Thread 3: Continuing to GCSEs Summer 2020 - Happy New Exam Year!

[OrangeCinnamon]

Continuation of previous thread
Thread 2

Thread 1 Year 10

At the end of last thread there was a bit of talk on prom dresses ( recommend Fonthill Rd in London if you can get there) by @proggymat and @crazycrofter

@TigerMum had a query regarding moving to foundation level at this stage.

Sorry peeps thread progressed without me noticing so none can reply to your queries!

Just playing Devil’s Advocate here Sansou, given he has 7s and an 8 in some subjects, is there any mileage in rethinking the one he got a 5 in? Time still to pull that up to what needed but is it something essential - would another substitute it and not cut down future options?

sansou do you have a plan B (A Levels somewhere else with lower entry criteria?)

Actually I'm not aiming that point at you specifically, I think it's sensible for everyone to have a Plan B unless their DC are easily on track for what they need to do. Apart from anything else I think it's quite useful for calming stress and helping you (parents and DC) to realise that the world will not end if they don't get the specific results they were hoping for.

Over the last year or so, I've slowly moved from the "it's important the DC do as well as they possibly can" attitude to a "by and large no one cares how you did in GCSEs once you get to the next stage, and doing 'well enough' is perhaps a better - and a less stressful - aim.

We do have Plan B which has lower general minimum requirements for entry - the only issue is that it doesn't do DT A Level which is what he really enjoys and doesn't seem to be mainstream enough to be offered commonly in our area (rural county). His teacher seem to be confident enough that DS makes the 7, it's me who is starting to feel slightly anxious about it (probably overly so).

Making the A Level subject choices was a relatively easy decision for DS compared to others so I'm aware that I'm probably over thinking it and need to chill way out. This thread generally helps to keep everything in perspective and I'm just venting some of my anxiety and frustration. It's proving to be a stressful year all around.

sansou we are working on most students go up 1-2 grades from mocks.
If you apply that to your DS's grades he is on track for fabulous results!

Several of DD's subject teachers have spoken about last year's cohort where students went from a 6 at January mocks to a 9 in the exam proper.
Another teacher, and I do think this is a pertinent point, said that students (particularly DD) focus too much on the perceived 'weakness' in a paper rather than the strengths.
I'm thinking if you apply that notion to the French and DS spends some time building on the 'strong' areas-which there must be because he has attained a pass at mocks-and only treats the weaker section(s), rather than the subject as a whole, as 'collateral damage' he could bring that GCSE in at a couple of grades higher

The beauty of this thread is we can get all the angst out and then be an oasis of calm for our DC! We have plan B but two choices fir it so not sure which one.

DS had his interview the other day for preferred College having got through the exam, now just have to wait for 5 weeks to see if an offer.

Sansou I'm trying not to worry too. Just has DS's report today and after much fiddling around of grade boundaries (after telling the students what they had got!) the marks he has been finally given are slightly lower than I was hoping if I'm being honest, he has 5,5,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,7. I am trying to be positive in the idea that he will pull these up a bit but actually I am not convinced he will! Parents evening next week so will discuss with his teachers then. I had better check what grades he needs to do his A level choice then too. I hadn't even thought about a plan B.

Proggy, that approach to French might be the answer for my DS too. Will find out from his teacher where he did well - I know the listening was his worst part.

Just the 1-2 grade increase and in certain subjects 3 at this ‘stage of the game’ needs to be applied to where your DS is at now!
French listening is DDs worst element and most likely will be at the exam proper.
But if she builds on her strengths she can afford to drop marks on that.

@justherewithmypopcorn do you think the school have undermarked to give them a kick up the backside? I think you said your school is a high achieving school, a bit like my DD’s?

I work on the basis that at DD’s school usually 50-60% get 9s and 90% + get above 7, so if she’s not in the bottom 10% of her year for a subject she’s probably heading for a 7. I’m pretty sure her school mark the mocks low. The mark she got in Biology would have been a 9 in last year’s GCSE but they gave her a 7.

I’m happy that they do that though as getting really high marks in mocks would put pressure on I think.

At DD’s ‘outstanding’ school, the 6th form grade requirement is 5 for most subject choices apart from 7 to study maths and 6 for all sciences including psychology and also for drama.

DD’s results were 9,7,7,7,6,6,5,4. One of the 7s was 2 marks off an 8. The 4 is maths but was a high 4 and now got a tutor. I’m really pleased with her results without factoring in any grade increase. We expected lower in maths and science but didn’t expect quite so high in geography! She wants to take Eng Lang, history and psychology hence tutor for maths.

Well done to your dd @lilgreen! Those results would be great in the summer.

I know, I’m so proud of her. Her older sister was a high achiever(10 A*,1 9) so she’s always felt as though she’s not gifted. She lacks confidence so this has really given her a boost.

@crazycrofter how can 50-60% get a 9? Is this a super high achieving grammar school?

It might not seem like that on MN lil but that is pretty standard.

Sansou, trying to be optimistic, if the 4 is a high 4, then getting up to a 6 would be easier than what might appear to be 2 grades IYKWIM.
DD has watched quite a lot of "GCSE results reaction" videos on Youtube and it seems very common for students to get 2 grades higher than they've ever previously got in the real exams, so quite possible that teachers mark more harshly than examiners in some cases.

50-60% of students getting a 9 sounds very high achieving to me. DSs school gets good results and 40.5% of all GCSEs were at 7 or above.

What is @piggy?

I thought 9s were top 5% ish nationally.

@lilgreen yes, very selective girls school so not representative at all! You’re right, nationally about 5% get 9s. My ds is likely to be like your younger dd in two years - feeling a bit inadequate compared to his older sibling. But I’d be very happy if he got 6s with a couple of 7s. It’s sad that As and Bs have been devalued!

Needing 5s to pursue an A Level lil !

In fact I am interested why drama seems to manage to set its requirements higher??

I see. DD’s school is a girls’ school and Ofsted graded outstanding but there is no entrance exam. Your DD must feel run if the mill when in fact she is outstanding. DD has it in reverse as she was in the top 2 achievers at school but at her RG uni, she doesn’t stand out.

@lilgreen that’s interesting, I guess at some point most high achievers have that ‘levelling’ experience. Dd was always top of the class at primary but this school was a shock to the system at first! It’s slightly sad that if she got say 4 x 8 and 5 x 7 she’d be towards the bottom of the year and feel she’d underachieved. But she does know that the world outside her school is more mixed!

We were told 9’s are top 5%, I think it’s very unlikely any school would have 50-60% of kids getting 9’s. It’s pretty rare that a student gets all 9’s too. Dd is almost on track to get all 7-9’s (she got 2 9’s in her mocks), she needs 5 level 5’s or above including maths and English to get her A level choices so we are not too worried that she won’t get her place.

Things got a bit heated in DD’s business studies lesson this week, they were asked to do something they had not covered and the teacher offered no help so a few of the kids got upset and demanded the teacher explained the work, teacher called in the head to give them all a talking too 😐, dd was pretty upset about it, she has ASD and a amazing memory and could not remember being taught what was being asked of her. Tensions seem to be running high.