

Theborder · 27/08/2023 11:04

@Needmorelego

I will be retaking it this year. I think I have dyscalculia, either that or I’m just hopeless at maths. I have a first class degree with honours and I’ve been working as an unqualified English teacher for a while. Gathered I would quite like to get paid properly now as a QT. Not sure if I’ll pass mind. It’s the same for nursing too, but in fairness they need to be literate in applying maths in their roles.

I mean, I can’t really complain. I do believe teachers should be at certain standards academically but in my experience and many others in life a grade D in maths doesn’t really progress you onto further goals.

Theborder · 27/08/2023 11:06

@Needmorelego

Couldn’t be arsed. Went straight in as an office junior at a large firm (law) and started earning money.

Needmorelego · 27/08/2023 11:07

Reading some of these posts (and others on Mumsnet) is making me more angry. People being told they failed when they didn't. People not knowing that free education is available up to 19 (so 3 years worth of 6th Form/College) so if you don't get the grade requirements for a particular course or job you have that extra year available for resits and then move on to the next stage.

Needmorelego · 27/08/2023 11:11

@Theborder so your grade D got you into a job - wasn't a "fail" then.
Ironically many 16 year olds would love to go straight into work at 16 but the badly worded government rules on "education or training" (in England) making them think compulsory school leaving age is now 18 (it's not).
Sorry I am rambling now.

Theborder · 27/08/2023 11:15

@Needmorelego

No, they requested five GCSEs at grade A-C. I lied about my maths GCSE. I put down a C, did they check? No. It was an office junior role that was advertised in my local newspaper. It was 2004/5. There’s no way you would get away with that now I suspect. They didn’t check anyway.

Spendonsend · 27/08/2023 11:20

Takoneko · 27/08/2023 08:32

@TheaBrandt It’s difficult to move to Level 3 courses without a Level 2 (grade 4-9) pass or better, nobody has denied that. But there are significant numbers of students who do not move onto level 3 courses after GSCE.

Their level 1 (grade 1-3) passes are important for being accepted into college for level 2 courses. Locally, colleges require a certain number of passes at level 1, sometimes at grade 3 or better to do those courses.

Those courses mean that they can spend a year on a level 2 course and then progress onto level 3 the following year. Without that they’d have to do Entry Level or Level 1 Courses which would not qualify them for entry onto Level 3 courses when they finish. Having level 1 passes can be the difference between being able to secure A Level equivalents by the time they are 19 or not.

This is really important to know.

Oblomov23 · 27/08/2023 11:21

They are good. More than good enough. He's got his place at 6th form agreed, to do the A-levels he wants presumably?

But if he has very high personal standards and he needs to recognise only he was responsible for this as he was also busy doing other things e.g. putting on a play/ acting?

and he needs to accept that he can't have it all. He needs to put in more work to make sure that he gets to the Alrvel grades. this is an emotional reconciliation. The only one who can do this is him. you can do himself talk to him about it , the realisation acceptance and what he's going to do in the future.

what is university plans? he needs to make a decision that he's now going to do enough work to get the grades that he wants. If he wants 3 x A*, then he needs to put in the effort to make sure that happens alongside the acting/ plays or whatever else he does. no one else can do this for him. It needs to come from within. Just needs a few days to process this, but you can talk to him and help him accept this.

CelticSong · 27/08/2023 11:27

This is really interesting about the grades 1 -3 being a level 1 pass. I didn’t realise this. It’s very sad that so many children believe they have failed, due to this not being publicised enough. Made worse by the ridiculous need to have to keep resitting Maths & English until a grade 4 is achieved or not achieved as I believe is more likely. No wonder children can feel like failures at such an early stage of life.

I didn’t realise that GCSE was an amalgamation of O level and CSE.  Even though I am O level vintage my school did not do CSE so I had literally forgotten about it.    The explanation of how a child who had achieved CSE grades would not consider they had failed is a perfect explanation.   I think this has been lost in history for so many now.   Our current children will have no knowledge of CSE and even though this is well understood by education professionals, it appears that many sitting these exams consider grades 1 - 3 as failing.

I find this idea of children failing, so unhelpful. everyone is working at their level, no one is a failure. My own child has SEN and my goal is to try and get them through school with their self esteem intact, whether they get any qualifications.

