A levels - am going crazy!

[RedHotMummy]

Using mock results for A levels? This is the last straw for my sanity. I appreciate that the government is trying to add a safety net by allowing mock results to be used for university entry but really, does this help?

There is so much wrong with this - mocks (the clue is in the title) are final results minus 4 months of slaving like a dog. They are internal exams, typically have only 1 paper (rather than 2 or 3 or 4, meaning the effect of one bad paper is amplified) and rarely cover the whole syllabus. There is no standardisation of marking across schools and grades typically given on % boundaries not a national bell curve. We had an internal bell curve on a small cohort which is the worst of both worlds. But I didn't challenge 75% being a B because, hey, it's a mock. It could now stop my daughter going to uni.

Papers are often marked to incentivise (time honoured kick-up approach) and, in my experience, some genders fare far better in the real exam than they did in mocks. Presumably all of this contributes to why unis don't look at mocks as an indicator.

As for the process, how do students get these mock grades to their unis and UCAS? Via Ofqual? How long will it take? Can papers be remarked or appealed? And for the coming Y13, watch the parents fight for good results incase this happens again. All of this when schools are supposed to be spending their energies focussing on opening this term.

As for unis, will they hold places open whilst all of this is going on as they have been asked to? Supposing your mocks get you into your insurance choice but not your firm or you don't make either: do both institutions have to keep both the places for you, pending the appeal? That means neither goes into clearing, which makes that process a joke. Then in the coming academic year, there is a minimum of one and possibly two unfilled spaces. A financial disaster for them, just as the predicted numbers of lucrative international students are unsure.

All this just as as Scottish results were upgraded, so it isn't a level playing field for those looking to go to a Scottish uni or competing for spaces with a Scottish student. On a political level, this could be canny move by Nichola S to either force the government's hand or effectively bolster support for the SNP (we'll be fair to your children').

Ofqual want to maintain the integrity of these examinations. Given the news on job losses,

Or is this a political move to pave the way for a move to CAG whilst maintaining the narrative that teachers ruined the process? Meaning we'll get CAGs next week too and it's a smorgasbord of possible results from which to pick and choose.

I am not saying CAGs are perfect or that there is an easy answer. But much of this mess was avoidable. I am no statistician or computer nerd but to have a model that incorporated not only data for the institution but also the individual (historical and predictive - mocks, GCSE results, predicted grades, CAGs) when such info is easily available doesn't seem beyond the wit of man.

Rant over.

Dreading tomorrow, dd1 hadn't been well months then was finally diagnosed with pernicious anaemia and possible endometriosis and then just before her mocks went down with shingles and norovirus at the same time while also trying to complete her major coursework for btec, consequently her grades in her mocks were much lower than she was capable of

@Hercwasonaroll, because I am experienced senior examiner and receive standardisation training every year. @Aragog, students were taught until end of March. There teaching would have finished in second week of April and then purely revision. So basically 2020 cohort lost 2-3 weeks teaching new material. A level students should be capable of revising independently. All past papers are up on exam website for them to practice on and suggested answers are up on website for them too, so they can see if they were on right track. There are many good revision guides available or could go through notes or text books. These students are used to doing that. If they can't manage that then how will they manage at uni?

As for teaching unions saying mocks would have been thrown in bin. This is nonsense, they would have been marked and returned to students. The government said in March any student not happy with grades could sit exams in October. Any sensible student would have kept working and revising and preparing to sit in October if they got grade they were unhappy with and teachers should have been reminding them of that. No reason why teachers could not set essay questions and mark throughout lock down. This can all be managed easily with email and a drop box at school/college.

Sitting in October is fairest option.

Just giving students teachers estimated is dreadful idea as last year 80 per cent of teachers predicted grades were wrong.

@caringcarer as a senior examiner you really should be able to use ‘their’ correctly.

Standards all around are worrying.

Another senior examiner here. I wouldn't be able to set a paper of equal difficulty or calculate grade boundaries without knowing the students results.

Concerning if you're a senior examiner in maths or science and you think you can set equal difficulty papers. Or if you teach an English based subject and can't use their.

At my daughter’s school teachers would not interact with the y13s at all once the system was announced in case it was perceived as influencing the CAG. So no work set or marked or support offered as preparation to October resits. Also a massive over estimation of the maturity of most 18 year olds. I know I struggled to be motivated to write my masters dissertation in my 30s and that was without dealing with the impacts of a pandemic our 18 year olds have had to face.