Gcse retakes

[olivevoir58]

Long story but Dd missed a lot of education last year in Y10. As a consequence she achieved a 'd' in edexcel core science. It was a good d and only a few ums off a 'c'. Anyway we worked really hard on the biology and she got a high c on that bit and a mid b on the coursework bit. We didn't do much work on chemistry and physics as ran out of time. Anyway, I want her to retake chemistry and physics in November. I am willing to do all the work to prepare her but school are saying 'no' she has to wait till next summer to retake. I am a teacher and work part time at very small independent secondary. I am therefore wondering whether I could enter her as a private candidate there. Would it work and the results be transferable back to the half she took at her own state comp?

Yes, you can do that.

Just a note, that the resit mark is the one that counts, not the higher of the two, so you have to be sure that she will improve with additional study.

Speak to your exam officer about the procedures.

knowsabit - I thought they took the higher mark ?

Not any more.

But surely if you have a certificate for example B grade in maths, then re=-sat and got C. You have 2 certificates for the exam. You would use the earlier certificate of proof?

I think you have to un-cash the earlier qualification if you enter for a resit after the original cash-in.

This is a one-off year, btw, for GCSE Science. The qualification began in 2011, where we saw the introduction of the 40% rule and limited resits, with any resit mark trumping original marks. This cohort are the only ones who can take modules in Nov, Jan/Mar and June.

The next cohort, current Y10s, sit their exams at the end of the course only and cannot resit.

She will bank the coursework and the biology and just retake chemistry and physics which she got an e and a u in so I'm not worried about her marks going down! She did both of those exams practically from her general knowledge so with a bit of targeted revision, I figure they will go up and tip her over the c threshold - she only needs a d and an e for enough ums to tip over the c threshold. Also I will enter her for foundation rather than higher as there won't be as many long, high mark answers.

Sounds like a good plan :)

When one speaks of 'cashing in' [thick emoticon] are you talking about going to uni?

If for example one was going for a job after A levels, then the lower grade exams wouldn't be required would they?

If someone takes exams as a series of modules in several different sessions, the result they get is a number of UMS points. This will be given a provisional grade that is represented with a small letter in the results sheet. When the student sits their final modules in the qualification, usually June of Y11, the school enters as cash-in code to alert the board to certify all the modules and issue a final grade, which will be a capital letter on the results sheet.

Because of the culture of resits, which frankly the boards encourage, the board doesn't know to necessarily issue a certificate when the correct number of modules have been taken. Therefore, the school needs to request the final grade from them, and this is known as cashing-in.

If a student is entered for modules after cashing in, they need to un-cash first (for another small fee).

This has nothing to do with universities. If a student is leaving education, they will still want to have their GCSEs certified, so that they can put their achievements on their CVs and application forms.

Sorry, I've misinterpreted your question.

If they want to do A-levels, it is usually a pre-requisite to have a certain number of GCSEs. Therefore, they will want their GCSEs to be certified.

For university entrance, you put the highest level qualification received in any subject on the UCAS form (which is why it is important to get the best grades you can on subjects you drop). It is standard to do the same thing on your CV and application forms, whether you go to university or not.

Oh god am now more confused than ever!
Perhaps you can help.

an example
DD did an As in Eng lit/lang. Got D overall. C for coursework D for written exam. This gace her an overall D. She is re-taking the written in Jan. Where does she stand with this? Can she get a new overall grade?

She can do risk-free retakes in GCE qualification. The higher mark will be the one that counts, once they do all the totting up at the end of two years.

Her results sheets will show her results as a number of UMS points and a little letter for the corresponding grade. This grade is meaningless. It is the total number of UMS points from the six A2 units (or three AS units that counts).

thank you, that makes sense!

Can I just clarify GCSE resists please. dd was quite unwell last academic year and achieved a B grade in both Maths GCSE Units taken. She has come home today saying that the school are suggesting she retakes both units in November, as she is predicted an overall A grade. if she resists these units (which she doesn't want to do), will the higher result count or is it the resit result that counts?

My understanding is that it is the resit grade that counts. Ask your school.

Thanks knowsabitabouteducation, will do.

It depends.

I had a group of kids resit their English Language exam in June. All but one did better than in January, so their June marks were counted in the final total. however, one girl did better in January and that mark was carried forward to her final total - her resit was disregarded, thank God.

I thought that they are allowed to resit once for higher grade to count then if they resit again ( ie third try ) then this result counts even if the mark is lower than the original result . This would explain what happened with your situation GetDownNesbitt. We were told this by science dept in DC's school.

I think that the higher mark counts, unless it is at the end of the course when the GCSE is being awarded, then, because under the new rules at least 40% of the qualification must be sat at the end, unless there are other papers being sat/submitted at the same time totalling 40% or more that latest result will have to count.

Lots of specifications also say that only one resit of each paper (or overall?) is allowed, so it you want to resit again you would have to begin again, in which case only the most recent would count.

You are correct about only the final unit results for certification count, and that the higher result is used for resits not being certificated at the time.

However, I struggle to get my head wrapped around how you can resit and then not use this for this for certification - in a practical sense.

Anyway, this is a peculiarity for this year only. Next year, everything will be linear :).