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Secondary education

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

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Original poster

Is anyone else starting to become anxious and constantly trying to second guess GCSE results?

68 replies

drivinmecrazy · 10/08/2017 11:53

Less than two weeks to go now until GCSE results day and it's really begining to dawn.
DD is reasonably confident one minute, the next all gloom and disaster.
In theory she is a straight A student, in practice she's convinced all the examiners were out to get her with incredibly difficult papers.
Throw into the mix the horrendous new exams, it feels as if results could go either way.
She's convinced she wants me with her when she opens her results, I on the other hand would rather be far far away on a tropical island with a super sized GnT with no communication with the outside world!!

OP posts:

eyebrowsonfleek · 18/08/2017 13:45

His school's sixth form has a minimum
Grade requirement. If he misses it then we have about 10 days to find a new place of study and will be competing against others in the same boat for a place.

The new exams (English, Maths this year) were designed with political rather than the children's interests in mind and rushed through. Have universities stated how number grades will translate to offers for our kids and beyond? My son wouldn't be trying for Oxbridge but someone who wants to go will need to know if they'd be expecting straight 9s or would the odd 8 be ok etc.

During the exam period somebody also explained how the new maths exam (2 tiers rather than 3 now) fail those at the other end. They wasted time sitting an exam that's totally inaccessible to them when maths is such an important subject that everyone should have some knowledge of.

Laniakea · 18/08/2017 14:26

dd is starting to feel anxious - particularly about maths (will determine whether she can do her A levels or not) and physics (thinks she under performed). Obviously it won't be the end of the world, but she doesn't want to feel disappointed after all the hard work and she's not looking forward to how public the whole thing is.

If she drops a grade in maths it will mean a complete rethink - not just of A levels but university etc. She wants to do three sciences, if maths goes badly it will be English/Geography/Biology instead. Not ideal at all.

JumpingJoey · 18/08/2017 15:21

Maths is a nightmare for us too. She says she messed up the first paper. Needs a 7. Worked herself up by people telling her the answers on social media feeds.

BertrandRussell · 18/08/2017 16:30

"Foreigner here not really getting what the big deal is (for non-teachers... I totally get why teachers are stressed out).

The results they get will be whatever they are.
There are always paths forward with whatever results they get"

Obviously. But for ds it's either the next 2 years being happy doing the subjects he wants at the place he wants to be, or the next 2 years being unhappy doing slightly different subjects at a place he doesn't went to be.
So forgive me for being just a little concerned.

SoPassRemarkable · 18/08/2017 16:31

We don't really have a Plan B if Dd doesn't get the grades she needs for her new sixth form.

Her current school would probably let her stay on but they're just celebrating A level results of mainly Ds and Es and she hates it there so it's the last place I want her to go to.

No idea what we will do if she doesn't get the grades she needs.

Notanothergirafffe · 18/08/2017 16:48

BertrandRussell - DS is in exactly the same boat as your DS.

I don't actually care what his grades are but I really really hope they are enough to get him into his first choice sixth form where they stand a chance of inspiring him and I think he will thrive.

His second choice is 'ok', not awful at all but it certainly won't give him the same opportunities as first choice and I doubt will enthuse him in the same way at all.

Again, it is a highly sought after state sixth form. Oversubscribed and entitled to be picky. His results are really not certain at all, and I wouldn't want to put money on which way it will go but I can see his future being so much brighter if he gets into his first choice.

I think it would be a lot less of an issue if he was just staying at his current school but yours and mine are one of the minority of cases where GCSE results do actually matter, excellent v ok sxth forms. Good luck to your DS.

BertrandRussell · 18/08/2017 17:04

Everything crossed for Thursday, giraffe!

