Year 12 - 2025/2026: Here we go again!

[QueenMabby]

A new thread for the new school and college year. A friendly thread for parents of those going into year 12 in September 2025.

I agree Clary it’s almost as though some people are sniffy about 7s and they are As!
I often think the world has gone a bit mad!
Studying, retaining information and reapplying it under timed conditions is an impressive skill set but it doesn’t necessarily capture aptitude, flair or creativity which are equally important skills in life!

8s are definitely great grades. Some of the grade boundaries are so close together that it's actually really easy to drop a grade or two especially in something like English or maths where a 9 was over 90%.

DD starts her A levels next week and is currently working on the bridging work. She is moving school within the same academy trust and taking Maths x2, Biology and Chemistry.

In fact everyone who passes GCSEs deserves credit if they work hard and do their best, grade 1s can be as minor an achievement as 9s for some of our DC.

@Examinetheexams we were just discussing how it’s left us a little bit distrustful. We’ve got a school that pushes for reviews and we could afford financially to take the chance. Not everyone will be in the same situation and that seems a bit unfair.

We asked for a single paper to be reviewed in each case - for English and Music this was because there was only one paper and for Comp Sci we were advised to do one at a time (in case one goes up and the other down).

We haven’t paid yet - it’s an indie school so it’ll get added to our bill next term (we will pay for those where the grade doesn’t go up and not for those where it does).

@Eccle80 he was 2 marks off a 9 originally

@OhCrumbsWhereNow EdExcel iGCSE

The only thing I would say to this is that I think it relates to GCSE grades only and not iGCSEs. Dd for example did a mix - 8 GCSEs and 4 iGCSEs. Only her GCSEs would count for those statistics, even though she got all 9s. I think that’s one reason why the Mumsnet cohort seems a bit skewed. There are a goodly number at private school who do some/all iGCSEs.

Having said that, I’m sure there aren’t so many applying to med school that gcse results will make much of a difference.

@NotDonnaJust catching up with this new thread but thought I'd answer your question from the last one. I don't have any children, but I work in educational policy, lots of different things from working for exam boards doing things like topic recommendations/new things to be added to a specification, making more diverse and inclusive specifications, looking at the digital exams planned and pilot programs etc, working on developing new qualifications whether that be in oracy, financial education, political education etc, regulation of AI in schools (how to use it well because students will need to in the future whilst making sure they develop skills themselves, particularly for coursework), and that digital changes don't further class divisions (access to computers etc).

Then I do other things like training teachers and doing workshops in schools on things like comprehensive RSE, HSB policies, EDI in schools and the curriculum (particularly for KS3 and incentivising them do so, providing resources, training on anti-racist education etc, improving wellbeing in schools. I work in a mixture of non-profit education charities, and exam boards, working with other stakeholders, so policy makers, trust leadership and school leaders as well, LA's, this is also in things like improving SEND policies (so something I'm particularly interested in is the adultifcaiton of BAME girls, and the damage that causes I'm safeguarding and diagnosis of SEND), reporting for the government's Curriculum and Assesment review, the government's SEND review, the Ofsted changes and trying to improve youth advocacy and participation from them.

I mean I don't do all of this at once, but this is the majority of my works focus is and what I do/have been doing recently, it also hasn't been that long since I did GCSEs and A-levels, so have advice from there, and I've been doing such work for a while (started on youth boards etc at 16ish and then built the connections and platform to be able to do lots of things in the educational policy field in at once, which as a whole I'm very passionate in.

I had no plans to do any reviews of markings but reading this has made me feel that results day is the start of the process rather than the end, which is not at all how it should be.
I've now requested papers back for both Englishes. He's a few marks off but the difference in marks between the two papers has made me question whether a few more marks could be found. Not to mention all the talk about strange English marks, both here and at our school.

mojobrojo has had brilliant success with this - it makes me think of all those out there who don't review but may have the wrong marks - and carry those grades forever!

A few years ago my eldest LOST 27 marks in a remark. He remained within the grade boundary he was originally put but how can that happen. Makes me very wary of remarks. He did a degree in the subject and got a first!

@ConBatulations@clarythat's a useful link on the gov website, thanks. I can't see it reports on achieving 9s and 8s only, can you?

Is it only Oxbridge that looks at Attainment 8 figures from you and your school for context, or other unis too?

DD got mostly 9s and a few 8s, giving an Attainment 8 figure of 88, so average GCSE grade 8.8.

Her school's score last year was 54 / 5.4 so she did much better. Does that count for anything going forward???

For context, she had a challenging few years with ill health so I'm championing her to the hilt!

Yikes!

What did school say on that? Can you get a second review if that happens?

