University 2020 :6: The one with the results at the end

[MillicentMartha]

Hopefully as the title suggests we will actually get up to results on this thread! Only 5 weeks to go.

Old thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3918392-University-2020-5-Results-day-approaching-and-beyond?pg=40

Please?

@MillicentMartha Yes please! I've avoided looking at updates on here. This is one of the best, most supportive threads on the whole of MN.

Sandy - my comment was based on the Scottish students where grades were downgraded by 16% for state and 6% for private. Hence the outrage and demos by students in Scotland at the moment. Totally stand by my point that BJ has no idea what he is talking about and cannot possibly understand the anxiety of most teens.

I am certainly no expert on Scottish exams but reading the Scotsnet thread is a real eye opener and perhaps may show what others are going through. Sadly I imagine the same will be true on thurs. My only positive is that there will prob be places for all who want to move onto uni due to lower numbers of international students so I hope everyone’s teens find somewhere 👍

[quote ThingDoer]@IAmTooBloodyHot they already know and would decide that when they update on Track. If they reject, I don't know if it's worth a call, but the Uni's Admissions team would be where to go- number will be all over their website by Thursday! [/quote]
Thanks Thingdoer. I wonder if It might be worth a try as my DD is another one who unfortunately goes to an underperforming state 6th form college but her class this year has been so much better than in previous years (according to their teachers) and the news about them being unfairly downgraded using previous results has me a bit edgy.

(I cannot slate private schools though because if I had the money I would've definitely sent my DC to one).

Good luck to all our DC whatever school they go to 🍀

Good luck to all our DC whatever school they go to 🍀

Indeed. Let’s stay supportive, no snobbery and no inverse snobbery.

@Newgirls - it was actually your comment about the civil servant in England checking private vs state results I took exception to. You're very naive if you think that kind of manipulation could possibly happen. The ONS and Ofqual would not let it happen.

@mimbleandlittlemy - the reason Bristol says 120-136 is almost definitely because they allow 2 grades lower for contextual applicants, including those on their aspiring school list - which is all state non-selective schools with below national average performance. List here - www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/study/documents/aspiring-schools-2021.pdf

Sandy - it literally just happened in Scotland. Do go and read Scotsnet.

That’s a good point Monkey. You can alter the search filters on Clearing to give admission requirements in grades rather than points, which I find a lot easier. The points don’t show that actually, they may not count the AS level taken in Y12 for instance.

It seems mathematically obvious to me that grades are more likely to be reduced at poorer performing schools. At lots of selective schools almost everybody gets A/A* so there is limited scope for downgrading on the basis of historic data.

Can anyone please remind me of where the actual UCAS points of students accepted on various courses/universities are ? It used to be Unistats but it’s changed. Thanks!

It's now called discoveruni

There was an interview on The Today Programme this morning (2hrs 10mins into the programme), which closed with the comment that this is being applied by civil servants rather than the teaching profession, and that there will be a furore on Thursday. So perhaps @newgirls isn’t being that naive.

Either way, only two more days then we’ll all know and I wish everyone’s dc the best of what they want.

Networks- you are mistaken.

The Scottish results were not split by indie and state but by area least deprived and most deprived. The mostt deprived were adjusted by more than the least deprived because they had overinflated by a far greater amount than least deprived. After adjustment/moderation the most deprived still actually had a greater uplift than the least so actually they suffered less disadvantage .

See attached:

It’s not about private v state here. If anything, it might be about selective v non-selective simply because, as pp say, it’s becomes easier to predict grades the more selective as school is.

I have a DC at two so- called “super selectives” where you could basically call the percentages of A/A every year because it will only vary by 2% or so. But the point is, the teachers aren’t over-inflating the grades. These schools watch each other like hawks anyway because a 1% rise in the As can shift them up and down the top 10 in the league tables and everyone would know instantly which schools had played by the book and which hadn’t..

Then I have another one at an independent where about 50% of the teachers are, I’m sorry to say, away with the fairies and barely know the names of the kids, let alone what level they’re at. It’s literally anyone’s guess what could happen there and there are some small classes which mean it could be all down to the predictions of these teachers who, frankly, if they were up for appraisal in the state sector wouldn’t last 5 minutes.

If an independent school gets variable results (as many do) then there’s absolutely no reason to think they will benefit from moderation any more than other non-selective schools. Independent schools vary massively across the UK and parents choose them for all kinds of reasons, not all of which are about results and often quite the opposite.

@Monkey2001 - I agree. I think the challenge at DS1's school will have been how to rank the students. Historically they typically all do well but when it comes down to ranking it must have been an awful job. They do love their data though so I'm confident it will have been robustly objective. I'm very grateful that so much data was collected over the years on unit tests, timed essays etc.

I'm hoping DS1 is securely within the range if where he needs to be. I'm feeling positive about 2 subjects but the other 2 could go either way.

Sorry my last post was for Newgirls whixh my stupid bloody phone has name changed to Networks

@offandaway - I agree. There is a tendency to stereotype private schools as all the same. The reality is that a selective private school and a grammar school will get lots of high grades each year so the pattern is established for the exam boards.

Less selective private schools get variable results each year based on their changing intake and possibly variable teaching.

By civil servant I assume you mean highly qualified data analysts or are we being sniffy about people's jobs too. Seriously have you see the Ofqual response today that has had to be put out to stop the scaremongering. They have tested 12 varying models to see which gave the best results to students.
www.gov.uk/government/news/the-fairest-possible-way-to-recognise-students-achievements-this-year-by-roger-taylor-chair

They fall short of saying that they look at the individual's previous grades though don't they.

Eg if you got a 5 at GCSE in a subject and an estimated A it looks a trifle implausible, though not impossible. But marking down a students from A because no one got one last year, when actually that student got all 9s, would be awful, especially as the exam evidence is there to prove they are extremely able.

But the article only mentions the cohort's results.

BalloonSlayer - there has never been provision for them to look at data on an individual basis but in your example the prior cohort data would reflect a student who had all 9s and thus this may lead to an upwards adjustment .

This level of data was not used in Scotland. Thus there really shouldn't be as much as a problem on Thursday.

Agree Balloon

I think, BalloonSlayer, you are right that the approach this year is not going to be helpful to the "rising star", the one who has blossomed at A-level, possibly at a school that gets few top grades, and who is bright enough anyway to pull off an A*.

I think what is missing is that OfQual should have put something in place to enable schools to submit documentary evidence for such pupils. The fact that exam boards haven't needed to look at even a sample of students' work is a shortcoming.