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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

Predicted GCSE grade disappointment

17 replies

Toartornottoart · 05/10/2023 18:42

Sorry a bit long:
DC is applying to sixth form colleges - she is really excited about A level graphic communication and wanting to do something graphics related as a career. she loves art - I have to tell her to stop doing her art homework to do her other subjects. She spends most of her free time creating stuff. I don’t know where it comes from as me & dh mostly draw stick figures at best so we do not know what is ‘good’ or not (in a graded gcse sense).
Her school has released her predicted grades for gcse - she is predicted 6s and 7s in everything except Art & design which is a 5. She is devastated and feels like her world and future has collapsed around her. She was not expecting an 8 or 9 but at least thought she would get a 6 or 7. Obviously we’ve told her to go talk to her art teacher but we’re not sure what to do next.
Can she do graphics with a 5 or is it a case of trying to steer her in a different direction?
Any ideas about how we can support her?
we know a 5 is a pass and predicted grades are just that but she’s feeling ‘embarrassed’ and a ‘failure’ (her words) at something she felt so comfortable and confident in.

OP posts:

BethDuttonsTwin · 05/10/2023 18:46

A-levels or BTEC? Dd is doing BTEC Art & Design without even having done the GCSE. She showed them some work of her own and they let her on the course without a murmur. At our local colleges they can do a combo of A-levels and BTECS not just one or the other.

SavetheNHS · 05/10/2023 18:57

Don't panic! Art GCSE grades are based on lots of criteria and very few marks are for talent at art. Your DD may well be a fabulous artist but to get the grade she wants she will have to do what the spec requires. Often this means research, the prep work for the end piece etc. It's often about eg producing lots of work and research and annotating it. I would request a meeting with the teacher to ask what she needs to do to get a higher grade. They should be able to tell her exactly how to go about it.
Good luck 🤞

Original poster

Toartornottoart · 05/10/2023 19:03

It’s the A level she wants to do.
Yes we’ve told her to talk to her teacher but I’m a bit cross as it should not be a shock to her - she should have a clear idea about what level she is working at by now.

OP posts:

SavetheNHS · 05/10/2023 19:07

You're right, it shouldn't be a shock, the teachers should have been clear with them and also know who wants to go on and do A-level art and help them achieve that. If possible I would arrange a meeting with the teacher yourself so you can find out exactly what more your DD needs to do. The teacher may just fob her off and tell her she's doing fine.

PinkDeer · 05/10/2023 19:07

I’m sorry to hear that she is disappointed, how have her grades been up to now? It could be that her grades have been predicted using her sats results/ or other data rather than the work that she has been doing. My dd also did art and she found it the most time consuming of all her GCSEs and it also ended up being her worse result annoyingly

Hellocatshome · 05/10/2023 19:09

But that is her predicted grade, what she needs to do is she the teachers and ask what she needs to be doing to get the grade higher come the actual GCSE exams.

Bramshott · 05/10/2023 19:12

Sometimes there's a wierd anomaly with creative subjects where they can only give them a predicted grade based on the exam work rather than the portfolio/performance element. DD had a really low predicted grade for Music and we queried it, and it turned out that it was because it was based on just the exam segment and not the performance & composition stuff. In the end she came out with a good grade. Definitely worth checking with the teacher.

LighthouseCat · 05/10/2023 19:28

We learnt to take predicted grades in creative subjects with a huge pinch of salt. However, I think it would definitely be worth chatting to the teacher. My DDs art teacher has no idea my DD was really keen to do art a-level and it wasn't until we made that clear that she seemed to align the predicted grade. I will say though art GCSE was such a pain. More work was spent on it than all other subjects combined. And it was looking v likely it would be her lowest grade. As someone else has said, make sure your DD goes through the mark scheme really carefully.

mamma65432 · 05/10/2023 20:31

There are also a lot of videos and articles online about how to get a really good grade in GCSE Art & Design which might be worth her looking at.

Saisong · 05/10/2023 20:39

My DD switched onto an A level Art & Design course, despite the fact she didn't do it as GCSE. At her enrolement interview she took along a small portfolio of her art and some pictures of her crafting - the Head of art had a quick 5 min chat and accepted her with no issues. She's really enjoying it so far.

She wouldn't have been able to do the Fine Art course without gcse though.

Original poster

Toartornottoart · 05/10/2023 22:40

Thanks for replies - definitely will be talking to the teacher and will look more closely at the mark scheme and some videos and things.
Shes finding it hard as she literally pours her all into it and enjoys doing it whereas she does the bare minimum for science and gets predicted a 6. We’ve been doing college open days (her school finishes at yr 11) and her eyes lit up at the potential of doing graphics and she spent ages talking to the teachers about it only to be absolutely crushed today by the realisation she may not be good enough.

OP posts:

mamma65432 · 06/10/2023 07:53

It's not that she's not good enough - just that she needs to do some targeted work to get the grade she wants. There are plenty of examples on youtube of people predicted low grades who turned it around and got higher grades.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 06/10/2023 08:00

Being arty in the way that she loves is unlikely to tick the boxes to get a high grade at GCSE, even if it looks good.

She (and you) need to speak to her teacher, find which exam board they’re using and be clear on the marking scheme. It’s almost a box ticking exercise to ensure that the work that she produces will be recognised.

Think of it like a French oral where most people say they like playing football and drinking coffee because it’s far easier to pronounce properly and get grammatically correct than saying that I enjoying competing in triathlons and drinking mocha Frappuccinos.

Original poster

Toartornottoart · 06/10/2023 15:39

Just a little update - dd went to talk to her teacher today and the teacher had put the wrong grade in - now predicted a 7. Crisis over! But we’ll still take on the advice here as it’s been really helpful so thank you! 😊

OP posts:

LighthouseCat · 06/10/2023 19:20

Brilliant news!

Bramshott · 06/10/2023 20:43

Great news OP! All the best to your DD.

elkiedee · 09/10/2023 21:25

That's really good news. From looking at the marking scheme for a very different GCSE subject, I can well believe that that bit is really about what's needed for the exam and portfolio, more than about ability.

Whatever grade she gets, it might be worth looking at all the courses available post 16 - it might be that there are arty/graphic design BTec courses which offer something different from an Art A-level (and from looking at college prospectuses, there is more than one course with slightly different emphasis at A level, if she has a choice of places to study).

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