Gcse 2018 (10) The one with half term

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www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3256691-GCSEs-2018-9-Will-we-get-to-half-term-for-never-was-a-story-of-more-woe-than-this-of-Juliet-and-who-is-Banquo

Oops. Can't remember how to link nicely, so this will have to do.

@hmcAsWas - sorry to hear about your DM. Like others I did see your reference but am away and just skimming the thread. My DF has a stroke last year and a heart attack a couple of years before. He's recovered both times but I have a sense of things slipping with both him and my DM.

DS1 still working away but not with particular vigour. He's settled into a nice rhythm of dog walking, revising and cooking. He's actually home alone while we're away up North. Controversial I suspect to leave him home alone but DGPs are nearby and popping in and he's not the partying type.

mmzz definitely burn out! I think our dc have had a hard year and mostly worked very hard but ds had 12 GCSE's and 24 exams not counting the language speaking and music/food practicals. They are still young and facing a lot of pressure.
I waver wildly between being relaxed and thinking 'ok, he's worked hard all year' and 'help - that last minute revision could be mean the difference in a grade boundary!'

I agree with every word in your post cubscout. Our DC have had it hard. The not knowing what to expect, so always having to prepare for the worst has made it all several times harder.

I think all the DC on this thread having nothing to fear, even if they do come to complete halt now and just turn up and try their best in the exams. They broke the back of the revision in February, March and April, plus what they did for the mocks.

But I can relate to what you say about the what-if he doesn't revise that and the exam board make it one of the big mark questions?

mmzz - I think she knows this and I think if she could put her mind to it she would be able to do them but she doesn't see it has a challenge (I would) which is a shame because she's pretty consistent with most of the elements. She has no hunger to aim high in Maths.

In that maybe it doesn't really matter if she gets a 9? An 8 is just as good if you have no plans to take maths further.

TBH an 8 is just as good even if you do plan to take maths further. the only difference is the confidence having a 9 under your belt will give you.

Teen I know that can be frustrating but from what I’ve read you and your DD seems to have a very calm and balanced attitude in an environment that could so easily be otherwise - so there might positive to be taken from not putting pressure on herself or from knowing she is doing enough to get what she wants.

I never thought about the exam boards shooting up the grade boundaries for 7-9 compared with the 4? Surely the boundaries were worked out to be pegged to 4/C and 7/A and then the 8 and 9 a % of marks between the grades if you see what I mean. Can't see 18/20% for a 4 and then a massive 95% for a 9 for instance that would not only be unfair but also ridiculous

Dgd only needs a 7 to do A level maths so imo I can't see why she should worry about an 8 or 9 but trouble is in the minds if the dc a 9 means your super a 7 means your not which is utterly stupid!

sostenueto you are forgetting the 9 in geography that has her name on it ..........so she will be super !

bluebelle thanks

Here are some of the consequences in the cuts in education funding and the narrowing of the curriculum:
Registrations for 2018 arts GCSEs in England have plummeted by a further 51,000, taking the total fall in entries to almost 150,000 over the past five years.

New data published by qualifications regulator Ofqual show that since 2014, arts subjects have seen a 25.6% fall in entries. Over the same period, total GCSE entries have grown by 3.4%.

The figures give the lie to claims by the Department for Education earlier this month that “the percentage of pupils taking arts GCSEs has remained stable”.

Arts subjects now account for just 1 in 12 of all GCSEs taken, compared with around 1 in 8 five years ago.

I think 7 is pegged to the % who got it in 2016 with an adjustment for whether our year 11s did better in the year 6 sats than the 2016 year 11s. Level 6 sats results are not included in the calculation.
(I think it works out at the top 20% or something like that get a 7.)

Then a level 9 is the top 2 1/2%. So if 1 in 40 get 100%, then the grade boundary for a 9 is 100%. But that's not going to happen.

An 8 is just set at the midway percent between a 7 and a 9.

The more people who get a 9, the higher the 8 and 9 grade boundaries are.

Yes and with the new content heavy GCSE's if schools do start to cut the number that are taken I think the Arts will be hit the heaviest!

Plus if you look back at the grade boundaries for 2016 (last year of old system) to get a C you needed to get 35% and an A* 85%, so the rise in grade boundaries I think is inevitable but I don't think they will shoot up it will a slow increase (says hopefully)

I think DS is well an truly off the boil, although to be fair he wasn't at a constant rolling boil beforehand . But in a way it is quite hard for him - he only has 4 papers left now, and none of them are heavy revision subjects (English language, Maths and Music). Its hard to see how you can do 7+ hours a day over 9/10 days on those, I think. He's going to the gym most days, cycling, and says he is sleeping very well. So while I think you can never do too much maths practice, I think I'm relatively good with where we are.

