EPQ results 2020

[goldendog]

I know EPQ is not the most pressing concern for many at the moment! Just wondered whether the grades received by your DC are as expected? DS awarded a B instead of the expected A.

Poor phrasing in my OP - I should have said the “hoped for” rather than “expected” A.

Yes, expected and achieved grade was A*. Thinking about it, the EPQ is the only ‘real’ grade achievement today.

My son’s whole EPQ cohort was downgraded by two grades (in his case from an A to a C) despite It being an online course, which was already fully completed and marked. Rightly or wrongly, we were told the grades they had been given prior to moderation and also that, in previous years, those grades have always proved accurate, but this year the whole cohort has been bumped down two grades. School is appealing.

My son is more upset about this than most, as he had to reduce what he was studying at the start of Y13, for reasons I won’t go into here and his EPQ was in his ‘chosen field’.

Thankfully, in his case, his grades won’t affect what he has planned for next year, but he may now have to take additional qualifications on top of what he will be already be doing, in order to move on to where he wants to go the year after.

That is shocking, I hope the appeal is successful.

Just rechecked the original email and it seems the marks had already been moderated and we were just waiting on grade boundary allocation from the award body.

Last year my ds’ marks would have been a strong A, the year before just off an A*, yet for some reason, this year, the same marks only got him a C. Something is very off here.

Thanks for the replies.
Moosemama - do you think it was the OFQAL algorithm that dropped your DC’s grade rather than a change in grade boundaries?
So sorry your DC is disappointed too.

Thank you goldendog.

I think it must have been. If it wasn’t, I can’t work out how secure, moderated A grade marks (based on both the 2018 and 2019 grade boundaries) could possibly end up with a C grade. It’s baffling.

He worked so hard for it as well, having had to do a lot of catching up from year 12 in all his subjects. He was literally up through the night to make sure he completed everything and submitted it in time. Of all the subjects it could have been, despite it being an EPQ and not an A Level, this is the worst one it could have happened in for him.

I think EPQ will be moderated and then subjected to standardisation. This happens for all A Levels.