GCSE 2019 support thread 6

[DeRigueurMortis]

Hello All,

Welcome to thread 6 - results...

Last thread here:

Gcses 2019 support thread 5 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3610608-gcses-2019-support-thread-5

It's been a fantastically supportive set of threads to date with a diverse set of expectations and challenges (for both parents and children).

I expect this thread may be the most emotive for us all (crikey how did the time fly!!)

Good luck everyone

I am confused ... are you hoping to go up to a 7 form a bottom grade 6? That is an extraordinarily risky punt! Sorry to say.

No teacher should encourage that.

We are getting eng lang and classics back. Both 6s, predicted 8s. Classwork consistently at 8 or 9. Not sure what went wrong but would like to know.

piggy We're responding to this www.tes.com/news/exam-board-accused-betraying-gcse-english-pupils and just checking that DD's paper appears to have been marked in accordance to the level she performed at. Her English language sticks out as an anomaly as she got a 9 in Eng lit. 9 in PRE. 8 in history. She didn't struggle with English language, was predicted an 8 and performed highly in any revision questions she was given and marked by English teachers who are also exam markers. She got a 6 in her modern foreign language and she really did struggle with that. There's plenty of stories of kids having English language remarked and their GCSE going up by two grades but finding out she only scraped the 6 makes me think even more it was poorly marked but also makes it more of a gamble to go for a remark.

At this stage I am hoping that DD made a stupid mistake on exam day and the 6 appears a fair judgement but we couldn't not recall the paper and let an experienced teacher look over it and give her opinion - given that they also thought a 6 did not represent close to her ability and past performance.

Thank you for posting that link @fortyfifty. It does seem a lot like something has gone wrong with English this year. It was my DS best subject, he had mocks and continuous grades at a 6 but got a 3.

Im open to the idea that something went wrong on the day, but being do close to the grade boundary felt that it was worth paying for a fresh pair of eyes to look at it.

Does anyone know how long the remarks take to come back? Their flowchart says average 20 days but school said they had a level remarks back in 4 days.

forty your dd and my dd are twins!

@Foslady that’s an awful lot to be dealing with. It seems to be a very expensive time, this end of GCSE/6th form!
Is it her first passport or has she had a child’s one? Just a heads up that if it’s her first she will have to attend an interview at your nearest passport office. They only say this is ‘possible’ but it seems to be universal now for first adult passports. Nothing alarming about the questions, but we found it a pita to have to arrange and go 50 miles, pay parking etc.

I agree that it seems an expensive time!
I hope you are have a better day today fos

Honestly, my English is good too. My 'theirs' should have read there's

forty it may well be an anomaly but, just on purely practical advice. a remark on a bottom border is not advisable. the mark could go down. Frustrating as that is you will kick yourself if it happens.

forty , do you know how many marks your DC needs to gain to go up a grade?

forty , do you know how many marks your DC needs to gain to go up a grade?

Just for clarity forty, I am an English teacher!

The reported story (not saying I don't believe it) came from a very disgruntled source, and was refuted by the exam boards.

It is not as unusual as people think to get a much higher grade in Lit than lang (in fact, years ago it was normally assumed a lit grade would be better).

So long as you know you are entering a high risk strategy, and your DC's teachers tell you that, it's your choice.

If I was your child's teacher, I would feel very anxious about looking at a paper so borderline and recommending a remark. I'd be concerned that that would lead to complaints about me if the mark went down.

I am not remarking but we are getting two scripts back to lool at to see if we can identify things she needs to work on (eng lang and classics). She already thinks a 6 in eng lang has stuffed her chances of a good uni for English.

Thanks - sorry, was a bad day yesterday! Managed to source text books second hand, and wardrobe I think finally sorted - most importantly payday tomorrow!!!!
Thanks for the TES link, I’ve now emailed dd’s School. She got an 8 which is great, but has always been her strongest subject and her teacher has always said her grade should be no issues and has been working way above standard so I’m a bit wavering about it now (think the school was collapsing under English remarks on the day!)

Passport will be first adult one, she’s held a child’s one since she was 2 - not sure which link to click on though as it says on first adult passport to be used if never held a passport before

ligresa, depends on how good you mean and what to study but that really isn't the case. It is perfectly normal , for example, for students applying to do very arty/hums based subjects at high calibre universities to struggle with other non optional subjects , such as maths , and to have 5s or 6s. It's performance in the A Levels chosen that matters most.

Oh sorry, ligresa just read your post properly..

Ha she got a 7 in maths! And sciences! It's the Eng lang. She did get 8s in Rs and Drama and a 9 in eng lit so it seems odd.

The English Language exam is very mechanical. A lot of the students who do better than expected in it are very accurate and very rigid thinkers who can jump through hoops. I hate the exam (especially paper 2) as there is little room for flair. And , actually, if examiners slavishly follow and slightly misunderstand AQA's guidelines, they will start actively penalising students for using terminology , even correctly!

It's a dull, dull, dull exam and nothing like an English degree,(it very much came from Gove's fevered memories of a Scottish education!) so the 9 in Lit is a much better indicator of her ability to wow at A Level and beyond.

I taught a girl who got a 9 in Lit and in film, and a low 5 in language!

If you are worried, perhaps phone some of he best unis for English and ask them how much GCSE matters : I suspect they will tell you it doesn't.

@Foslady this time of year is always so expensive it feels like a month of constant paying out! So sorry to hear about your maintenance payments
It will be really interesting to hear what happens with everyone’s reviews. Our school emphasises stresses ‘grades may go down’ we are still requesting one though!

Thank you piggy that is reassuring

She is not a rigid thinker. Clever though!

I have now seen that there were similar concerns about English language two years ago (and possibly last year too) so I suspect it's just quite a difficult exam and can easily go wrong on the day. However, if I ever hear back from ds' school and he is close to a 6, we might go with a remark.

What I am wondering is whether he just missed the brief slightly with one of the questions, and they were harsh and he ended up with 0 which could have dragged down his grade massively. No good putting together a great answer with perfect SPAG if it doesn't really answer the question.

@Foslady she shouldn’t need an interview then. I can’t remember which section ‘first adult passport but not first passport ever’ needs filling in though, sorry. I know I needed to make careful flowchart notes on a bit of paper to work mine out!