Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

GCSE’s summer 2020 thread 5 - And then there were none..

993 replies

FoolsAssassin · 26/03/2020 15:07

Once upon a time there was a group of year 11 students who had spent the last few years preparing to sit their GCSE exams in the summer of 2020. Then one day they woke up and found themselves as characters in a real life disaster movie and as if by magic the exams disappeared.

What lies next for the Corona Cohort?!

Thread 4
Thread 3
Thread 2
Thread 1 (Year 10)

Anyone lurking please feel free to jump on in .

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
JustHereWithMyPopcorn · 02/04/2020 13:45

Hmm, that AQA hasn’t really given clarity either. What I want to know is

  1. Are DCs going to be marked on work carried out at home since 20th March other than NEAs
  2. Will the DCs get any indication what marks the teachers have submitted to give them a heads up on what they may wish to continue to revise for.
  3. When will exams happen if you want to try and improve your grade and, if your exam grade is lower, can you keep the previous grade awarded?
JustHereWithMyPopcorn · 02/04/2020 13:46

@shimy my DS actively doesn’t want me to help him, hasn’t since Yr8.

Wheresthebeach · 02/04/2020 13:50

I think parental help isn’t a huge issue, open book is.

Piggywaspushed · 02/04/2020 13:53

Yes, shimy ,they do : lots of parents 'interfere'! And don't forget that some subjects have coursework.

Piggywaspushed · 02/04/2020 13:54

Ahem ... some parents are teachers. I could do AMAZING GCSE English test papers! DH is a maths teacher. Reckon DS could get a 9 with his help?

Shimy · 02/04/2020 14:00

Yes, open book of course would count.

Thinking about it now, I remember when ds1 did his GCSEs, there were threads on here discussing the curriculum (as you do), but posters were discussing topics in great detail, how specific questions should be answered, there were discussions about Physics, Chemistry various experiments they had done at home Hmm, it was all very baffling.

FlyingPandas · 02/04/2020 14:06

I don’t help my DS either and I’m sure most parents/older siblings don’t either but the point is that in theory they could. You don’t need to have experienced the specific syllabus to offer general help. My degree is in English lit, for example, I would still be able to offer useful advice generally in how an English or history answer might be improved, even if I’ve never personally studied the actual book or history period on the syllabus.

How would centres know whether a student has genuinely completed an assessment under comparable restrictions to those done in the classroom? They can’t.

ProggyMat · 02/04/2020 14:07

@Shimy- I hear ya Grin
Surely though, any work submitted after 20th March that had suddenly increased grade wise by several levels would suggest a ‘rabbit was off’?

Shimy · 02/04/2020 14:08

Piggy Obviously if they have parents who specialise in a subject area I would expect that they will benefit from extra lessons etc at home. But surely you wouldn’t actually write their papers or do the actual coursework for them. For instance I did Economics A’level (my claim to fame) and also Management type courses at Post grad, so when DS was doing Economics for A’level and was struggling with it, averaging D’s I was able to muscle in and sit him down to explain some topics and concepts to him again leading up to his exams. His grades in coursework consequently went up. But I would never in a million yrs write his coursework for him, I just gave him the tools, explained how essay writing works etc.

Wheresthebeach · 02/04/2020 14:08

Ahh...fair point @Piggywaspushed...jogged memory of DD saying the girl who gets the highest marks in maths Mum is a maths teacher....hmmm...mix of natural ability and top class help at home. I pegged out at times tables!

Piggywaspushed · 02/04/2020 14:09

I wouldn't, no... but some would. And I have always helped S with work at home in a lot of subjects and DH has always 'helped' him with his maths.

And helping in any way means it is not really unaided work so work done form home logically advantages some over others.

Wheresthebeach · 02/04/2020 14:10

@ProggyMat Yes that would be fair. Work that supports the predicted grades all okay, anything that is above predicted grade suspect.

Shimy · 02/04/2020 14:10

Yes, I do think coursework/assessments after the 20th isn’t okay. I moaned about it earlier on in the thread although DS continued in the end. That’s not a level playing field for all.

