Exams cancelled

[noblegiraffe]

Alternative arrangements will be made.

How stressful to announce that with no details about what will happen.

[quote NotDonna]@Watermelon999 re if GCSEs are relevant for university applications - in the main yes. Only a very few schools now do AS levels so all universities have to go on is a teen’s GCSEs, their personal statement and the school reference. Some university courses require specific grades in maths and/or English, sometimes but very rarely in a related subject. Not having a valid and reliable set of GCSEs will make it tricky for universities.[/quote]
Thanks, so if for example two people were competing for a university place and both were predicted the same A-level grades, but one had graded 7 at Maths/English and the other an 8 or 9, I presume the one who had graded 7 would miss out? Or would it be done more on personal statement?

LynetteScavo

DS2 received his English GCSE result today. Two grades higher than he was awarded last summer.

Has there been any mention of the possibility of exams being taken next autumn?

Congratulations, I’m sure your son is indicated now with his result

Sorry @Watermelon999 they absolutely go on predicted A level grades too. But they have to assess how likely those predicted A levels are and one way is look at the past resukts for that teen - which in the absence of AS levels, it’s GCSEs. They can’t go solely on predicted A levels as they tend to be highly aspirational. Only 25% of teens achieve their predicted grade (or above). So that’s 75% that fall short; some by several grades. If we still did AS levels, the universities would have more to go on.

noblegiraffe

Does anyone know why they weren’t allowed to take mock grades into account alongside cags and take the higher of the two, like they did with A levels?

They didn't do this, this was what Gav announced and then had to u-turn on when it became obvious it was a bonkers idea.

They could take the higher of the CAG or the algorithm, or sit the Autumn exam. Or they could try to appeal the grade.
Mock grades were used to inform CAGs.

Was that to inform gcse or a level CAGs?

“They could take the higher of the CAG or the algorithm, or sit the Autumn exam. Or they could try to appeal the grade.

Mock grades were used to inform CAGs”

My dd had 1 gcse last year in year 10. Her mock grade was the same as the teacher predicted grade, but the eventual grade she came out with was one grade less because of school past performance. So it would have suited her to use the higher of the mock or cag grade. I worry the same will happen this year, which is why I’d have preferred them taking the exams!

Both GCSE and A-level, portico

When we came up with CAGs we had to take a range of evidence into account. In maths, we relied heavily on mock grades (although they had sat 2 sets by then). That doesn’t mean they were given their mock grade but we know how much progress students usually make from mocks and take that into account.

It’s going to be much trickier this year as our mocks were hit by covid.

Thanks, so if for example two people were competing for a university place and both were predicted the same A-level grades, but one had graded 7 at Maths/English and the other an 8 or 9, I presume the one who had graded 7 would miss out? Or would it be done more on personal statement?
I doubt one gcse would carry that much weight, but I know what you’re getting at. it’ll be the whole profile and if that subject mattered. They’d conceptualise it too - look at background info sent by ucas; the school reference, the range of grades and relevance of subjects, and the personal statement. Albeit I hear a lot on mn that personal statements aren’t always read so I do think it boils down to the predicted grades and a decent gcse grade profile. It’d also depend on what other applicants had to offer, including those from overseas. I don’t ‘know’ this as I’m not an admissions officer.

One final question, pls, which I will ask at parents evening tonite:

If a student’s November mock grades are sort of middling grades, ie 5/6, but that student performs really strongly in subsequent progress (homework’s, coursework’s, tests, EOY exams) - does the scale of progression lead to determining a higher CAG grade

Sorry the following question was to Noblegiraffe or RainbowRaine:

One final question, pls, which I will also ask at parents evening tonite:

If a student’s November mock grades are sort of middling grades, ie 5/6, but that student performs really strongly in subsequent progress (homework’s, coursework’s, tests, EOY exams) - does the scale of progression lead to determining a higher CAG grade

@LynetteScavo

DS2 received his English GCSE result today. Two grades higher than he was awarded last summer.

Has there been any mention of the possibility of exams being taken next autumn?

There is always a November GCSE series for English and maths.

