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Secondary education

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Original poster

Retaking GCSE - is this a myth?

22 replies

Cupofambition · 09/03/2012 06:58

My ds is doing three separate sciences, and got his GCSE science module results back yesterday. He wants to study engineering at University.

He got 2 A* and a B. Now his B was one UMF (anyone able to tell me what these are I've never heard of them?) point off an A.

His teacher has said because it was a surprise result (lower than expected) and that the other two grades are higher, and he was close to the A he could retake.

However, the teacher also said if he gets A/A in the next 2 modules he'll end up with an A overall.

Now I thought I read somewhere (probably on these very pages) that if you retake a module, some of the RG Unis use that to reject your paper immediately.

Would it be better to have no retakes and a B for a module and an A/A overall? Or to have a retake and A/A for all modules?

Also can someone confirm that having a B can be pulled up to A/A* with following two modules?

It's WJEC exam board if that makes a difference.

OP posts:

sassyTHEFIRST · 09/03/2012 07:05

As far as English is concerned, you hold back yr results until the end of the year, and then "cash them in". And AFAIK universities don't know if you did resits or not.

mummytime · 09/03/2012 07:08

I don't see that Unis would even know you had re-taken.
Yes an B can be pulled up to an A or A, easier for an A than A.
Okay this is how it works for AQA, I'm sure WJEC is similar but the percentages might be slightly different: 25% of the final mak comes from the first paper, then 25% from the second, then 25% from the third, then 25% from the controlled assessment. UMF is not quite the mark from the paper, but the mark from the paper, transformed in some way. The exam board add up all the UMF for the papers and then work out the grade.
So if your DS does more than scrape an A on his next papers, he will almost certainly get an A overall.

Original poster

Cupofambition · 09/03/2012 07:14

Oh thank you both for the info.

So we work on UMF points at this stage. As he's only 1 point off an A, what happens if he does a resit and ends up 5 points off an A, can we/him/the school, choose which one we use? I.e. disregard the retake and go with the original mark?

OP posts:

londonmackem · 09/03/2012 07:18

Yes, you keep the highest mark no matter how many times you retake. The school may charge you for the retake!

Original poster

Cupofambition · 09/03/2012 07:23

Great - he'd prefer to retake it to hopefully take the pressure off the other modules. And as it doesn't penalise him, then I'm happy for him to do it.

£10 for the retake.

OP posts:

mummytime · 09/03/2012 07:25

Yeap my DS just did a resit, he doesn't think he improved his mark, so we'll keep the previous one. I would talk to the teacher, if there is any problem with resitting they will let you know (I know there was talk of needing so much % to come from the final sitting, but I have no idea if that has come in yet or will come in).

magentadreamer · 09/03/2012 07:32

I do believe the 40% rule has come in.

My DD has decided to resit her first Biology module she was two marks off an A but admits that she winged it. Hopefully she will be able to do this in June.

crazymum53 · 09/03/2012 08:20

Now I thought I read somewhere (probably on these very pages) that if you retake a module, some of the RG Unis use that to reject your paper immediately. That's for retaking AS and A2 modules not GCSEs.
The UMF or UMS scores are used to convert the marks the students obtain on the actual papers to grades. So that means he only needs to get one more mark on that paper to get an A. So going up from a B to an A should be very straightforward.

Moominmammacat · 09/03/2012 09:08

You have to put the dates in when you took the exam on UCAS forms, at least for AS, so they can see if you resat. Probably depends on the uni whether they care or not ...

kensingtonia · 09/03/2012 09:17

I am pretty sure that resits data for GCSE doesn't get passed to universities. Apart from anything else they take so many controllled assessments etc, at so many different times, it would lead to a massive application form.

It definitely does count for AS. Apart from Universities, I know of someone who applied for a training contract with various city law firms recently and she was asked to state the dates and if any of her AS/A levels modules were resits.

kingprawntikka · 09/03/2012 09:23

My son is currently at a Russell group university doing engineering.He re-took a couple of his A-level modules and it didn't seem to be a problem. He got offers from all the universities he applied to.
I think that medical schools don't accept resits.

mummytime · 09/03/2012 09:24

We would have no idea when DS took all of his exams, I guess school might know? I don't think you have to put them on the UCAS form.

mumslife · 09/03/2012 12:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BackforGood · 09/03/2012 12:43

It would take the Universities for ever to trawl through the dates of the modules for each applicant. My ds has been taking GCSE Science Modules since Autumn of Yr9. Each term thay have the option to retake whatever their lowest Module grade is. At the end of the day, I'm guessing they would just list their best results on any future application forms.

crazymum53 · 09/03/2012 15:04

The problem about having a paper re-marked is that they could in theory find the mark awarded was too high and the new lower mark would stand. You have to pay for a re-mark, but if the mark they have awarded was too low you get your money back.
However in a resit the highest mark is always awarded.

ItWasThePenguins · 09/03/2012 15:07

gcses really don't count for uni, so i doubt they'd mind resists.

Original poster

Cupofambition · 09/03/2012 16:36

Ah at least it being the case for AS resits I wasn't going completely mad!!

OP posts:

lesstalkmoreaction · 09/03/2012 19:11

The retake rules have changed this year, it is the retake mark that counts even if its lower.

mosschops30 · 09/03/2012 19:16

Not at dds school, you can choose whether to use the retake mark or the original mark

webwiz · 09/03/2012 19:34

Its a bit more complicated than that lesstalk - 40% of a gcse qualification needs to be taken in the may/june of year 11. If a resit is taken in addition to the 40% and a lower grade is obtained then the earlier higher one can be used. If the resit is part of the 40% and a lower grade is obtained then the lower grade has to be used.

Resits should really be in addition to the 40% so the problem shouldn't arise.

OCR's explanation is here: www.ocr.org.uk/download/admin/ocr_38421_admin_gcse_term_rules.pdf

KatAndKit · 10/03/2012 10:22

A university would only know if you have retaken an entire qualification (say you did your GCSE for the first time early in year 10 and then retook in year 11, or did it in yr 11 and retook in November in yr 12)

If you have only retaken a GCSE module, not the entire qualification, they wouldn't know about that.

As stated above, it's not quite the same for A level. I really think that this is a good reason for doing away with early entry for exams.

If the B was on the A/B borderline then it might not be necessary to retake it. However, if he can retake it and get A then it would be definitely worth doing so as it could tip the balance between getting A or A overall.

cardibach · 10/03/2012 18:51

Having to use the resit mark only applies in some subjects, lesstalk. It all seems a bit unfair - differnet deadlines, different rules etc for different subjects. I think it needs streamlining.

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