GCSEs 2018 (11) Big week coming up

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old thread

Cherryburn that's a very good question! I don't think it's automatic (I could be wrong) but I believe that there are a couple of factors that are taken into account including the perceived difficulty of the question and of the text. Examiners are looking to award marks and they have to refer to a specific mark scheme. There will be guidelines for Ozymandias and guidelines for Singh Song.
I doubt any decision on the poetry can be made until the scripts are marked. What they need to ensure is that there is no clear advantage to doing one anthology over the other. That's where the moderators come in.

I think my pups 'baby' should become our mascot!
I was woke up at 2 am as pup was frantically searching for 'baby' ( which had fallen on floor) inside bedcovers! For a minute I thought my luck was in

Oh, and some cynical souls suggest teachers should pick the more obscure texts because examiners get tired of marking a zillion Macbeth questions! No idea if that's true or how they divide up the questions!

Just stop GCSEs and just do all exams at age 18. like Finland

Yep, this ^^

Sostenueto how true!
at Baby!
Completely forgot to wish everyone's dc luck today! Hope all the questions are the ones they want - especially in music. This could go well for DS or not so much so I'm a bit nervous for him. He seemed fine, though.
After today I think there are only 7 exams left for DS! The end is almost in sight!

I've seen a lot of posters suggest no more exams at 16, and a switch to 18 only.
I think DS would hate this because it would mean another two years of English and RS (both of which he wants to erase from his memory!).

However, how would that give the students a chance t specialise before university. The only way that our DC will be university-ready in 2 years time is if they spend the next two years focusing on relevant subjects.

Surely though there are always pupils who have some luck and advantage eg a revision class just before the exam goes through a certain topic, a teacher sets a question in a test weeks before the exam. Just this time the numbers were higher and the position complicated by those who didn’t revise it thinking it wouldn’t come up. How much would the dc gave rrmembered from sitting s question before. I guess reviewing the marks for the two questions and applying some moderation afterwards is the only way to go. I believe that happens anyway to a certain extent ? I speak as an independent observer - edexcel IGCSE here !

I am still astounded by the incompetence though - surely whoever sets the questions (or someone who checks them) would have made some reference to the specimens. Unless it was deliberate to stop the assumptions that specimen topics won’t come up - they could have altered the question a bit more if that was the case.

Loose it does show the real gcse reform that was needed was to the exam boards, and yet that was the one that didn't happen!

It is not their first big mistake, is it? Every year, there seems to be news reports that some exam board or other has really screwed up. Why does no one (Ofqual, JCQ, Department of education) try to to sort them out?

Oratory1 Its true. If you happened to look at a particular thing right before the exam, then you are at advantage.

In my mind, the difference this time is that it is not random, but systematic and the exam board has created the problem.

Spanish listening & reading today. There are so few of them taking the paper that they are all in the room together, regardless of extra time, rest breaks etc. I managed to successfully wind DD up that if she asked for a rest break they would need to stop the listening exam whilst everyone stared at her for 5 minutes!

Good luck to everyone today - nothing here until tomorrow so maths, maths and more maths revision. Then chemistry on Wednesday and then finished!!!!

Stickerrocks- you made me laugh visualising DD turning up to results day in her Eff off t shirt and the (rather stuffy) HMs face!

No ethnic issues with photos at school because it’s truly ethnically diverse (maybe 40% white including the Russian girls and Europeans?). It’s one of the best things about the school (United colours of Benetton). Mind you there will be a disproportionate number of Koreans and Asians if they only photo the straight A* crowd!

Really glad Eng was a different board to you guys - it’s the uncertainty that’s hard. Whatever they do there will be valid cries of ‘it’s unfair!!’

Thanks Loose

That's true Oratory about luck always playing a part. In this case though there are so many who have (potentially) gained an advantage that it could (potentially) impact grade boundaries for everyone who sat the paper. Run of the mill luck will be an advantage for those who eg had recently covered it but the numbers would be too small to have an effect across the board. Btw, I'm an interested observer too-DS did CIE!