Piggywaspushed · 02/04/2020 14:12

Do you know what I actually miss is my little revision clubs with DS? Sad. I used to sit with him and help him revise and do little quizzes and all of that feels like it's a big hole in our routines.

ProggyMat · 02/04/2020 14:33

@Wheresthebeach Indeed!
IMO particularly in essay based subjects, it would be easy to spot ‘change in writing style’.
Also, even in science subjects it would be easy to spot ‘more sophisticated language in answer responses to that of work over the last year and at mocks!
That said, when they all move on to A level, there will be ‘no hiding place’ there!
For the students of the Corona Cohort who have submitted genuine work during KS4 (and at all other Key Stages) at school and have done since ‘online learning’ has had to be introduced- I hope they truly ‘get what they deserve’ as grades in July...

Wheresthebeach · 02/04/2020 14:37

Good point about essays, that would stand out a mile.

I really wish they’d make clear announcements so everyone can get on with it all. DD is increasingly looking washed out. Lack of exercise, socialising etc. School talked of exams after half term, which I really hope they abandon. Can’t imagine the kids would do well after having been cooped up.

ProggyMat · 02/04/2020 15:03

@Wheresthebeach when you say half term to you mean after Summer half term (late May/June) or after Easter?

Alsoplayspiccolo · 02/04/2020 15:09

Piggy, you're not alone - I really miss well my DD with revision, mostly because I got so much out of it; I was a hard worker at school, but didn't go to a great school and some of the teaching was pretty dire, so I've been able to put some of those particular ghosts to rest (I'm looking at you, sciences!!).

The comment about a child whose parent was a maths teacher seems a bit unfair. DH and I are both musicians and DS is a music scholar - of course he gets input from us but ultimately, his performances are down to him and his ability.

Piggywaspushed · 02/04/2020 15:25

What I meant about the maths teacher was my DH could pretty much do the paper and no one would know! Obviously , most parents wouldn't...but after years as a teacher I can tell you, it's not as uncommon as it should be! It backfires sometimes, however...

Wheresthebeach · 02/04/2020 15:30

Now that you ask @ProggyMat I’m not sure...they just said they were looking at setting on line exams. We’ve not had details, and I think they floated it to see how everyone reacted (mixed!).

Wheresthebeach · 02/04/2020 15:33

From what I can tell (which is very little) of maths the methods are vastly different from what I was taught. Even the way DD was taught division in primary did my head in...couldn’t figure it out as it was completely different from how I was taught. I can just imagine a parent doing a maths paper using old methods!

Piggywaspushed · 02/04/2020 15:34

Still nowt from Ofqual/DfE today. In fact, other than a Zoom screenshot, when's the last time anyone even saw Gavin Williamson??

noblegiraffe · 02/04/2020 15:37

My bet is Friday evening after we’ve broken up for Easter. That’s when education announcements are normally made (remember the workload reduction pack that was released just at the start of the summer holidays?).

Monkey2001 · 02/04/2020 15:53

Just spent a long time reading all this. Thanks, lots of interesting thoughts.

My DS has been given some work, maybe 6-7 hours over the week. There were a couple of English assessments which he seemed to think the teacher might want to use when finalising her predicted grades. I don't know whether that was true, but it certainly caused him to take them more seriously, which was nice.

He is just planning to accept whatever he gets and only sit exams in the autumn for subjects he is taking at A level if he does not get what he wants for those. He will keep working on the revision books and past papers for those subjects so that he is ready at the start of Y12.

As others have said, the universities know this is an odd year and I think that the ones which have relied heavily on GCSEs in the past may re-think.

An interesting thought from DS is that he said he would like to do AS levels as he does not want the A levels to be his first external exams. I was impressed by that thinking as it would also help universities if this cohort had some external exams when they apply to university.

ProggyMat · 02/04/2020 16:10

@noblegiraffe- my thoughts too and I’m not a teacher!
Thus, two weeks to ‘let the dust settle’...