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

[FoolsAssassin]

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
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Thread 1 (Year 10)

Anyone lurking please feel free to jump on in .

Now that the exams will be in November does anybody have DC who think they might do GCSE exams? DS2 will only consider doing his 4 best subjects (the ones he is studying for A level and a couple of others). Definitely not up for the others even if the grade awarded is a couple of grades away from where he was aiming.

DS has no appetite to take the GCSE exams, even if his grades are way below what he was expecting. He (rightly I think) realises he won't get his motivation back up to the levels it needs to be.

The only exception to this would be if he got less than a 4 in English as obviously this would be an issue in later life. (same is true for maths, but DS won't have any trouble getting above a 4 there).

Dd definitely won't be taking any GCSEs in November. She hasn't done any work since March and will be focusing on A Levels come September. One of her best friends is adamant she will retake a few as she wants to get the best possible results - but I hope she'll be persuaded otherwise when the time comes to decide.

I can't see that many kids will want to when they've had time to digest their results. Obviously some will need to retake Maths/English, but that would always be the case. As long as they've got what they need to move on to the next stage, I don't think it would be advisable really? We all know that GCSEs are fairly irrelevant in later life. There are a small number of degree courses where GCSEs matter - probably just medicine, dentistry and Oxford? Surely though, there's a risk that if they spend Sept/Oct/Nov focused on GCSEs, they'll struggle to really get to grips with A Levels?

A definite no from DS. He had at one point said he might have a go at Oxford but think he is off that anyway and he wants to leave this all behind him. I have just started his blanket for his new room at school in September or whenever he gets to go.

DS is not interested at all in sitting the exams. Even in a worst case he should get what he needs for A levels and he will just concentrate on them. He has zero interest in doing subjects he is dropping like french or geography to go up a grade.

If this group is representative, it looks like November exams will barely register. That means that moderation will be really hard - the cohort could be English and maths candidates trying to get a pass and high achievers who did not get their 8/9 grades!

I suspect that GCSE heavy medical schools might change their admissions process for our lot.

DS won't countenance resits. He should get generally decent grades but both Eng Lang & Lit were poor mocks, although with recent improvement in class/home work so who knows.

@Monkey2001 My DD2 has written a list of the grades she expects or wants based on mocks and class. If any are below that I think she would consider sitting in November. Not more than two or three though. She is also keen on either a medicine course or Oxford or Cambridge so would like the best grades possible. If she wasn't I think she would accept anything that got her into A levels.

@RosieCap I really think the med schools will be careful about the weight they give to GCSEs from this cohort as it will be generally accepted that they are mostly, but not exactly, what they would have been if it was a normal year. My understanding is that one of the reasons they like strong GCSE results is because it shows you can balance a wide variety of subjects at the same time, so if people don't sit all together that will no longer show that.

DS1 is starting medicine in September so I have picked up a lot of medicine application knowledge. Less than half the med schools score the GCSEs, most just set their minimum requirements.

I think DD would just like to be in the strongest place possible instead of having to worry, and that would be her way of minimising worries if that makes sense! I do know when our niece got 7A*s at GCSE she did have to rule out certain schools that said at their open day that they wanted 8 or more. She is now studying Medicine somewhere that prioritised her very high UKCAT score. DD1's friends this year have also had varying success with their medicine applications so she too picked up a lot. Hopefully it will mean DD2 is well advised if she does go for medicine.

DD not interested in the autumn exams either. She’s moved on to A level bridging work and not looking back.

Anybody worried that once employers and uni’s see 2020 as the date of GCSE’s taken there will be eyebrows raised? Obviously I’m sure measures will be taken to make sure this cohort aren’t discriminated against but it is a worry...my DD has done GCSE’s a year late as her mental health was in tatters in year 11 and bloody hell...would give anything for her to have done them last year and escaped this.

Ds won’t be resitting anything (unless he fails maths or English which is unlikely). His target grades were 7-9 in everything and he’ll be happy with 6s in most things except his #1 subject which he’s doing at a level anyway so although he went through a “I’ll resit if I don’t get a 9” phase for a couple of weeks I can’t see him bothering once he’s into the a level course. He’s not a medicine or oxbridge person but, like a pp said, they’ve already lost the demonstrating sitting 9+ subjects at the same time thing.

