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

Foundation or Higher for English GCSE?

17 replies

ChocolateEggFace · 28/03/2015 09:24

This all seems so complicated!

DS has an A, B and a C in his English coursework.

He did badly in his mocks, but has been entered for Foundation in the hope he will score a C, and therefore "hopefully" get a B overall. I think he may well just end up with a C.

DS is capable of getting a B in the exam, he's always been on track to get an A or a B. He got an A in the end of year exam in Y10, and is generally able. Until the mocks it was expected he would do the Higher paper.

My gut feeling is to put him in for Higher, and his teacher is happy to do so if that's what I want but it's a massive risk, isn't it? DS doesn't know, and is happy to trust me and his teacher.

Help!

OP posts:

ClashCityRocker · 28/03/2015 09:28

What went wrong in the mocks? Did he feel like he performed to the best of his ability?

Fwiw, my mock grades were pretty poor - c's, d's and e's, mostly because I didn't do any revision for them. My actual results were all a's and b's.

LIZS · 28/03/2015 09:30

Go for higher if he is capable. Max you score on Foundation is C which wouldn't generate a solid B.

littlesupersparks · 28/03/2015 09:35

Higher. Or consider entering higher for one paper and foundation for then other if they can do this - particularly if one area of his work is weaker than others.

Does he know what went wrong in the mocks? He needs to get some good practise in - ask school for as many papers as possible.

homebythesea · 28/03/2015 09:38

Definiteky higher- why limit the possibility of getting anything higher than a C when he us on paper capable of it?

notinminutenow · 28/03/2015 10:12

I agree with the other posters - go for Higher, especially as teacher is not anti.
Max he can get on foundation is a C. Nothing wrong with that but it sounds like he's capable of more and just had a bad day / didn't revise.
Good luck!

Rosieposy4 · 28/03/2015 10:15

Not an English teacher but at my school in my subject we would only enter students for foundation if their CA were a lot weaker than your sons, eg D,D,C. He certainly looks like he is capable of at least a B and unless school are very anti higher I would go for that.

notinminutenow · 28/03/2015 10:16

"My gut feeling is to put him in for Higher,..."

Forgot to say, gut instinct is generally a great guide!

balia · 28/03/2015 10:22

If it is AQA, you can't enter higher for one paper and foundation for another in Language, little as there is only one exam paper - you might be thinking of Lit? He can also get a 'B' entering the foundation exam if his CA is strong enough.

You really don't need to ask the school for past papers, they are freely available from the exam board websites, often with mark schemes so students can check answers.

If you know the exam board and have specifics of his CA I can probably work out the 'risk' more accurately for you.

TeenAndTween · 28/03/2015 10:37

OP - you may (or may not) find my earlier similar thread helpful: here

littlesupersparks · 28/03/2015 12:56

We do WJEC and you can enter different tiers for reading and writing...

Original poster

ChocolateEggFace · 28/03/2015 13:18

Thanks Teen, will have a look.... Yes there are different tiers... I think he can do higher for reading and foundation for writing.

I'm still confused as which is Literature and which is Language though. I suggested to his teacher he did Higher in Language but Foundation in Literature and she emailed back about reading and writing....yes it's WJEC, littlesupersparks

OP posts:

littlesupersparks · 28/03/2015 13:23

Literature is a completely different exam and qualification.

To be honest I would oh higher for both I think. Tiers have to be in by 31st March iirc but can be changed at a cost right up until the day of the exam. Our school would cover that cost if there was good reason, but you could offer to do so if you want to go with higher but would still like the option of foundation just in case.

littlesupersparks · 28/03/2015 13:25

I agree with a pp who suggested their school would go for higher with the grades you describe - with Ds and Cs there would be more reason to go with Foundation.

littlesupersparks · 28/03/2015 13:27

www.amazon.co.uk/English-Language-Higher-Revision-Workbook/dp/0435027565

Does he have this revision guide?

sassytheFIRST · 29/03/2015 09:31

As it is WJEC, I strongly recommend higher tier. We teach it and found last year that the F tier was so harshly graded that it basically precluded almost every F student from getting a C grade. As an eg, the writing paper questions were identical on both tiers, yet to get a C grade ob the F paper you needed 29/40 whereas on H paper you only had to score 24. If he has a decent chance of C or better, H paper IMO. Lit is different - still seems easier to get that C and the main difference is that the F Lit questions have bullet points to help students structure their answer, where the H paper just has the question, no bullets.

Original poster

ChocolateEggFace · 29/03/2015 09:45

That's really helpful, ThankYou sassy...have just ordered the revision books to keep him busy over Easter

OP posts:

needmorespace · 30/03/2015 10:51

my son's teacher suggested that he be entered for the foundation last year in the expectation that the would be a solid C (you can't get higher than a C grade at Foundation level so no chance of a B overall is my understanding).
He didn't, he got a D (because his controlled assessments were moderated downwards from a C to a D so a D overall).
He re-sat the higher paper (with the same controlled assessments) in November and achieved a high C grade (a few marks off a B)
Without a doubt, enter him for the higher
At least he then has a chance of a higher grade if he is capable. If he gets a C then nothing lost

Flip