My nephew has a C in gcse in year 7

[iamnotaprincess]

The school got him to do a paper and yes, he did really well. Is this super weird? He is only 12 and just started secondary. My sister is a bit perplexed and so am I. We were not educated in the UK, so we are getting worried that maybe gcses are a bit easy these days? My nephew is super fast at maths but definetely no genius. The questions did seem to be quite easy....I wanted to know what you guys think....

The "first attempt counts" thing only affects schools, not pupils.

So schools can only count their pupils' first attempt in league tables. Pupils can count their best result towards life/university/everything afaik.

This is to deter schools from entering pupils repeatedly for qualifications they might not be ready for, which is more strain on the students.

Since this rule came in (in 2014), numbers of below-year-11s sitting GCSEs have plummeted. I'd be very surprised if a year 7 officially sat a GCSE, because what's in it for anyone? More likely he was given a past paper to do and the school marked it and gave him a grade based on that.

Rereading the OP, there hasn't been an actual GCSEs exam series since OP's nephew started secondary last month, so it must have been a past paper.

JustRichmal- still first attempt only for performance tables, whether current A*-G or new 9-1 GCSEs.

My ds got a c in a GCSEs practice paper in Y6 ... Then got a b in the real thing five years on. Great progress.

OP says he sat "a paper".

I thought the GCSE consisted of more than one paper.

Your nephew should be being challenged and stretched, whatever his level. That is what his parents should be focussing on with school.

Off to do some maths with my y8 as posts like this can make even the most rational parent think their child is failing because they are 'only' working at level 6!

Several year seven at dc schools got A and A* on the higher paper last year.
DD who has SEN got a D on the foundation paper so I wouldn't say a C was exceptionally bright.
The A and B pupils are being set challenging college level work.

Just to add dc school gave everyone the foundation paper to see how they did.

Tutoring is not compulsory and in fact many highly tutored children struggle at grammar.

Your sister needs to talk to the school if she feels he's not being stretched. Have they already been set by the way, if so, is he in top set and were does he feel he is in relation to the others in the class? DD's top set class where expected to do extension work, which certainly stretched her - she reckons she's about average in top set and is forecast to get an 8 under the new system, but there will be those who will go on and get a 9.

system your school is very unusual. Selective?

Given that only 60%ish get a C in Y11, getting a C in Y7 is very good. And SEN isn't the same as 'not clever'. Many children with SEN are very clever.

where is OP

Sorry noble I didn't mean to insinuate that he wasn't a bright boy for getting a c, of course he I but he would not be considered exceptional or given the higher level work the boys in dc school are.

Not selective no. It is a bog standard council estate comp school. I had no idea they had used gcse papers until they sent them home marked and was a bit about it at the time.

All the exam boards are making GCSEs and A-levels incredibly more difficult. I assume you haven't seen the GCSE question about Hannah's sweets]. Also, (letter) grades [[http://www.aqa.org.uk/about-us/supporting-education/policy/gcse-and-a-level-changes/structure-of-new-gcses/explaining-new-gcse-grades-transcript won't exist when he does his GCSEs.

Sorry, don't know what happened there:
All the exam boards are making GCSEs and A-levels incredibly more difficult. I assume you haven't seen the GCSE question about Hannah's sweets. Also, (letter) grades won't exist when he does his GCSEs.

Another attempt:

All the exam boards are making GCSEs and A-levels incredibly more difficult. I assume you haven't seen the GCSE question about Hannah's sweets. Also, (letter) grades won't exist when he does his GCSEs.

My DD2 who has no special talent for maths easily got a 'c' in foundation maths in Y5.

this is a foundation maths paper

oh and you would only need to get 74% of them right for a C.It is a national scandal.thank god GCSE maths will be reformed for the current Y10s

Ds1 is good at maths and sat GCSEs this summer. He says Hannah's sweets just isn't that hard, it is one of the hardest ones on the paper to distinguish those that should get an A* but nothing unusual. I think maths teachers have generally said the same, it was just the press getting in a lather.

Hannah's Sweets essentially distinguished between strict recipe followers at one end of the scale and knowledge generalisers at the other. People in the latter category don't tend to have problems applying a basic concept or two in an unusual/tricky context and they also don't tend to understand why the former can't do the same.

Hannah's Sweets essentially distinguished between strict recipe followers at one end of the scale and knowledge generalisers at the other.

I don't even think it did that. It was just a perfectly straight forward question involving one trivial probability fact (that if two events have probabilities a and b, the probability of both is ab) and some simple algebra. If people wanting decent grades in a maths exam at age 16 can't do that, just what can they do?