GCSEs 2018 (12) Are we nearly there yet?!

[mmzz]

Bluebelle - DD only choose IT as she changed her mind, dithered and was put on spot by school (under my instruction as I had lost will to live).... pass the ....

Ps love the mix of people on this thread...

Phew, AQA here.

Go on, admit it mmzz. There's something very therapeutic about doing it!

Sticker WJEC

Off to bed with pup who turned nose up at liver, lamb and roast chicken today ( getting peeved with her now!) But still has enough energy to chase round beach and garden endlessly! Females! I knew I should have got a male dog! But I love her!

Good luck to all tomorrow in exams and the end is in sight. We won't know what to do with ourselves afterwards! I will have to resort to watching t.v. again

I made this table this evening, based on Noble's info. Its based on last year's cumulative % passes at each level and this year's formula for a 9.

I'm not sure of the robustness of the %s taken from last year's A, C and G grades, but they were all I could easily find and I've put in the URL so someone can tell me if they are rubbish.

Thread title suggestion

GCSEs 2018 (13) Untwisting our knickers

Peggy just

I should of said that gets my vote!!

mmzz why is science 9 at nearly 12%?

Mmzz - from your table do 53% of kids get a 7 or above in physics for example?? That seems like a lot or am I reading it wrong?

Bluebelle, its because this table says that 42.1% got A/A*
schoolsweek.co.uk/gcse-results-2017-biology/

Peggy Ds has started watching that tonight because the year 11’s at his school are all into it.

Localher0 no, because the numbers are cumulative, so 41.6% get 7+.
11.56% get a 9.
Therefore, 30.04% get 7 or 8.

Does it still sound unlikely? I've never looked at GCSE % results before

I'm shocked that those getting an A/A* was so high

Agree with all pp - you're all lovely on this thread It's been nice to read others experiences of exams and use the info to prompt conversations with DS. I will be glad when they're over but Ive enjoyed some revision sessions with him. Tonight, just before bed, what could be jollier than the SS! Edexcel history 3 tomorrow after AQA maths 3.

And for the spreadsheet:

GCSE student - DS1
Others - DS2 in Y9 (the 2020 thread!)
School - local comp 11-16
Next year - state sixth form
A levels - history, maths, economics
Future - economics degree, international banking genius, millionaire by 25
Personality - serious, old before his time, gentle, clumsy, always hungry, swimmer, head boy, loves independent travel.

Me too Bluebelle. I've just tried to check the numbers against the Department of Education's (user-unfriendly) data and for the one or two numbers I have checked, it is about right.

Mostly though I am surprised that when a Gis considered a pass, everybody passes. I now understand this cartoon better:

I guess though as it was for Biology then that means triple science, so I guess a more able cohort who took the exam, whereas on your link for history A/A* it was 25% (still high but not like the sciences)

I can now see why some schools in populated areas ask for such high grade entries the pool is not as small as I thought!!

mmzz thanks for doing that Its been quite an eye opener!

TerfTerfTerf and I've just had Stalin's Great Purge on an evening dog walk along the beach.... (edexcel history Russia 1917-1940, tomorrow's chaser to maths).

Lots to catch up on thread for today. Thanks noble, mmzz and lots of others for helping answer the questions about the grade boundaries. I understand the calculations more or less but I guess we still can't estimate what percentage would be a 9 - we only know what proportion of entries get a 9.

Realised not done our intro:

DC sitting exams - DD
Other DC - year 8 so will be sitting them in 2021
School - selective indie
Next year - planning on staying put unless things go drastically wrong on results day

A levels - all sciences, maths and FM - although she will drop one of these by the beginning of term. A reflection of indecision rather than anything else.
Future - thinks she wants to be the modern day Stephen hawking but sometimes throws in she finds being a surgeon interesting.
Personality - vibrant bubbly with friends she trusts but also shy and self conscious. Hardworking and driven but not very organised. has had to
Deal with some MH issues this year

mmzz Education Datalab did some modelling of percentage of 9s using the formula a couple of years back. They’ll have been using different exam data so you wouldn’t expect it to be the same, your figures look like they’re in the right ballpark. (Look at the tailored rule column)

Some people might be surprised at how high the percentage of 9s is for the single sciences - that’s because brighter students take it and they didn’t want to make it harder for brighter students to get 9s on ‘harder’ subjects. They’re expecting something like 40% of students taking Classical Greek to get a 9.

Have you noticed that it's less of a step up to A level for this current y12 having done the new 9-1 GCSE?

No! This blog post puts the reasons why pretty well:
www.resourceaholic.com/2017/09/gcsedebate.html

Mainly: requiring a grade 7 to do A-level could mean they only got 50% on their GCSE and be crap at algebra (algebra skills are key to A-level)
And they had more time learning maths, but instead of learning the old GCSE stuff more deeply, they added a bunch of new topics which weren’t really necessary to bridge the gap - Venn diagrams and the like.

Plus a lot of schools binned further/additional maths GCSE which actually did prepare students better for A-level.

Bluebelle maybe I'm reading it wrong but I don't see the 25.5%

Are you counting everyone who got A/A* or is 25.5% just the As?

Whichever, its a lot of DC who get those high grades

Doing GCSE - DS
Other DC - DD finishing first year Uni
A level intentions - Music, Drama, Maths
Current school - State Academy & Cathedral School
Intended sixth form - staying where we are subject to reasonable grades
Other info - interested in pursuing music, plays trumpet 🎺
Last exam - Physics on Friday!

Here's mine

DC doing GCSEs: DD2
Other DC: DD1 at work (SEN had ODD)
A level intentions: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Latin
Current school: Superselective (State)
Sixth form: Same as above
SEN: None
Other info: Quirky, loving, gentle, tolerant, sensitive, perceptive. Competitive dancer (think "Strictly"). Mad on Frank Dillane and Daniel Sharman.
Last exam: Edexcel Physics on Friday