The grade boundaries are entirely based on how the DC taking the exams do. It's the proportion getting 4 and above and 7 and above that are pegged. The grades in between are just evenly spaced out with roughly 20% of those getting a 7 and above getting a 9.

I do wonder how long they'll keep the proportions pegged. It means that if a whole cohort does better, either better taught or better prepared as teachers get more used to the new exams and more resources are available, that won't be matched with better results. Still the same proportion get a 7 or above. As was the case with the old O levels. It avoids grade inflation, but doesn't allow for any improvement in teaching and learning to be acknowledged.

Anyway, DS3 and I are off to Warwick in the rain to visit DS1 today. His 2nd year exams start Saturday. And I've absolutely no idea about any of them! How things change in a few years!

Cross post with lots of you!

About arts subjects take up, maybe the issue is around employability?

I went to university in the mid-80s. I was in the science faculty and several of my friends were in the arts faculty, doing things like English, French and History . There was mutual respect in that i couldn't do what they did and they couldn't do what i did.

Fast forward just five years, and I'm now the newly appointed head of an investment desk, working for an investment company. My (shared) secretary is an English graduate, as are most of the other secretaries covering the other desks. If they didn't do english, then it was French or something else that is useful but badly paid.
We started on similar salaries but I already probably get paid double what she does, and her salary will creep up slowly in the future years but mine will rocket.
She's highly organised, her writing is exceptional, much, much better than mine, but her skills are not valued in the workplace like mine are.

That was in the early 90s before the internet took off and brought low so many opportunities for English graduates (eg the demise of magazines and newspapers, or the ability to self-publish without paying for the services of an editor).

I think now that people have to pay to go to university, they are more inclined to look into the future and try to judge how much it will increase their earning capacity to repay the loans.

Went to Warwick castle last year with Dgd which she loved and we watched jousting falconry and had a guided tour it was great!
The Tower if London was fan as well and the new Tower bridge glass feature. Dgd does love history but roman and Greek interests her more .

Good points mmzz
2016 they had 64 doing art GCSE 2018 only 28 in dgds school.

mmzz It depends though - I worked in financial journalism (newswires, no paper!) and had a good salary with an English degree, but I did end up in management, which made quite a difference. I knew poorly paid scientists. The issue is how adaptable you can or want to be with English and how many other skills you can learn. You need to be prepared to do more training.
The drop in arts take-up for GCSE reflects funding in schools but it may also be curriculum changes. The new art GCSE is a problem for less literary types who like to draw - the amount of reflective work involved is off-putting for them and the assessment criteria much more demanding than last year.

LooseAtTheSeams at something like Bloomberg or Reuters? I'm impressed!

I agree you have to be flexible, in more or less any chosen career. If you decide to just stick with what you learned at university, you are going to find yourself funnelled into a job that does not pay well. I don't know lab-job based salaries but I suspect that they aren't nearly as good as the jobs where you apply your skills in a way that creates revenue for an employer.

Thinking about it sales and marketing careers are probably really good routes for people who write well, can distill info and make it appealing both verbally and in writing and/ or can speak languages - though probably not so much French or German but more Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin.

The new art GCSE is a problem for less literary types who like to draw - the amount of reflective work involved is off-putting for them

I'll be honest, i don't even understand this comment! Its so out of my realm of knowledge. I feel a bit thick, tbh!

Mmzz no one understood the new art GCSE at our school until around March, it's that complicated! Basically DS said you could be really good at drawing and still come out with a 2! He's done OK but was pretty fed up with the whole subject in the end.
(You're very close on the wire name - begins with D!)

hmc sorry to hear about your DM's failing health. It seems it is the time in our lives when this starts happening. DFIL is currently in hospital with unexplained breathlessness.
Well DD did actually do quote a lot of English and Geog revision yesterday, sent some English work to her tutor (by way of taking a photo and sending it via WhatsApp, how the poor tutor read her writing I will never know!)
Took her to see Rhod Gilbert (her favourite comedian) at a tiny intimate show last night - my belly hurts so much from laughing.
Left her in bed this morning with a suggestion she should wash her hair which I don't think has been washed for a week #minging and do some more revision.

Sadly my visit to Warwick is really a visit to Coventry. Warwick university is miles from Warwick of the famed castle, though we did visit it about 10 years ago!