ds crushed - tutor did not teach him correct GCSE syllabus!

[lainiekazan]

Ds learns Latin independently and with a tutor, who costs an arm and two legs. He went into the exam today and realised straightaway that he had only covered half the syllabus. Ds was hoping for a very good grade and to go on and do it at A Level and possibly beyond. But now he clearly is starting this paper at only 50%.

I don't know what to say to the tutor. He is very good and ds likes him, but this is a blow.

Hope his 6th form are understanding

Obliviously the tutor isn't very good because he taught the wrong damn thing.

But having said that, could the tutor not provide free tuition for a resit?

If your son, OP, has done OK in the first two language papers and does well in Wednesday's poetry paper he might still be able to get a good grade.

Are there resits in November or January? I looked at the OCR site but couldn't make out whether these are offered. A resit for a few marks may be a bit OTT but if an A* boundary is around 90% then every mark counts. Otoh I'm quite sure ds wouldn't want to go through the whole thing again - four hours of exams for the sake of the marks he lost. He might do worse!

Since he is an independent candidate I suppose he could not declare the GCSE but ds has been such an enthusiastic student it seems such a shame. And also certain universities supposedly do an A* sweep so if he had a lesser grade it might affect his chances.

And also certain universities supposedly do an A

I have never come across any university expecting this!

A* boundary seems to be in lower 80's

I sat an A-level where the teacher had failed to teach one of the texts. I had some idea of the story, as I was well read, so I blagged it and came out with a B. As a class we wrote to the exam board, as did our principal, and some of us were marked up. I think they just added a certain number of marks to everyone's paper. I ended up with an A. Fortunately the points system meant I still got my place at university.
Get a refund from the tutor and use it to pay for a resit. This is the problem with tutors that are not part of the educational system.

I had the same thing. I sat down in my English A Level with my pen poised to do the Wife of Bath. No Wife of Bath! Disaster! It was another tale altogether. This being the 80s, the school said "Oh, these things happen." And of course parents in those days had zero involvement. My parents would have been more likely to fly to the moon than speak to The School. It was just our tough luck.

There are no resits in any subject except Maths and English. And even then it is the full qualification.