IHeartKingThistle · 18/08/2017 17:16

I teach Adult Ed. I put a class of 8 through English GCSE and I am bricking it. It's such a huge deal for them.

ifonly4 · 18/08/2017 20:26

A lot of them found maths hard this year, but DD admitted to me this week she messed up things which she actually knows. She needs at least a 7 in maths, (they'll be pushing for more an I'm sure) to be able to do a science subject in Sixth Form. Consequently she's considered her options and will be asking to be Eng Lit as a back up. She really wants to do biology but to be honest I think she's wise as I'm nervous as well about this one.

notangelinajolie · 19/08/2017 00:35

This is my 3rd time at GCSE results day. DC1 got 14 A*. DC2 wasn't interested and did the bare minimum but still managed to get nothing less than a C. And finally DC3 who no matter how hard she tries has come bottom in every exam she has ever taken. What will be will be . It's done and there is no point in worrying. One thing I have learnt is that they all get where they are meant to be. Be proud and good luck to all!

Notanothergirafffe · 19/08/2017 08:05

Thanks Bertand!

ifonly4 · 19/08/2017 10:09

The pressure is on here for good grades as DD has a fantastic opportunity for Sixth Form which will give her lots more support and experience for her first choice career path.

HappyMum543 · 19/08/2017 22:34

I'm so worried and nervous more then my DS hope he gets a 5 at least for maths that's what I'm worried about her got -4 for mocks...
For 6 form he needs at least 5 passes honestly I really don't have a clue what's he gonna get.. good luck to all DC
Is everyone going to share their DC results on this thread?

Witchend · 19/08/2017 23:10

Dd1's gone away now until Thursday so I can worry on my own.

I'm very glad that they've stopped the A/S because I've just worked out that I was going to have over 10 years of results running (they do some in year 9, some in year 10 as well, and I've 3dc just far enough apart to keep restarting each time one finishes )

Dd1's surprisingly unworried, I have told her several times it doesn't matter. But she's a perfectionist which doesn't help.

I didn't realise until Thursday, but Additional Maths result comes out with the A-level result. However her school doesn't give it until GCSE results. And the boundary levels have shot up.
It's only one paper, and she would have been A/B borderline she thinks. The boundary for A has gone up 20% from last year. The boundary for B is 2 marks higher than the A boundary last year, so she could easily be looking at a C, having been hoping for an A.
I'm not sure if it's good she hasn't got the result now or not.

But I'm worrying that is paving the way to find the rest of the GCSEs are doing similar, in which case she is going to be very disappointed and finding everyone else is in that situation won't help. I think next Thursday could be very hard indeed.

She doesn't need results to continue in the 6th form, although she needs certain results to be allowed to do Further Maths, so that stress is off, but it's much more I don't want her to be disappointed in herself.

TheFrendo · 20/08/2017 02:39

Witchend,

If the grade boundaries are higher, it is because the exam was easier than in previous years (and vice versa). There aren't big variations from one year to the next in grade distributions.

LIZS · 20/08/2017 08:30

Arggh witchend re. Add Maths boundaries. Dd has been consistently scoring 90+ in mocks so hoping she still did well enough for an A like her friend. I had a weird dream about her picking up Maths result and getting A* in one paper and U in another, even though she already has her result from last year hope it isn't an omen.

Been distracting ourselves with shopping for 6th form and she has 16th birthday celebrations to plan later this week.

Witchend · 20/08/2017 10:09

TheFrendo according to dd it wasn't a particularly easy exam. However what's happened is many fewer (I think she said 3000) took it because of the new GCSE has made it fairly redundant.

And the people that dropped out seem to be the lower ones (which is natural) so although the percentage getting the top mark will on paper be the same, the actual ability will be much higher. So actually it will effect her.

She did the ad maths course (what was above the new GCSE) in 2 days of teaching after she'd finished the other GCSEs as it was the last one, so hadn't done a huge amount of prep for it. I wish now she hadn't done it.

BlessYourCottonSocks · 21/08/2017 02:46

Teachers can access results online from about 6.30am, Mumtea so they don't need to go into school to check.

I was away on holiday and checked up on my A level results that way - but will probably go in for GCSE results as I'm around and had a heavy load of classes who will be keen to tell me how they got on.

(And I shall pretend I don't know)

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