@portico when DD1 took her gcse mocks a couple of years ago at Xmas time the expectation was that she’d go up another grade IF the work/revision/effort continued. Which it did as pre covid and a hard worker. Out of the 9 she took, 3 were the same as her mock result, 5 were a grade higher and one was a grade lower. So overall they were a reasonable indication. Not sure if that’s at all helpful?

Thanks NotDonna - mine was non idle in run up to mocks. He is delivering a huge step change since - but hoping it figures in the CAGs

Once again congrats to all who achieved their Eng Lang mock grades today

portico bone idle to working hard should have seen an uplift if exams were going ahead. He’ll be doing homework, class work and some tests (not the mini ones, just general ones), which will be obvious to teachers that he’s upped his game and could pull off good grades. Let’s hope all DCs obtain the ‘right’ grades for them.
I was wondering today if these mini tests they are talking about will be questions from the actual modified exam papers. So basically the real papers but done in stages. It’s daft speculating really.

Thanks, so if for example two people were competing for a university place and both were predicted the same A-level grades, but one had graded 7 at Maths/English and the other an 8 or 9, I presume the one who had graded 7 would miss out? Or would it be done more on personal statement?

There’s no simple answer to this / it would depend on the admissions policy of both the university and the specific course.

Sorry I do make a litany of typos on my iPhone - corrections in upper case

Thanks NotDonna - mine was BONE IDLE in run up to mocks. He is delivering a huge step change TOPICAL EXAM QUESTION PERFORMANCE since - but hoping it figures in the CAGs

Once again congrats to all who achieved their Eng Lang mock grades today

Exams papers go through rigorous approval processes - this year's will already exist. Whether the boards will want or be able to disembowel them to make "mini exams" is anyone guess.

Weren’t this years gcse students the first to take the new style sats in year 6 as well I seem to remember?

They’ve been quite unfortunate!

It’s a big ask to sort something fair, standardised and transparent in the next couple of weeks for each subject and feed it back to the schools in time for the teachers to start planning.

Our teachers and head have been fantastic through all of this, they’ve kept the kids calm and focussed and said that there’s plenty of time to get all the work done. I feel that this change is unfair on the teachers as well as the kids.

@Watermelon999

Weren’t this years gcse students the first to take the new style sats in year 6 as well I seem to remember?

They’ve been quite unfortunate!

It’s a big ask to sort something fair, standardised and transparent in the next couple of weeks for each subject and feed it back to the schools in time for the teachers to start planning.

Our teachers and head have been fantastic through all of this, they’ve kept the kids calm and focussed and said that there’s plenty of time to get all the work done. I feel that this change is unfair on the teachers as well as the kids.

Yes they were.

Our teachers and head have been fantastic through all of this, they’ve kept the kids calm and focussed and said that there’s plenty of time to get all the work done. I feel that this change is unfair on the teachers as well as the kids.
Same here. Very impressive and heaven knows how they’re holding it together. I’ve a feeling they’re like swans; calm and chilled on the surface but paddling away furiously underneath.

Yes the poor current year 11's had a new curriculum thrust on them half way through year 6 IIRC.

Mind you last years A level students were the first to do the new Gove GCSEs so they were screwed over twice basically....

@NotDonna

Our teachers and head have been fantastic through all of this, they’ve kept the kids calm and focussed and said that there’s plenty of time to get all the work done. I feel that this change is unfair on the teachers as well as the kids. Same here. Very impressive and heaven knows how they’re holding it together. I’ve a feeling they’re like swans; calm and chilled on the surface but paddling away furiously underneath.

This. And alcohol.

Oh my! I’ve just ploughed through the Ofqual consultation paper on the awarding of grades this summer.

One issue in particular grabbed my attention. They are consulting on the proposal that part of the CAG should be based on exam papers provided by exam boards. The schools would run the exams at the time of their choosing during an agreed window (probably end of May - beginning of June)
But - I can’t believe this bit - in order to stop some pupils being advantaged by sitting papers later in the window and contents being leaked, they’re suggesting pre-releasing all the papers. So effectively leaking all the papers to all the students!
Yes, that’s going to make the exams a true reflection of ability 😂
Really, you couldn’t make it up 🤷‍♀️

Where did you find it? I’m interested to read it as well, that sounds absolutely crazy!

Ihearttc - it’s on Ofqual’s blog