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Secondary education

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Original poster

Is there a hand holding thread for Y11 parents and GCSE results yet?

439 replies

fatowl · 13/08/2014 15:48

DD is waiting on GCSE results next Thursday.

She is bouncing around being a teen on Summer holidays (she is off in Ireland for a week with her friend's family)

I am beginning to feel a bit sick.

She is hoping to stay at school and do A-levels, but now the results are getting closer I'm a bit concerned we don't have a back up plan.

How are the rest of you doing?

OP posts:
johull · 21/08/2014 22:17

As an English teacher I would say 100% get it remarked! It shouldn't cost you anything. We got 3 of ours remarked last year and they were 2/3 marks away from the 'C'. Good luck

Agggghast · 21/08/2014 22:35

So pleased for everyone's DC results. I just felt I ought to mention that if your child was within, say 3 marks, of a grade border it will already have been carefully checked. So there is less likelihood of movement than a paper a little further away. But that is no reason not to apply especially in English which is so subjective.

Solo · 21/08/2014 22:46

Dame that's not what I was saying.

Molio haven't seen that word used in years!! but no; the comments came from a teacher, not hearsay from disgruntled students or their parents.

Anyway, I don't have the money for re marking and Ds's grammar school have a strict no resit policy, so Ds is stuck with what he has.

Onwards and upwards!

hyperhops · 21/08/2014 22:50

another one here with a dd disappointed with drama result - but ed-excell not AQA so maybe more to do with an across the boards tightening up on boundaries etc...
both unit one and two (controlled assessments) she had got an A for, but then one went down to a b when sent off to be moderated (and not on the a/b borderline either!) and then she was predicted an A for the performance module and got a C.Shock
Overall grade came out as B - which is obviously still a great result but she is very disappointed and nothing I say makes her feel any better. Sad
Seems she has done better than most of her friends though who got Cs or below so harsh marking for all it seems Sad
so sad for them all because I know her group worked so, so hard. Sad

hyperhops · 21/08/2014 22:52

should add that this was her first GCSE and she is only end of Y9 and did it in one year (which I think is madness but is how the school does it) so overall I think she has done fantastically.
Doesn't help that her older brother - getting most of his results today - got all As and A*s.
They both worked so hard and we are so proud of them both - but I just wish poor dd wasn't so sad.

thegreylady · 21/08/2014 23:03

Just to clarify a little. I was an AQA marker and remarker for GCSE English. Remarkers have no idea who has or has not paid. We were told that when we were 'prime' marking the papers we were marking the candidate but remarks were marking the original marker. We were never to hunt for extra marks but to award them if they were there.
I remember being told that 1or 2 marks difference between us and the om was a matter of opinion, 3 or 4 was a matter for discussion round the table and more than 4 consistently led to all that markers scripts being remarked. By the time you get the results of a remarked script it will have been scrutinised by at least 3 senior examiners after it was first looked at.

NerfHerder · 21/08/2014 23:08

Interesting about Drama; I know several people upset with their result (i.e. much lower than predicted) yet the national figures are pretty much identical to last years (JCQ publication of all entries/results).

Has anyone been disappointed with History results?

hyperhops · 21/08/2014 23:18

hmm that is odd then nerf maybe students are being predicted too high grades then , leading to disappointment at final result?
The whole thing has been so stressful for dd. she has ended up actually unwell and referred to CAMHS and the stress of the drama gcse has been a major contributing factor. I am so sad for her. Sad

Oakmaiden · 21/08/2014 23:35

greylady does that mean that if there is only a 1 or 2 mark difference between remark and original, then the original stands?

Looking at ds's mark breakdown he got 43/70 (C), 46/80 (D) and 30/50 (C) with a total of 119 (the grade boundary is 120), giving him an overall D. We can't blame it on doing badly on a particular paper (he is only 1 point over for paper 1, 2 under for paper 2 and bang on the border for paper 3) but I guess it is far more likely that a remark would find an extra 1 mark somewhere, putting him up to C, than that it would feel it necessary to take away the 19 that would put him down to an E.

That said getting a D definitely isn't a shock - the problem with English is it seems to be all about understanding motivations and why authors write in particular ways. DS is not good at that!

Molio · 21/08/2014 23:53

Thanks frogs. Difficult. I've a few days to think.

HawthornLantern · 22/08/2014 03:04

Purple Alert once upon a time what happened to your daughter happened to me too. Took Eng Lang one year early - was predicted an A and got a C. I was very disappointed and my school wanted a remark but my Dad (who worked in a sixth form college) refused to allow it, saying it was a pass and I should move on from there and not get distracted. It sounded harsh but I ploughed ahed and ended up going to Oxbridge to study... English - they never once mentioned that C. They were much more interested in seeing how thinking and expression had developed in the meanwhile.

That said - if a remark looks sensible - go for it - I don't think it's a bad idea. But I think the bigger picture is that a reasonable if not spectacular grade - it doesn't disqualify your DD from anything. There is no reason at all to think that any hopes and ambitions are now unrealistic. It hurts at the time - it does dent confidence - but it isn't the end of the road.

KatyMac · 22/08/2014 08:00

I agreed with It hurts at the time - it does dent confidence - but it isn't the end of the road

DD is going on to study Drama (well Musical Theatre) she has a place already. She got a pass in Drama - her friend came in with a merit saying "but everyone knows your DD is better than me" but there is no point looking into it. It's a pass, she has her place - it really doesn't matter

hareinthemoon · 22/08/2014 08:17

Katymac we had similar - DD had a C in Drama - A for all assessments, she just flunked the exam. A in Dance even though in her exam she was within the A grade boundary she was told she had to get. But she is off to do a degree in dance in September so although it chafed a bit, in the scheme of things it doesn't matter - though I do appreciate it is easy for me to say that as she is usually quite a sunny little soul. For those whose DCs take things hard (like DD's best friend) it is much more difficult.

