Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Flip

Original poster

GCSE English retake at college

20 replies

snozzlemaid · 04/09/2014 15:10

Ds(16) got a D for his Eng lang and Eng lit he took in June. Obviously he now has to retake it to try to achieve a C.
He is doing a btec diploma in Business studies at college along with the English retake. Can anyone clear up some things he says that the English teacher at college is telling them.
He was told originlly that he may be able to retake the exam in November but now he's had a lesson the teacher has told them that they won't be doing this. They will have to redo all of the course work along with the speaking and listening.
Why would he have to do the speaking and listening again? I thought that had been scrapped as the results of these don't now go towards the final result.
Any GCSE English teachers who can help and advise?

OP posts:

Leeds2 · 04/09/2014 15:23

No help, and not a teacher, but I thought the speaking and listening had been scrapped too.

LeBearPolar · 04/09/2014 15:29

What board is he doing? If you know that, you can look up the specification quite easily online to see what the requirements are.

I can't help because we do IGCSE English which still requires spoken and written coursework. A student who resat this summer (of his L6) just had to take the exam again and was able to resubmit the same coursework as his grade in those elements was fine.

What were your DS's marks like for his coursework in comparison to the exam? If he did poorly in all elements, that might be why he has to redo them all.

Original poster

snozzlemaid · 04/09/2014 15:51

Thanks I'll see if I can find out what exam board he'll be doing and check his coursework marks.

OP posts:

Original poster

snozzlemaid · 04/09/2014 16:15

Right he says he thinks it's AQA again, which he did in June. Looking at their website it looks like they still have to do the speaking and listening but it doesn't count towards the GCSE it is noted as an additional part on their certificate at whatever grade they achieve. He got a grade 4 before - is that good or bad?
Do you think he's got to do coursework again as he's not at the same school. Secondary school has no 6th form so he's now at a different college. So would they jot be able to get hold of his old coursework to reuse? I can't see that we've been given his marks for that anywhere so no idea how bad it was.

OP posts:

ChillySundays · 04/09/2014 19:38

I was told that that the controlled assessment done at school is used towards his grade if he takes the resit in November. I think only maths and language can be taken in November.

What grade was his controlled assessment?. My DS got a D in his and was told it would be too much to try and get the grades in the exam/s to make up for the D
I could be wrong so hopefully a teacher will come along.

Cuckoocloud · 05/09/2014 06:01

My son got a D in English Language. OCR have told me that he can use his controlled assessment marks again and just retake the paper in November or June (there was only one exam with OCR, not sure about other boards).
If your son is at a different school he can ask the new school if they can facilitate the retake - or, he may have to arrange to go to another school and take it as an external candidate.
My son got B and C in his controlled assessments so I think we will just arrange for him to take the exam again and keep everything crossed for a better mark to pull him up to a C - or is it too much to hope for a B??
With OCR the weighting are 20% for each of the controlled assessment and 60% for the exam.
It's a pain isn't it?! Good luck to your son.

Agggghast · 05/09/2014 06:10

The CA and Speaking and Listening marks count for the November Unit 1 resit but the June 2015 tasks are different so he would have to redo them. The S and L has to be done but is reported separately.

I would suggest seeing if your son could resit in November anyway if his CA results are good. If he gets a C then he can drop English, seems a pity not to try again sooner.

FozzieMK · 05/09/2014 12:43

My DD has just taken an AQA English GCSE resit this year. It was a year long course that ran alongside her college course. All controlled assessments were redone and the exam retaken in June. She had to take the speaking and listening exam, but it was shown as a separate mark on the results paper.

Original poster

snozzlemaid · 05/09/2014 14:40

Well I think ds is just going to have to put up with it for another year and resit next June. He absolutely hates English though and is struggling with confidence as he's taken the exam twice already, so now thinks he's rubbish at it and will never get a C.

I'm trying to get him to see how important it is, but he's 16 and doesn't get what I'm saying.
He just won't put any effort in until the last minute, which is too late. He thinks he tried his best in June so obviously isn't capable of getting a C. Whereas I think if he really knuckled down and worked hard he could achieve it.

OP posts:

FozzieMK · 05/09/2014 15:02

To be honest snozzlemaid my DD found the college retake much easier than the 2 year GCSE at school, not as much pressure and it is just a short course. The whole 'laid back' feeling at the college has meant she has thrived there compared to her private senior school.

Original poster

snozzlemaid · 05/09/2014 16:21

Thanks Fozzie. I hope that'll be the case. He's only had one lesson so far but he wasn't happy. It's a big class of over 30 students apparently and he didn't like the lecturer much. But then that's probably his whole negativity towards the subject clouding his judgement.
I tell you what, if and when he ever gets a C, there'll be big celebrations in the snozzle house!

OP posts:

ChillySundays · 05/09/2014 19:10

My DS has yet to have his first english lesson but I am prepared for the moaning. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that we will all be back next year telling everyone that C has been got!!

eatyourveg · 05/09/2014 19:51

Are you sure its GCSE - our college are swapping to IGCSE this year so everyone doing a retake will in fact be taking a different exam which as LebearPolar says, still has a speaking element

Original poster

snozzlemaid · 05/09/2014 20:47

I've got no idea eatyourveg. I've not spoken to college at all. I'm trying to get information out of ds. I wasn't sure how involved I could be now it's college. He seems to be sorting everything out himself now. No input from me needed anymore.
ChillySundays so nice to hear someone else is going through the same.

OP posts:

eatyourveg · 06/09/2014 09:03

Just to throw in another thought. If your ds really struggles with English then you should tell him to pop along to the ALS (additional learning support) dept in college and have a chat to them. In our college we have several specialist teachers who he would be able to have extra English sessions with to help keep him on track.

kittybelle · 06/09/2014 18:25

My son scraped a B but I am keen for him to resit next summer to get his number of A*/As up. I also think that he is not great at English but this is the one skill you need to be good for the rest of your education and career. I was planning to just enrol him in an exam outside of his 6th form and just sit the exam....there isnt any revision to do and as he is doing 2 essay type AS he should just naturally get better by then. The school he is at is a v high achieving grammar and they dont let any boys do English a year early as they believe that they are just not emotionally ready for it in Yr10.....so I am taking their philosophy one step further and hope that taking it a year later will pay off. He is also an August birthday - so quite immature..

Leeds2 · 06/09/2014 18:45

I feel for you, Snozzle but I would encourage him to keep trying, because - as I'm sure you know - so many universities and jobs seem to require at least a C in English and Maths.

17leftfeet · 07/09/2014 08:04

Kitty I don't understand your reasoning for someone getting a B to resit?

What are his thoughts on it?

Amaxapax · 07/09/2014 08:30

Kitty, what so you mean there isn't any revision to do for the exam? I appreciate he may not need to learn specific facts, but that doesn't mean he won't need to revise. Particularly, if he's looking for an A or A*, he needs to practise writing with flair and sophistication, a range of sentence structures, varying punctuation for effect, etc.

Agggghast · 07/09/2014 17:07

Well kitty if he did traditional GCSE English he will need to redo his CA and S and L, if he did iGCSE he will have to redo his S and L. Plus it is the attitude that English does not need to be revised that causes pupils to underachieve, it infuriates me because it so often comes from the ignorance of parents who tell their children to concentrate on other subjects!

Flip