BTEC result for externally marked unit- could it be wrong?

[twiceasnice47]

My son is currently doing a BTEC course - he has just completed year 12. He had his result for one of his externally marked units and he got an N. He is a very hard worker and puts so much effort into everything he does. He has only ever got 7's and 8's and distinctions before so he is absolutely beside himself. School told him he had put so much effort in and it is was a brilliant piece of work and if not a distinction he should expect a merit.

Could this result be wrong?? or does he just have to suck it up and maybe he didn't work hard enough or meet the brief of the project.

Being the holidays it is hard to get hold of his teachers.

What does N mean?

It could be wrong, or he could have missed a basic criteria.

He needs to email his course tutor I guess.

Definitely follow it up. Hopefully teacher will be available soon.

N is a near pass, it’s a very low pass which will drag down his overall grade. It was introduced to prevent kids failing the whole course because they didn’t achieve a pass on the examined unit

What did others in his group get?

Because if they've all been marked down it could be poor marking on the school's part, or that they forgot to give them a vital part or something.

One got a merit and the others all got N's.

He is devastated because he has never got a low grade in anything before. He is autistic so to him this is such a massive deal. He puts 110% into everything he does.

I do wonder if could be a mistake but as school holidays it is hard to get hold of anyone. He has emailed his tutor but I don't expect her to be answering emails on her time off.

If they mostly got Ns, then I would suspect something had gone wrong in the teaching.

That's assuming the others weren't predicted Ns, I suppose. Had the one who got a merit been predicted above them - or has he got a private tutor etc?

If most of the cohort got an N in an examined external unit then it would suggest they didn’t cover something fairly important in their preparation. So possibly a reflection on the teaching. The school/college/teachers will definitely be looking at the closely once the new term starts - at least I would very much hope so!! Don’t worry too much - they can retake this unit in January - but definitely email the school with your concerns and copy in head of Sixth Form.

Interestingly the student that got the M is usually the one who gets "N" - apparently due to his low grades he was close to failing yr 12 so the teachers it seems have been paying so much close attention to him and my son says he literally had 1-1 teaching so as not to fail and it seems like teachers left the rest of the class more a less to their own devices as they have all got Distinctions and merits for other units, I think they thought they could just got on with it but a class full of "N''s proves they couldn't!

My son works so hard in everything he does so this has really knocked him for six. He has been predicted a DD for the final grade and he is now convinced he won't pass and will not be able to apply to uni.

He should have access to a grade calculator to see how much this impacts.

Found this
BTEC Nationals | Changes to 'must pass' rule | Pearson qualifications
An N is about 2/3 grade points of a pass and 1/4 of a distinction.
so by my rough calculations 4 Distinctions and an N would roughly be the same as 5 Merits.