University 2020 :4: The wait for grades and better days ahead

[MillicentMartha]

New thread for us. Interesting times.

Old thread here

[MillicentMartha]

........

[MillicentMartha]

.......

[MillicentMartha]

New thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3918392-University-2020-5-Results-day-approaching-and-beyond?watched=1

[MillicentMartha]

......

[MillicentMartha]

.....

[MillicentMartha]

....

[MillicentMartha]

New thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3918392-University-2020-5-Results-day-approaching-and-beyond?watched=1

[MillicentMartha]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3918392-University-2020-5-Results-day-approaching-and-beyond?watched=1

[MillicentMartha]

...

[MillicentMartha]

..

[MillicentMartha]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3918392-University-2020-5-Results-day-approaching-and-beyond?watched=1

[MillicentMartha]

.

[MillicentMartha]

I see you’re on the new thread, kauri. I’ll finish this one off.

[kauri25]

Quick query - does the student have to have made their firm and insurance choices before they can apply for student finance? That doesn’t have to be done til the 18th June for DS. I’ve googled but can’t find a deadline for applying for student finance (for England) so that he receives his loan when term starts. I’m aware the process could be slower for DS - his passport has just expired (and as it’s not urgent he can’t renew it) so he will have to prove his identity to SFE.

Thanks

[MillicentMartha]

If they’ve already made their firm and insurance decisions, then I can’t see a problem tbh? It doesn’t gain the university any more students as they could always have accepted dropped grades on results day. Though they are limited on how many students they can take over their usual numbers. Maybe this was a way to circumvent that?

[oneteen]

@MillicentMartha.. I thought the restrictions on offering UCs was only before the UCAS deadline for applications was reached.. But obviously not.. I can't see the point of stopping UCs when DC have already selected their firm and insurance offers.... Surely students have already taken that decision so its not influenced...

[MillicentMartha]

It gives me something to do. I normally work in a school but not as a teacher so there’s not much going on Chez MillicentMartha!

[suze28]

Great, thanks for the new thread.

[MillicentMartha]

We have another 20 or so posts left on this thread so I’ve started the new one in readiness.

New thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3918392-University-2020-5-Results-day-approaching-and-beyond?watched=1

[MillicentMartha]

@oneteen, universities were told not to change offers due to the cancelling of exams in case a raft of unconditional offers followed which might tempt students into making poor choices. Some have done so anyway. There’s talk of them being made to retract them!

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/may/22/thousands-of-a-level-students-could-lose-their-unconditional-university-offers

[Oratory1]

Sorry I was sloppy in my language I should have said expected grade not' predicted'. I agree a significant number do not meet their predicted grades in any one year. For most their predicted were in excess of their offer so not a problem. For somr they don't meet their predicted or their offer but still get a place and others don't meet their predicted of offer and miss out requiring clearing or retakes. When results are out and people are disappointed we have to remember a significant number would have been disappointed in a 'normal' year anyway.

DS issue is not that its a higher achieving cohort overall but that he and a couple of others are anomalies for the school in two subjects. We just have to hope the system allows for anomalies. If not we will have to accept that it worked for the majority and go for the re sits. DS currently feels he couldn't face revising for November so would probably sit next summer and try and get some revision input from school even if it means sitting in year 12 lessons next summer. May be hard if its maths or physics but that's his current thinking.

[SeasonFinale]

Schools will definitely be able to have grades that are higher than usual if they match the cohort's prior attainment ability so if the whole cohort is a higher achieving cohort that will be taken into consideration as will outliers. The underlying policy is an holisitic approach with grades being assessed and students being given what their teachers believe they would have achieved. The main thing that parents need to remember is that predicted grades are not the same. Predicted grades are (can be) the most optimistic grades that the child may get, on a good day, with the wind blowing from the East etc. Predicted grades can often be inflated by schools so that a pupil can apply to an aspirational uni but hopefully the school would have added the provisio to the pupil/parents that they have done that but a more realistic prediction is eg. AAB rather than AAA so that they also apply to realistic prospects. As long as people take that on board and are realistic in their expectations then there shouldn't be too many issues.

However, the schools are not going to be measured on their grades achieved this year and there will be no league tables for comparison and I would be surprised if any school was going to release press releases saying our best year ever and so on as they would be ripped to shreds.

[oneteen]

The school sounds amazing @Oratory1.. Id like to think that the grading will be fair and the outliers will be fine. It will be the schools who push the boundaries too far for the whole cohort that may find grades are reduced.

I'm surprised the Unis have not revisited applications and performed their own assessments and made some UC offers to take away some pressure of not knowing how many places will be filled.

[PosyRosie]

@MillicentMartha Thanks for that. That sounds more positive then, that her cohort’s potential to outperform previous years will be taken into account. She hasn’t done any work since 20th March and already made the decision that she wouldn’t resit, so I am just hoping she is satisfied with the grades she is given. She has firmed an offer from Durham which is contextual and I really can’t see her not achieving the grades for, but she is currently in the process of trying to be released from Durham to accept an offer somewhere else which is higher and she has already declined, because she’s changed her mind - again!! This whole process has had far too many ups and downs and twists and turns for my liking!

[MillicentMartha]

@PosyRosie

‘The standardisation model will draw on the following sources of evidence: historical outcomes for each centre; the prior attainment (Key Stage 2 or GCSE) of this year’s students and those in previous years within each centre; and the expected national grade distribution for the subject given the prior attainment of the national entry.’

This is taken from the guidance issued. The bit to note is where I’ve bolded it. Taken from page 9 of this document. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/886978/6614-3_Summer_2020_grades_for_GCSE_AS_A_level_guidance_for_teachers_students_parents.pdf

I hope that’s helpful.