Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

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

Original poster

GCSE maths grades

31 replies

BertrandRussell · 01/12/2016 14:49

If a kid got a solid 5 in a maths mock GCSE last week what are the chances of them pushing it to a 7 in the real thing? Any thoughts?

OP posts:
TeenAndTween · 01/12/2016 17:18

How much revision did they do for the mock?
Have they finished the syllabus yet?

noblegiraffe · 01/12/2016 17:37

No such thing as a solid 5, just an 'I'm going to put this score as a 5, but actually we are totally guessing'. It could actually be a weak 5, a 6, or, depending on the madness of the grade boundaries, already a 7 - assuming it was on the higher paper.

All any child can do is work their socks off and hope for a favourable wind. It's in the lap of the gods.

noblegiraffe · 01/12/2016 17:40

Actually, what kind of student is this? A middle ability student wanting to improve or a high ability student who has done unexpectedly badly?

TheFallenMadonna · 01/12/2016 17:45

Out of interest, do you know what board, and their raw score?

RalphSteadmansEye · 01/12/2016 17:51

I'm going to make a big assumption here and "know" your ds - assume that's who you're talking about - is both able and reasonably hard working.

A 5 at this stage indicates to me (not a maths teacher but work with them!) that either school is marking paper harshly (well picking harsh grade boundaries) or he's not been taught all the content yet.

If it's the second, that makes achieving the hallowed 7 a bit harder. Have you looked at exam board spec or revision guides endorsed by the board and established whether he can do all the top difficulty topics?

I'm sure a maths teacher will be along with more useful advice!

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 01/12/2016 17:52

He's a friend of ds's who was really upset with his result and his mum asked me if I knew anything about it. I think it's AQA. He's top set -but the top set is a very wide range of ability. I would imagine he would have worked quite hard. Got a B in Stats last summer.

OP posts:
Original poster
BertrandRussell · 01/12/2016 17:55

The teacher gave them a grade with a A,B or C for nearly the next grade, solid and nearly the one below.

OP posts:
TheFallenMadonna · 01/12/2016 17:56

Interested in where they are setting their grade boundaries really. It's a bit of a minefield this year.

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 01/12/2016 17:58

No,Ralph, not Ds on this occasion!

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 01/12/2016 18:01

The teacher gave them a grade with a A,B or C for nearly the next grade, solid and nearly the one below.

This is so ridiculous. Totally ridiculous. The teacher has no idea how solid or otherwise their grade boundary predictions are.

What did they get in their KS2 SATS?

PberryT · 01/12/2016 18:02

As noble said, there is no such thing as a solid 5. He could end up with literally anything come the Summer.

Teachers have no grade boundaries, grade descriptiors or accurate assessments.

Despite pressure from Ofsted to make accurate predictions, finally our SLT have caved and realised the impossibility of the task.

TheFallenMadonna · 01/12/2016 18:07

Agree with the others. Even assigning a grade is tough. Dividing that grade into 3 sub grades is pie in the sky.

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 01/12/2016 18:12

No idea, noblegiaffe,sorry. I know not a 6.

OP posts:
RalphSteadmansEye · 01/12/2016 18:13

Ha ha! That'll teach me.

Comment still stands for maths: All you can do is learn content and check exam technique.

Scarydinosaurs · 01/12/2016 18:14

It is entirely dependent upon the performance of the rest of the country- so harder than ever to predict performance!

It is just a suck it and see for everyone.

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 01/12/2016 18:19

I'm perfectly happy to overshare about my children at the drop of a hat, Ralph! In fact I am having to stop myself working ds's result casually into a post on here as a stealth boast! But I will content myself with that very mild and subtle one.......Grin

OP posts:
RalphSteadmansEye · 01/12/2016 18:31

Hint taken Wink

Ds's school is sticking with igcse. It's very tough but at least completely predictable!

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 01/12/2016 18:39

"It is entirely dependent upon the performance of the rest of the country- so harder than ever to predict performance!

It is just a suck it and see for everyone."

Let's just hope that the institutions and companies that pay attention to GCSEs understand- as I've said before, a lot of kids at ds's school struggle to get Cs and desperately need them. I hope there's lots of stuff in the paper about them next summer.

OP posts:
dingit · 01/12/2016 18:57

The sixth form college ds has applied to for a ICT Btec is only asking for a level 3 for maths. This seems very low to me, but reading this thread, I think I can see why.

Original poster
BertrandRussell · 01/12/2016 19:05

The one ds wants to go to asks for a 6 minimum, preferably a 7 to do maths and a 5 to do anything else.......

OP posts:
YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 01/12/2016 19:11

But no-one has a clue what a 5,6 or 7 is going to look like AT ALL. They are making it up!

RalphSteadmansEye · 02/12/2016 07:03

Funny how there hasn't been a single thread (I don't think) stressing about grade boundaries in English?

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 02/12/2016 07:05

Ha! I could write a bloody novel about the stress of grade boundaries in English. Instead I just rock in a corner

Scarydinosaurs · 02/12/2016 07:42

When they had the infamous English GCSE balls up of 2012, colleges accepted History GCSEs as evidence of good written skills instead. The problem with this cohort is that all colleges are flapping about what they will accept.

There have been discussions on here about colleges insisting on 8s/9s to do A Level in that subject- if only 3% of the entire cohort will be awarded 9, then they aren't going to have enough to fill a class.

Scarydinosaurs · 02/12/2016 07:44

Ralph plenty on Twitter. None of us really have a clue. Many are refusing to predict and predicting 'band' performance instead. How this will translate to a grade is going to be up to the exam boards in July when they mark them and see where the boundaries will give the correct % distribution of 9s, 8s, 7s etc