Genuine Q: D Does your (state) school do 'linear' GCSEs or modular ones?

[LittenTree]

Someone has just stated on another thread that 'only half of GCSE exams taken are modular'.

I am more than happy to accept that my belief that much of the hoohah surrounding 'grade inflation' is being linked to the modular/resit mode of testing is wrong- and that were I to look at the examination board websites, I'd see that 'in general, most GCSEs currently sat can be sat as either linear or modular'.

I cannot understand why my DS's best-in-county (examination result-wise) comp would go to all the trouble of training boys how to handle modular, constant, regular testing if they could allow the boys to do the all-or-nothing style exams of 'linear' instead (I am using 'boys' versus girls as shorthand for gender-stereotyped- with a fair bit of evidence!- learning styles, here).

SO my question is, does your state comprehensive do linear GCSEs or modular? Both options available in all/many subjects? One style only available in certain subjects, etc?

I am genuinely interested in knowing.

Well with Modular you can bank grades, and sometimes the papers are on subjects not re-examined later. So Paper 1 might be Statistics, which is not re-tested, so doesn't have to be covered again. Or one school I know doesn't make the final decision over who does triple as opposed to double Science until they have some results, and see who is not getting as good grades as they need, so drop down from attempting triple to just doing double.

Also even with linear, there is usually assessed work which has to be done during the years, so why not also sit the relevant exam at a similar time.

The only modular exams my DCs have done is science everything else has been linear. DS who is in year 10 hasn't sat anything yet and his first GCSE exams will be for triple science in the summer. He is doing the whole of English language GCSE this year so will sit the exam for that and then will move onto English lit next year.

DD1 is in year 11 at a bit crap decidedly mediocre state comp. I think that all of hers are modular with some sort of assessment at the end of each module. However there is also a final exam. The only exception to this are the couple of foundation GCSEs (IT & RE) which she did which I think were both coursework only.

There is no choice offered about which style to take. Probably wouldnt be practical in terms of classroom management they are very definitely teaching to the test.

I think that there is a lot less resitting than people would have you believe. DD has already finished maths and the only people resitting are the ones who totally underachieved against anticipated grades (eg C vs A) or those who got below a C. Unfortunately this resit class has no teacher as their original maths teacher went potty and got fired (I kid you not!). Thankfully DD1 has already banked her A and is now working on stats.

Are you sure they did modular for all subjects? The secondaries I am familiar with only use modular exams for science and maths (science only in one of the schools). Are you perhaps thinking of controlled assessments (e.g. in English/History/MFL)?

I doubt one could have children sitting different versions according to preference anyway, as the whole timetable for teaching and revision would be affected.

I think the "endless resit" argument is a bit of a myth anyway. I can't imagine how most state schools could provide much help to children resitting, there simply isn't time. Resits have to be taken together with the next set of three modules and all teaching will be based on those. My DC did resit one science module (because it was markedly lower than the others and brought down the overall grade), and had to prepare entirely on his own whilst working on the subsequent modules. There is no way he would have had time to revise for all three modules from the previous session on top of the new work, and the more time passes from when you were taught the material originally, the harder it will be to improve your grade.

webwhiz, what you said is sort of confusing me a bit: "DS who is in year 10 hasn't sat anything yet and his first GCSE exams will be for triple science in the summer. He is doing the whole of English language GCSE this year so will sit the exam for that and then will move onto English lit next year."

So you're saying he's taking 'the first' of his triple science at the end of Y10- to me, linear means you do your 2 or 3 years studying then sit one or two final exams.

And as for English, he's doing one year's study and sitting the exam. Then doing another year of study and sitting another exam. It might not be what you think of as 'modular' but it doesn't sound like what I think of as 'linear'. There is some confusing terminology at work!

Mummytime, you say: "Also even with linear, there is usually assessed work which has to be done during the years, so why not also sit the relevant exam at a similar time." Who assesses that work? Does it 'count' towards their final score?

So are people using the term 'linear' when they mean 'split into constituent parts then examined' like, do maths in Y10, take exam, finish. Take stats in Y11, take exam, finish?

To clarify the only modular exams are science so DS will take some exams in year 10 for that and some in year 11.

English language and English Literature are two separate subjects but instead of studying them side by side for two years they do one in year 10 and the other in year 11. The courses are completed in a linear way.

The "assessed work" is controlled assessments which used to be coursework and it is marked and given a grade by the teacher and then moderated by the exam board. The amount of controlled assessment depends on the subject so for music it is 60% and maths it is 0%.

The only linear subject DS is doing is Maths.

Linear means all the exams for that GCSE are taken in one sitting at the end of the course. This doesn't include controlled assessments which can be taken throughout the course. So doing Stats GCSE, doing the controlled assessment now and sitting the exams for it at the end of Y10 would mean that it was a linear course. At the same time as this, the top sets in my school take a maths module in November and June of Y10, then their final maths GCSE module in June of Y11. So their Stats GCSE would have been linear and their maths GCSE will have been modular. Other schools do linear stats in Y10 then linear maths in Y11 with their able students.

