What National Curriculum level is an A* at GCSE?

[TalkinPeace2]

as it says.
Just trying to get my head round the many and various levels / year groups bandied about.
So decided to look at it the other way.
Where is the ideal end point and therefore how many fine scale points have to be worked through to get there from where we are now in the time available?

It might help if you started by making sense.

NC levels and GCSE A* are different things, assessed in different ways, so don't equate to each other in any simple way.

I don;t think you can do that. What do you actually want to know?

Yeah.

They measure in NC levels to teh end of year 9 (I think)

Then they measure using GCSEs

Then they mesaure using A levels

Measure isn't really teh right word but hopefully you know what I mean. I don't think there is any overlap between the 3 systems.

If a child is at level 7M in a subject 2/3 of the way through year 8, what would be their expected GCSE grade?

I think - but I am ready to be corrected, that level 7 roughly equates to a GCSE Grade C. So well on track for an A if getting 7s in Year 8.

I've never heard of 7M, 7a, 7b or 7c, maybe. If they are level 7 on NC at the end of year 8 they are doing well, but they won't have covered all the topics for GCSE (eg. all the vocab and grammar for languages). They may also be being judged against very different criteria for those levels.

I assumed 7M was a typo.

Levels vary between 5H (high 5) and 7M (medium 7) with a scattering of 6L, 6M and 6H (low, medium and high) : they are evidently the equivalent of a,b,c but clearer which one to aim for.

Seeker - that makes complete sense. Expected to do well, but it's hard to work out the transposition and therefore which subjects are likely to be accelerated for GCSE

mummytime - I know full well that a year 8 has a lot to learn (not just academically) but was trying to get a feel for outcomes

I was just meant, it sounds good, but...... there is a lot still to learn. But as to which are likely to be accelerated you need to see what the school does. And actually ask them, as things change a lot from one year to the next, especially as governments change rules on GCSEs.

And don;t assume that acceleration is necessarily a good thing.

seeker
You are so right. I was moved up a year at school. I would not wish that on my worst enemy. But in my kids school, whole sets are accelerated together in a structured way that seems to work while maintaining their social life.
mummytime
I deal with the public sector all the time. Retrospective changes are a way of life!!! Luckily the school does seem to be good at communication about such things.

I teach English and would expect a child working at mid level 7 in y8 (should they continue on an average trajectory etc blah disclaimer etc) to be looking at a A's / A*'s at GCSE.

It's my understanding that level 5 is average in secondary school, and would indicate the ability for a student to achieve a C by the end of y11. Therefore a student achieving level 5 (at our school) would be predicted a C at GCSE with a target grade of a B to show increased progress. Logically, then, level 6 = predicted grade B + target A, and so on.

Sitting early at our school is nothing to do with high ability. My daughter was all 5s and 6s at end of year 9 and will be sitting 3 GCSEs early.

In some ways, for her it's quite good, because it gives her two chances in each of those subjects to try and get a C grade. If she were higher ability and virtually guaranteed a C grade anyway I'd be annoyed because if she were to wait until summer year 11 she might get A or *