@RoiseCap - DD is in the same position. Predicted to get a very strong set of results and aiming for medicine, maybe Oxford. She has muttered about resitting if she drops 1 or 2 grades but I suspect when it comes to it she'll have moved on and be focussed on her IB studies.

It's a shame that this year will be different as I was hoping a really strong set of GCSE results would set her up nicely for at least one med school application. But who knows now?

My DD will resit any subject that she feels does not reflect her ‘attainment grades’ and her January mocks results, given the further revision that she would have done in the time period up to and including the exams proper
She wants to have a punt at Oxford.

@ProggyMat out of interest, do you support her in that or would you rather she didn’t resist any? I think Oxford usually want 8 or so 8/9 grades don’t they?

I have to say re-sitting alongside starting A Levels seems like a stressful option to me but maybe that’s partly because dd is changing schools so will be focused on making new friends! If dd doesn’t get that many 8/9s I’ll be happy for Oxford to be ruled out!

@crazycrofter yes I would if she feels she’s been ‘short changed’
She was to sit 11 GCSEs and FM but dropped 1 after mocks (graded 9) leaving her with 10 GCSEs and FM
She too is moving schools, and has been ‘cracking on’ with A level prep work whilst also forming new friendships via social media.
That said, they’re all different

DD isn’t thinking of doing any resit, but has a friend that is planning to for anything that she thinks isn’t good enough. I think it will be a nightmare, balancing A levels and resits.

As I said earlier, I would definitely be concerned about how moderation is going to work for the November exams if it is only the high achievers who did not get their 8/9 grades taking them. Would be gutting to work for the exams and then discover that they were only going to allow a certain percentage to get the top grades.

Also, I think we should not call them re-sits as they aren't - they should just be called sitting deferred exams.

If any of your DCs do subjects with NEA , I read that those will not be factored in in the 'resit' exams (except for Art, for some reason), which might sway some decisions. I am a bit about this.

Feel so much for these year 11s.

First off gcse exams taken away from them when they’ve always been given the message about how important these exams are.

Then were told July results and Autumn exams - giving them some hope that they could maybe then somehow battle through studying in August and September to do any retakes. The goalposts were then changed again to normal August results day and November exams!

November is too late, how do they expect them to have started their A level courses and study for retakes at same time? My dd is moving from current school to different college for sixth form, hopefully, so there probably won’t be much support for any gcse exams she would want to retake.

So we are left with not doing any retakes except if she doesn’t get the required grades for Maths and English- I think those two her sixth form college would at least be teaching alongside the A levels she wants to take.

Those of you with DC hoping to apply for medicine - whilst Oxford does use GCSE grades to help assess who to call for interview (don’t know about Cambridge) I would say that the UKCAT & BMAT scores are generally what most unis use (most applicants predicted grades will be equally high so can’t be used to decide).

My Dd did not have across the board A* (old system) but did have a very good BMAT & got an interview

@proggymat fair enough! She's lucky to be already settling into her new school and cohort. Dd hasn't decided where she's going yet, but even if she had, she wouldn't be able to meet anyone and get started until September, so that's why I'm thinking Sept/Oct will be settling in time.

I feel like I'm slightly on a different page to everyone else here, but I don't feel too upset about these cancelled GCSEs! For my dd, it's really positive, she gets to avoid a long gruelling exam season and still get some decent GCSEs at the end of it! I do appreciate it's different if your predicted grades weren't great though and you are anticipating having to sit exams in November.

All in all though, I think it's a good lesson for them early in life that things don't always go to plan, there's always a plan B or another way of getting somewhere and to be honest, exam results aren't the most important thing in life. We all find that out eventually, but maybe they'll be ahead of us in terms of perspective and maturity after this experience?

I am really sad about the loss of the long fun summer though. That is a shame for them. I think it will kick in at the end of June, when exams would have been over. I hope they're able to do a little bit of socialising by July - that would be nice for them.

Yes, @Piggywaspushed that is very odd for subjects like music which was around 60-80% NEA. So this is the year in which they could get a 9 for music if they are good at exams but can't play or sing! My understanding is that they said that because not all candidates have completed the NEAs, they can't use any of the work people have been done. But every school will have done at least some of the NEA, DS's school had done both performances and almost completed both compositions (one in Y10.

DS had said music would be one of the few subjects he might have considered resitting if he didn’t get a 9 - he’s performed consistently well in all areas throughout the course. Most other subjects he says he’ll be happy with what he gets, unless it’s very different from what he’d expected