EPQ Downgraded - Why??

[justleaving]

DS' EPQ was downgraded from a CAG of a B Grade to a C. Anyone else had this?

I can't understand why this would happen - the CAG wasn't even a predicted grade! They have the epq, have marked the epq - in normal years this would have been it, with perhaps a few sent away for moderation. I'm not even sure why the EPQ's are included in this f**k up - they are all electronic so why weren't they marked as normal?? My ds was ranked 22/31 who received a grade B from his school - why did they even need this for a piece of work that is bloody completed?

I'm soooo annoyed ... Have asked for a copy of the marked project and will challenge when how to, becomes a bit more clear .

I’m assuming it’s the same as the NEAs - even if they were completed, as the deadline for them was after March 20th their marks couldn’t be used - as some centres/students would have finished and others wouldn’t, and no student was supposed to be at detriment because of lockdown (ha!).

well, this happend last year to a class mate as well though, sent for moderation; A* went down to C. For several others NEA went down 1 or 2 grades as well. So a bit bitter about all this

Ds1’s EPQ was completed, as was the rest of his group. His was marked/graded and his class results moderated and he came out as an A. He was downgraded to a C. It’s his specialist subject and was the only way he could study it and attend the college he wanted to go to, so he is really upset.

Basically it’s to do with the rank order the teachers/school had to place them in and the span of grades their school/college achieved over the last 3 years. Dh understands it much better than me and the migraine I’ve had all weekend is not enhancing my cognitive skills, but he assures me it’s to do with them basing the whole thing on a bell curve, which is fundamentally flawed for this purpose and bound to produce unfair inequality.

My other ds has been too ill for school and taught at home by the LA for over two years. He was only taking English and Maths GCSE’s, as that was all he could cope with and having pushed himself through severe illness to get through lessons and study, we are now expecting U’s for both from him, despite his assessments showing he would most likely pass both with average grades. This is because he was still on roll at his very high achieving secondary, where he will have been at the bottom of the bell curve purely due to his illness. So no matter what grades he would have achieved if he’d sat the exams, he would only be awarded the lowest possible grade the school tends to achieve.

The end result of that is that he will now have to study both subjects again next year, which leaves him no capacity to take on other GCSEs and move forward with his education. (He was planning on taking two more subjects this year then moving on to FE.) He is already on a very slow pathway to get him to the career he wants and this is going to set him back even further.

It’s an absolute disgrace.

What is a NEA? Sorry

NEA - Bob examined assessment

Non!!!!

Bob would be very busy if he had to mark all the NEAs up and down the country.

Bob wasn’t available, so Boris stepped in 🤣

We just had an email from the provider of my son’s EPQ saying the standardised grades stand. According to them the grades were moderated and submitted, City & Guilds then graded them according to last year’s grade boundaries (which would have made my son an A) and then they applied the standardisation ‘rankings’ process, which reduced him to a C.

I don’t understand how they can do this, when the government has stated they should be awarded whichever grade of either the CAG or standardised grade is higher.

The guidance appears to say it can be different for technical qualifications, but then lists different qualification types, which don’t include EPQs, which should be graded in line with A and AS levels.

Have you discussed it with his college/school?

He has emailed his tutor. She already submitted appeals for the whole class, as they were all downgraded significantly, despite having moderated grades showing they would all have achieved well against last year’s grade boundaries.

Waiting for her to get back to us.

The OFQUAL guidance clearly includes EPQ’s with A and AS Levels in their guidance, so it doesn’t really make sense.