Congratulations to all with pleasing results and strengthening vibes to those whose results were not what they wanted. I do think that it's an important life skill to develop the ability to find different ways to your goal than the well-trodden path. It is easy to get caught up in the frenzy and think all is lost when things don't go the way you think they will, or should, but we need to remind DCs (and ourselves, usually) that there are many. many paths to success.

todayisnottheday · 22/08/2014 08:28

Thanks everyone, dd has been better over the summer, the complete lack of pressure has helped!

As expected she didn't get a mark for maths which caused major upset and self loathing Sad

However she did get 3bs 1c and 2ds so pretty impressive considering she missed the second week of exams! She finally calmed down last night and realised she has all the important ones apart from maths and she'll be ok. Fingers crossed she keeps her place at college now.

thegreylady · 22/08/2014 08:32

Oakmaiden it did usually mean that but we would be given the actual grade (remember mark and grade are not the same) and the predicted grade andif there were two grades (not marks) between the two then we would always have a close look. Also, if the original marker was proving to be a bit severe then we would definitely look hard.
The difference would be if a whole school was being remarked in which case grade boundaries would be looked at first. There was a very complex system and if the remarker genuinely felt a candidate deserved an higher grade they would get it. However someone always has to be one mark either side of the boundary and we would never say that because someone missed a grade by one mark we'd find the mark. That occasionally happened on the C/D border but hardly ever elsewhere.

BaconAndAvocado · 22/08/2014 09:19

QOD thanks for that!

Good to read some of the recent posts re disappointments.

Despite DS's amazing results, he's on a downer, saying that he needs more A* to!get into the top universities!

Reading this thread and having been on the Student Room I know this is not the case.

Well done everyone!

Now the really hard work starts..........A levels!

KittiesInsane · 22/08/2014 09:32

Nerf, for drama nationwide was that the overall grade that's stayed the same? DS still got an A despite his D on the written exam as he had one mark off 100% on the performance modules, and a couple of friends are in the same boat, so maybe really harsh exam marking was the only way to prevent a raft of A* grades in drama this year.

He got A and A in English, so as Legallady* said above, presumably he can string a sentence together.

Greengrow · 22/08/2014 10:20

This thread makes me realise why I am glad my children are not allowed to take GCSEs a year early however brilliant or top of the class they are. Better and perhaps more impressive to take them all at once in one sitting having had 2 years of the proper course.

QOD · 22/08/2014 10:44

Yup, dd took 3 early but now has to start 2 new subjects as well as the rest ....
Triple science, English, RE, Geography, PE, German, are there 2 Englishes still? And also start on Business studies and bloody Further Maths!!

So I don't really understand what taking 3 early achieved as she has a year to study 2 totally new ones and then taken 10/11 ..... Well, 9 months

CatherineofMumbles · 22/08/2014 11:09

DS very academic indie school no-one takes GSCE early, unless, occasionally a native speaker of a language takes it as an extra. School prefers to give DC the chance to mature, go on beyond the syllabus, and allow time for other activities -eg sport, drama etc.

todayisnottheday · 22/08/2014 11:09

Perhaps I'm missing something but I don't understand this push for reams of gcses? I suppose having a lot may help top uni applications but the majority of GCSE students really need the top 5 with a couple extra to underpin don't they? Certainly I've never been held back for my "average" results. The pressure just seems out of kilter to the advantages (that sentence makes no sense sorry! )

Greengrow · 22/08/2014 12:03

Catherine that is my view too and also that they should do 8 = 10 all at once and no more so they keep lots of times for music, sports, other hobbies or just staring into the distance and thinking.
Mine will do ten next year all in one go at age 16 (9 if they drop 3 sciences down to two).

exexpat · 22/08/2014 12:56

DS (and the whole top maths set at his school) did maths a year early, which made a lot of sense - all good mathematicians, finding it easy and probably getting bored if they'd waited until the end of year 11 to take the GCSE. All but one sailed through with A*, then went on to do the further/additional maths qualification this year as a bridge to A-level maths/further maths in the 6th form.

They used to get them to do AS maths in year 11, then do maths A-level in year 12 and further maths in year 13, but that has changed now as apparently universities will only accept A-levels taken in year 13.

DS also did French a year early (along with the whole of the top set), which made less sense in my view, since he'd only started it in year 7 and wasn't that good (in my opinion) - still managed an A* but that was with a modular GCSE which allowed a lot of rote-learning of things for the oral etc.

I really don't see the point in getting anyone to do a GCSE early unless they are expected to get top grades.

CatherineofMumbles · 22/08/2014 13:36

Exexpat interesting - at my DS school everyone does Maths GCSE in Y11, and the top sets also take AS maths at that time. We were not aware of that (DS forgot to tell us Grin) , and so were surprised last week when DS casually told us he had got his AS result (A), and then the A* this week for GCSE.

damepeanutbutter · 22/08/2014 13:42

exexpat - my DD's school sussed out the 'unis only interested in A levels taken in Year 13' thing. They used to get kids to sit A level maths in Year 12 and further maths A level in Year 13. Now they do AS Maths and AS Further Maths in Year 12, then A level maths and A level further maths in Year 13. Same amount of study but better result for UCAS form. However, with AS levels having only one more year to run this will no longer be relevant.