School have suggested we submit dds chemistry paper for review, 3 marks needed for a 7. She's not bothered as its not an A Level choice, is a 3 marks gain likely?

Her school have clearly checked every single grade awarded against the boundaries!

No I don’t think only 9s and 9s is reported; all 9s is one benchmark; 7 and above is another; I think 4 or 5 and above is a third.

Your DD's results are totally fantastic. Really excellent. I cannot stress this enough. Does that count for anything – against what? There is no university in the country, honestly, that will have any issue with her grades.

If she has had health issues then she has done very well indeed. I’m a bit depressed actually at the idea that she needs to be championed and that her grade average being so much better than average from her school will "count for something" – as if her grade average needed defending.

For context DS2, who is pretty bright (tho could have worked harder at KS4) got 9888777666 and we were all very pleased indeed. He did great A levels and is doing an integrated masters at what I would describe as a top STEM uni.

@TheyNotLikeUs I don't know the answers I'm afraid. The only one I am aware of is medicine e.g Birmingham Uni will score grades 6 or above (8 and 9 score the same) and for contextual look at the school's attainment 8. I think some others e.g. Bristol and Durham look at overall GCSEs. Others may look at GCSEs for the A level subjects to see if the predicted grades are likely e.g. if a grade 6 at maths GCSE then very unlikely to get an A* at A level.

Definitely possible, admittedly it was 2 years ago but my son was 4 marks short of an 8 in history and was upgraded on review. I was a bit skeptical that he would be upgraded for those 4 marks. He did a level history so he was bothered. He was also upgraded in English lit to a 6 and RS to a 9 but was 1 mark short in both.

My dd is going for review in one of her English lit papers, she is 1 mark short of a 9. That would give her a full set of 9s. I’m not that bothered but she is. She wants to do medicine so it may or may not matter and needed 7s and 8s for her a level choices. In my son’s year group, 1 got a full set of 9s (different school, both selective schools). Both youngsters in selective schools.

I do agree with how achievement is measured across the grades.

Re reviews
DD1 had Greek reviewed went up 6 marks( needed 7 for next grade) Further maths went up 2 and a grade
No change in either A level paper reviewed this time despite school suggesting they might be
DD2 has asked for 1 subject to be looked at- so far doesn’t seem that her extra sheets have been marked but exam officer waiting for term to start to investigate.

Thanks @ConBatulations, DD's not considering medicine but that is interesting.

Thanks @claryI realise my post may read as odd without me outing the full details.

Have they identified where those marks are going to come from?

No, I don't think anyone has looked at her script

We are waiting on a CS remark. She needs 2 marks to go up a grade. She also had a big discrepancy in some of her other papers (for other subjects). But DD knows she neglected some stuff in some of those papers, and so equal performance was less likely.

I just want to say, if we want our kids to learn to think and not just list facts and figures marking cannot be a 100% exactly science. Markers will (hopefully) try their best to be fair. The only way for it to be exact is with prescribed answers, and that removes opinion, expression and creativity. That is why English Language is so much harder to mark.

I think the current system is okay. Close to a boundary - double check marks. Not close, then even if you would get a few more - it doesn’t matter. And as some have said, marks will go up and down with a second opinion.

I do find it odd that there isn’t a second opinion built into the system. I’m assuming they are at least moderated (by sampling) but I’m now wondering how that would work if different examiners are marking different bits of a paper?

So tough when close to the boundary 😞 Eng Lit was 1 mark off and returned unchanged yesterday. DS teacher has reviewed English and advised a review which DS paid for. He arranged all this himself and calmly informed me after doing so. We are still waiting for History and German. Sigh!

It is such a weird thing - I feel like I'm greedy even asking for remarks ... but at 1 off, 2 off and 3 off the boundaries the school says it is worth at least seeing the papers.

I'm preparing DD heavily for them being unchanged, but so glad to see others are having positive outcomes. It's a bit odd being able to see her combined science papers that were sent to us yesterday - I just feel really proud of her as she clearly knows much more about science than I do - I couldn't have answered much of it at all!

Sampling is built in to the system.

@mrshamlet and if the samples are way off are the rest of that examiners questions looked at? I’m thinking human error with one or two us bound to happen but they may miss sampling and thus slip through the net - it must happen. I find it harder to believe there’s an inexperienced examiner or something and all his/her questions are poorly marked. But again that must happen from time to time. I’m really struggling to understand how that op’s DC slipped 27 marks. That’s colossal & can’t have been checked by the teacher first. I’m also astounded that it kept within the grade boundary!

I obviously can't say much, but there are both automated and human elements to the system.

I can't imagine a single 27 mark difference in either direction - but marks moving down is why I always say to get someone to check first.