Any GCSE English teachers or markers please

[Saxy]

My son took his WJEC GCSE English lang paper today and miss read the clock thinking he had plenty of time left but didn't realise until they told them to put their pens down. He no where near finished his esssay and had partially done the first question with the intention of going back to it.

He is very upset and convinced he has failed (he was predicted a 7). If he doesn't really well in the 2nd paper can he turn it around and scrape a pass? He said this paper is 40% and the next one 60%.

Is there any hope

Well I'll be honest and say it's not great. I tell my pupils that English exams are as much a test of time management as anything else. However, he sounds bright and it sounds like he's written 'something' for every question (which is better than leaving any totally blank) so all is not lost!

The second exam result makes up a higher proportion of the final gcse so he needs to swap his attention to that now. Could you get him an easy to read watch to place on his desk? And help him work out how long to spend on each question?

I don't mark English but I think that under the new system it's very hard to predict where the grade boundaries will be. Realistically a 7 is going to be a pretty tough ask without a good score on both papers

To check a couple of things - was the start and finish time clearly displayed and could your son see a clock or is it that he isn't confident to tell the time?

The best he can hope for is to do as well as he can on the 2nd paper and hope he's got some marks on the first one.

Is is worth mentioning to the school that he has trouble with the timings, maybe there is something they could do to help him for future papers

Thanks both. He freely admits he cocked up with the clock, I think it was brain freeze. He has never had this problem before. He is devastated. I've told him it's not the end of the world he will just need to retake. So frustrating though as a silly mistake.

Any advice on what he should be revising for the 2nd exam. Apparently you can't revise English language( according to him)

Has he watched mr bruff on YouTube?

Not sure. Will ask him when I get home from work. Such a silly mistake!

Thanks for the suggestion:)

Is this the specification he's doing?

If it is he's already done 20% on the unit 1 Oracy leaving 40% on the next paper not 60%

Mr Bruff is a good suggestion

Ah ok. So he forgot about the Oracy. He thinks he did ok in that. So the last paper is 40% too then?

Mr Bruff seems to be geared to a different exam board but guessing they are mostly similar so that's ok?

Trying to get blood out of a stone at the moment trying to work out from him what paper 2 is about.

Could any of you helpful mumsnetters let me know please.

Oh sorry, I see I forgot to post my link, doh!

www.wjec.co.uk/qualifications/english/r-english-language-gcse-wales/WJEC%20GCSE%20English%20Language%20Specification%202015%20(24-10-14)%20-%20Branded.pdf.pdf?language_id=1

This tells you what each paper is

Did you say it was WJEC (now Eduqas)? I don't teach it, but the specification is here: www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/english-language/gcse/ There are also sample exam papers on the same page.

I'm not sure what PP means re oracy though - if it is standard GCSE (not iGCSE) then the spoken language element does not count towards the final GCSE. It is reported separately (e.g exam certificate will say GCSE English Language 7, Spoken Language Endorsement Distinction) Several years ago it was worth 20% but Mr Gove changed that. DS's exam today would be 40%, next week's (Monday?) will be 60%.

Re 'you can't revise for English', this is crap. There's very little 'content' to learn, but he can absolutely learn what questions to expect, how the questions are marked, what sorts of techniques he should use in the writing section etc. He should also do lots and lots of practice (this might have helped him avoid today's issue)

If he REALLY doesn't know what is in the exam then look through his books or contact his teacher. I bet he's been given loads of guidance about it and is just in panic mode right now.

Ah - Crosspost - apologies @examseason. I didn't realise the specification was different in Wales. @Saxy - use my link if you're in England and @examseason's if you're in Wales.

Thank you all so much and for clarifying the exam percentages. We are in England so I will check the link.

He absolutely does know what to revise but is in shutdown mode at the moment.

I assumed you were in Wales, I should have checked.

Hopefully you're got enough information to support him now

I'd go for soothing words and sympathy tonight, then crack the whip tomorrow

and for him
for you

I mark but not for Eduqas. The examiner will mark what is there and award on that basis. In longer questions he might be ok and only drop one or two marks. I generally find that after a certain point they've shown all they can do and the rest continues at the same level. So it might not be a total disaster. Remember that English isn't like Science or Maths and we are generally testing for skills over content. It's they way they discuss ideas not how much of it they talk about.

Sorry- the way

I did all the soothing words YogiYoni and "you can turn it around" while biting back the "how on earth did you get reading the clock wrong?!" 😱😱 but yes absolutely cracking the whip now (and a large glass for me last night too).

He has no exams today so I'll be getting him up soon as maths tomorrow.

Thanks Nanny, that's reassuring. What will be will be and he'll just have to take it again if it doesnt work out. Luckily he got an unconditional place at college so that's one less thing to worry about.

Sorry that sounds a bit wa*ky what I mean is his English mark is not dependant on doing A level's like English etc.

Are you sure about that? I teach A-level Lang and Lit and we've set the entry level at a 5 at the very least.

I think the op means that he's not doing a-level English so won't 'need' the 7.

Yes sorry that's what I meant YogiYoni.

Is he more positive today?

Thanks for asking YogiYoni. No he's not more positive unfortunately. After doing the edexcel maths yesterday he is now convinced he will be re sitting maths and English.

His school are running a maths revision lesson tomorrow and then it's back home to revise for English.

Sorry to hear that. If it helps at all, some of my form group came to me in tears after the maths paper yesterday so I spoke with the head of dept and she said that the paper is very hard and isn't really designed to be finished - there will always be some questions that some/most pupils can't answer.

Whereas in English we want everyone to answer everything and they are marked for the quality of the response, in maths, the questions themselves are part of the differentiation (if that makes sense at all?)

Anyway, long story short, she still felt those girls could get 7s, so presumably your son can too.