I have noticed the govt is trying to remove BTEC qualifications to replace with T levels and there has been concern expressed about this move as BTEC allow for progression, for children who are not at the required level.

Government policy has a lot to answer for.

Purplepeoniesdroppingpetals · 27/08/2023 11:33

About 1500 kids approx nationally got all 9s this year (down from super inflated top end grades for the last couple of years) so it’s very unrealistic as an aspiration, even for the most academic. However, he has done well and Oxbridge will reflect on his wider performance if that’s what he’s aiming at (used to work for a college in Cambridge and I think many parents and candidates were amazed at the range of aspects of a candidate that went into selection). Hope he gets over his disappointment and chucks himself into A. Levels with determination, op.

CelticSong · 27/08/2023 11:50

I have just looked at a college requirement for a T level in Health - 5 gcse at grade 5 or above, to include English and Maths. If they the govt remove the level 1 & 2 btec what will be left for kids without 5 GCSE above a grade 5?

Needmorelego · 27/08/2023 12:04

@CelticSong you do wonder? Does the government even care?
The thing is some jobs (not very exciting ones - but still jobs) will be happy to employ people with low grades or even no qualifications. All that's needed really is that a person can be trained up to do what's needed for that job. Unless someone has very severe learning difficulties (and be unlikely to ever live independently) people can be trained/taught up to do plenty of jobs.
But these jobs are never encouraged. Teens are told they have to "be" something. Something you need a qualification for. Something that's a "career".
That starts at Infant School ("what do you want to be when you grow up").
And then we wonder why jobs such as factory work, distribution (warehouses), farm workers etc are full of "foreigners".....
Sorry.... rambling again.

BonnieLisbon · 27/08/2023 22:28

Just googled and it looks like you could get onto a plumbing, electrician or hairdressing course at level 2 with 2 x 3s at gcse. All pretty useful jobs.

Namechangedtoanswerthisone · 30/08/2023 14:28

Oh dear, how disappointing.

Seriously, they are great results. Perhaps too many young people being shown on TV etc with 'X achieved grade 9/A* etc' published each year makes others feel less than - even though they received really great grades.

There are more important things in life. What does he wish to do with his life?

loreau · 02/09/2023 01:03

AH poor thing. We all go through a process of "right sizing" ourselves. So it turns out we're not Einstein or Florence Nightingale or Jane Austen. In fact we're not even Mary Berry or Carol Vordeman. We're just normal average boring people in all respects. And after a bit of sulking, we realise that's probably good enough.

Theborder · 02/09/2023 13:46

@loreau

Reminds me of when me and my best friend submitted our first ever Uni essay and we were horrified to discover we just about got over 40 percent 🤣. Was a shock to the old ego but we soon got over it lol.

TizerorFizz · 02/09/2023 15:05

I guess he’s a bit upset at the 6s. Hard work doesn’t always mean you are good enough for 8/9 grades. If that was the case nearly every child would get them as teachers think they should!

It’s all a case of saying he’s done pretty well. A misinterpreted question might have caused the issues.

Im also one who failed maths O level twice. Yes it holds you back until you are a mature student. Then they usually let you into some courses! But some of us had poor teaching and no help or advice.

Tambatamba · 02/09/2023 15:18

6s are an old B though - what's wrong with that? It's incredibly difficult to get a 9.

AmyandPhilipfan · 02/09/2023 15:51

It was a while ago now, but I'm pretty sure when I was doing them, in the late 90s, teachers at my school didn't predict A*s. If you got them it was an added bonus but no one who got As felt disappointed. So I suppose these days that would be the equivalent of only predicting up to grade 7, which it sounds like maybe schools should do to prevent all these kids being disappointed by not getting 8s and 9s. 7 is a fab grade and 6 is still a good grade. My foster son is unlikely to scrape 4s next year but if he does we will be celebrating like he'd got straight 9s because for him the 4 will be a massive achievement!

TizerorFizz · 02/09/2023 19:29

@Tambatamba I suspect because it’s 3 grades below a 9 and he is disappointed. If you thought you might get an 8 but got 6 you would be disappointed. He’s not comparing himself to Dc with 6/7 grades. He’s looking at the top end. Obviously shouldn’t but he’s 16.

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