Module exams means that only parts of the course are examined at each sitting. Linear means that the whole course is examined at the same time at the end of the course.

Don't be fooled by the thought that linear exams would appeal to boys. Boys are less likely to work throughout the course if they haven't got an imminent module to prepare for. Girls have only started doing worse in maths than boys again since they scrapped coursework - that's where boys definitely do worse.

Science double or triple are modular

English language end of year 10 literature end of year 11 OR English at end of year 11

Everything else is linear (some with controlled assessments)

Well, this is fascinating. DD1 is home so I asked her so now I know what she is doing.

You are quite correct that the genuinely modular courses are the three sciences plus maths. The other courses have a heavy controlled assessment element.

The exam boards are AQA for the 3 sciences, Edexcel for English, French, German, Maths, Statistics and OCR for History

No choice is offered by the school about styles or boards.

Ah yes, it's just Michael Gove making a big fuss and changing very little.

English Lang and Lit are two entirely separate GCSEs, thus the courses are linear in nature. Because most schools will dedicate considerably more teaching time to English than most other subjects, you can do one of those GCSEs in a year.

He is basically trying to appeal to The Daily Mail audience by suggesting that he is taking a step backwards to a rose-tinted time when things were more rigorous and better, blah, blah, blah. But gossip on the grapevine suggests that he can't do exactly what he wants to do (make all of the GCSEs 100% assessed at the end of the course) because decades worth of research shows that that only supports one style of learning and isn't a particularly fair reflection of students' understanding, learning or ability.

So this is a compromise.

Also, I did read an article once (hmmm. Will see if I can find it), which suggested that less than 50% of students doing resits actually improved their grades.

Some modular, some linear. Maths started off modular but has been changed to linear. Modular science, geography and history. Lots of assessments, especially English.

DD went to mixed state comp and did lots of modular exams. She did very well.

DS is at an all boys Grammar, he took all linear GCSE's and it was a LOT of stress at exam time with 20+ papers to sit and everything resting on them. (He had done some coursework for English Lit etc, but no science or Maths modules). He also did very well.

Gove doesn't like the ability to resit modules. However he does want students who fail maths GCSE to resit it in sixth form until they get a C. I've got some kids in sixth form at the moment who are headed at their fourth attempt to get a C, but that's ok, because a) they're sitting linear and b) they're over 16.

Hi. My DD is year 10 and doing linear Maths with edexcel board. Will do 2 papers at the end of year 10 with no controlled assessments. Year 11 then do either statistics or further Maths. Sciences are with AQA and modular. English lit and Lang both modular with Wjec. Rest are linear - I think!

I think the endless resits are a bit of a myth. You can only retake once at my son's school because of timing and costs. Perhaps this should be applied to people taking a driving test Mr Gove. If they haven't passed their test after two attempts that's it!

A pass is a pass. The aim is to have a student with a qualification that will help them find employment or education.

"I think the endless resits are a bit of a myth"

I wouldn't say that. My DS has a lot of friends in the local girls school, where they do retake and retake exams until they get their A*

DS has done a couple of retakes for science

No idea. Apparently they receive results with option to resit (very possibly sometimes) over yr9-11. Whatever system that is. That's what we've got. I am under the impression that resits usually only happen if it's a difference between pass & fail (so if previous result below C).
I can't keep the different sorts of GCSE straight!

I heard of someone retaking an A-level to try to get an A* instead of her initial A result. Not local, though, don't think many around here would do that.

Gove has obviously never heard of crammers then.
MPW must be rubbing their hands

My DS is about to re-take a paper in Maths to try to make his A more secure, but his schools doesn't let you do further Maths without A, and I paid.

DD1 yr 10. Just above average comp.

Maths linear (EDEXCEL) at either November of yr10 or end of yr11.

Eng Lang yr10, Lit yr11. (AQA) Both with CA's.

Physics, Chemistry, Biology (OCR) modular with CA. Looks like half exam cotent in yr10.

Geography (WJEB) modular with CA. Looks like a third exam content in yr10.

French, Music (EDEXCEL) linear with CA. Exams in yr11.

I have just been to ds's Year 9 parents' evening. I had the vague impression that all GCSEs were modular at present, but the History teacher disabused me of this notion; she said they have never been down the modular route. RE is all on the final exam (a la old O Levels). Science was too confusing for me to possibly get a handle on, languages all different now anyway (much more speaking/no unseen translations).

I like your blog, crapteacher. I was particularly amused by your piece on the proliferation of support staff. I indeed remember the days of one sour-faced old trout stationed outside the Head's office who did everything (except preparing the dogfish for dissection - that was done by a weird bloke in a lab coat who appeared to live in a cupboard).

Our lab techs lived in a garden shed just outside the Science Block, apparently. They had the ability to teleport as well cos they sure as hell weren't in their cupboard when we were allowed into the class but, during the lesson, they'd mysteriously appear from that door with the dripping dog fish draped over their hands....