Parents of Year 11s - the end has been and gone

[BitOutOfPractice]

The thread that got us all through the exams is now full so here's a new one to get us through the nervous wait for results

Well done to all our brave Y11s and wish every last one of them all the best

Link to the last thread

I haven't rewarded with money either DD
Got an A* in English she said so and so have got money and I said yes but what does it teach you in life? I'll reward for hardwork only you could put work in and get an E I'd still be proud ( well not fully but you get me)

Argh re grade boundaries. That could put the mockers on things.

DD is working this morning, then having spray tan to make sure she is festival ready, then riding, shopping for said festival, birthday tea for DH (he has asked for toad in the hole ) then packing for said festival.

Getting closer .....

Toad in the hole in this weather!!!???

think they get the ums tomorrow too, so its useful to know whether to put in a request for a remark.

think they get the ums tomorrow too, so its useful to know whether to put in a request for a remark

That's useful to know, thanks kitten

I just had an email from school confirming that her sixth form enrolment hasn't been cancelled. Thank god, because there was no plan b. if she doesn't make the grades for entry at school, she has bigger problems than having to look for a college.

Phew situated.

I don't really understand the UMS especially now the exams are all linear. Can you explain how knowing the UMS will help to know whether to put in for a remark kitten?

Oh dear, I've just been looking at grade boundaries. Me, obsessed? No...

UMS is a system where the numbers always match to grades in the same way each year - so A is always 90, A is 80, B is 70 etc. Every year the actual mark students get is then "converted" into a UMS mark using a scale that varies year to year and depends how hard the paper is. So if the exam is hard, you might only need 70% to get a UMS of 90 for an A, but if the exam is easy, you might need 90% to get a UMS of 90 and an A*

The UMS scores tell you easily whether they got, say, a low B (eg 80) or a high B (eg 89), which might affect whether or not you wanted to appeal a grade.

DS had his iGCSE results 2 weeks ago (Cambridge) and got the ums at the same time as the result - the school also had the marks for each paper - raw and the ums.
Edexcel last week for his AS - had the ums and the grade too.
Re ums and remark - you will know whether the student achieved a high grade within the banding or a lower one - e;g from ds's results he had 90 for Literature which put him at the absolute bottom of the A result and 96 for chemistry which was a solid A. It's probably wise to take a look at raw marks before deciding on a remark, though.
Grade boundaries are not out yet for cambridge igcse, but edexcel boundaries for the AS were out when DS got his result last week.
Good luck everyone for tomorrow!

Thanks Cloudy and Diva, that's helpful. Good Luck for tomorrow everyone!

So - have just caught up with last few messages on this thread in anticipation of tomorrow - do i need to be researching grade boundaries for DS subjects? Don't they get that information with results? or is results just A/B/C/D/E?
(O'levels i got via post and phoned to us on holiday by neighbour, A'levels i went to school then straight to pub where i stayed until closing).

From what I remember from my older son's paperwork, the grade is listed as is the UMS score. There was nothing about grade boundaries though, we had to find those ourselves online.

If their UMS details for each subject are given on the results slip, then do we need to know the grade boundaries? What extra information would it provide and how would that help DS1? Sorry to be dippy, this is the first time one of my children has done public exams.

So, for example, if his UMS for History is 69, then we know he has just missed a B grade, and we could make decisions about remarks accordingly, so what does knowing the grade boundary add? Sorry if I have misunderstood.

Afternoon, just sticking my nose in to join , the last Diego boy gets his grades tomorrow and for some reason I feel more very very nervous

Good luck everyone.

the second - They only way I can see it would help would be if your DC had a really good idea of how many actual marks they got on the paper - then you would know if the UMS score and grade was as expected, or worth appealing. Neither DS nor DSD seemed to have much of a clue though what they'd actually got - or rather both claimed to have got pretty much everything right in every exam, which is unlikely .

But maybe if they're the sort to have been analysing it all on the student room or something, comparing answers with others, etc they might know.

• I'm talking about an appeal based on them havign cocked up the marking, missed a number off, etc - not just one based on hoping the subjective nature of some marking might come off in their favour better a second time btw.

Thanks cloudyday99
Due to memory difficulties, he
can barely remember what the questions were, let alone what he answered, so I'm not sure it would add anything at this point. The only papers where he came out with an idea of how many marks he'd dropped were the Maths ones.

DS1 had his raw score as well as UMS 2 years ago for at least some if not all. Whether it's changed I don't know. I do remember looking up Chemistry to see how far off the * he was and realising he was nearer a B!

some subjects only give raw score, like maths. So for that you do need to know the grade boundary to see how close they were to it.

Thanks for the explanation Kitten. I am trying not to go there until the results are out tomorrow.

I am really chuffed that DS wants me to go in with him to get his results. He will then enrol/confirm his choices with school and I will wait in the car and phone/text people other than those that DS wishes to tell in person. It's the norm here, I know it's different elsewhere.

We are having a meal out tomorrow, but he's pretty low key is DS, and hates fuss.

Getting closer and closer now...

Having looked at the grade boundaries dd1 is feeling a bit better about some of the papers she worried about. Hopefully that translates into the grades she wants

I have started naming famous people that did well despite a lack of qualifications - just in case! E.g. Richard Branson, Ringo Starr

Chocolate, DBIL retired at 40, he has an O Level in Art

Not even mentioned the grade boundaries to DD. Might freak her out. She has had a productive day tidying her desk/bedroom and doing music practice.

I hope the media don't do there usual "GCSES are getting easier " blah blah nonsense tomorrow. When I see how much effort and stress these kids have been through it will make me want to scream.

I caught DS looking at the grade boundaries this morning. I don't think he'll take much from it because I had to remind him that his first maths paper was a tale of woe and failure in three texts. He'd forgotten all about that.

We went out for ice cream this afternoon, it's going to be raining tomorrow so today seemed to be a better time.