Re the exam boards, I've never understood why there is more than one which could be scrutinised to within an inch of its life to avoid cock-ups such as this. It would also give a truly level playing field. I wouldn't even give a choice of texts/papers/modules.

kingscote so true re world instruments. All the plucking ones sound the same to me

it’s the uncertainty that’s hard. Whatever they do there will be valid cries of ‘it’s unfair!!’

Too true, Cblue. To be honest, no one likes to be treated unfairly, but most will get over it quickly, maybe before the results come out. Its the ones that find their 9 has turned in an 8, or an 8 into 7 and were hoping to to do it for A level who will be hurt. They'll still be able to take the A level but I think there's advantage to taking an A level course knowing that you got a 9 at GCSE.
Also those who need a 5 (eg DS1) or a 4 (huge numbers to get into sixth form colleges) and instead get a 4 or a 3. They'll always wonder if their futures have been adversely affected due to an exam board error.

I don’t see how no exams until 18 would work here unless we start to force everyone to take A levels & get rid of the vocational courses which would be devastating for some kids.

Some of dd’s friends are starting degree courses in September. Others such as Dd are starting Level 6 Diplomas that can be topped up to a degree afterwards (some like Dd are doing a couple of A levels alongside) some are doing Btec courses.

We don’t have an 11-18 through system in this country & I don’t think it would be fair on our young people to implement one.

I think the poetry mess has far too many variables for it to be a level playing field ...

DD back with me today :-) no exams today but she has Maths and History tomorrow.

DD was also happy with the IGCSE Edexcel Eng Lang yesterday said she had lots to write because the topics suited her :Hobbies/Environmental.

The school takes it own photo's on results say - just a few low key pictures .. the school is very multiracial ...there is no way they would single out stereotypical girls because its not what the school is about... they would probably be more inclined to get piccys of the studious type!

I agree it's odd that there's more than one exam board for English. OCR papers are very different to AQA. It would make more sense to have one board with tighter supervision. I imagine that would make mistakes less likely.
Luck is a factor. I tutored 2 students on Singh Song just before the exam so they were well prepared - they had asked me to go over it because they were aware it could come up.

I agree it's odd that there's more than one exam board for English. OCR papers are very different to AQA. It would make more sense to have one board with tighter supervision. I imagine that would make mistakes less likely.

That's what Michael Gove wanted to do. He was forced to drop the idea because it would create a monopoly for one exam board, which was deemed unfair. Unfair on who? Not the DC, but those with a financial interest in the exam boards.

The problem is as there were so few 9-1 sample papers the board will find it hard to believe that a teacher has not gone through the papers that are available with their cohort.

It would be really bad if a teacher hadn't gone through the sample papers, when s/he has so few materials to work off!

But, if there are such teachers out there, then their poor students who are already at a disadvantage through having such a rubbish teacher will be at a further disadvantage because the assumption will be that they were thoroughly prepared for that specific question and still did relatively badly.

Here's a newspaper report from 2012 with the sort of push back that led to MG abandoning his attempts to reform exam boards:
www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/gcse-exams-chief-attacks-single-subject-monopoly-proposal-sb3x38km8rd
Rod Bristow, president of Pearson UK which owns Edexcel, told The Times that awarding contracts to a single exam board for each core subject could stifle innovation and investment.

He is the first exam board chief to speak out about GCSE reforms and criticised Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, for “bad-mouthing” qualifications for which hundreds of thousands of candidates were studying.

My ds was one of the cohort who did the love and relationships poems. I have had an e-mail from school confirming that they have complained to aqa and ofqual have also made asked how aqa intend to make the exam fair when the papers are marked. It really calls into question the process aqa applied when designing the paper.

@dottycat123 DS was also one of the Singh Song group. I've had no email like that, but maybe I'll write to the Head of English and ask whether they intend to take it up with the exam board.

I am happy with a mixed market of different exam boards. Privatised monopolies - as a single exam board would be - are a nightmare in terms of accountability (I'm thinking of personal experience with BT etc). At least with a number of exam boards available they have to compete for customers