Exams cancelled 2

[Orangeblossom1977]

Started a new thread as last one is full.

So, DDs biology department are still telling the students that there are only X amount of A* available. Am I right that the guidance says grades need to be roughly in line with 2017-19 grades? In which case the college are not wrong to make such a point. But then it sounds like other schools and colleges interpret the guidance as being able to give out the grades they want so long as they have the evidence to show the student reaches that level. So, might DDs college be interpreting guidance more strictly than other schools? Or have schools been advised of a % of inflation that is acceptable?

It just still sounds so contradictory:- give the grades the student has evidence of working at and at the same time, make sure the grades are in line with historic grade profiles.

What does 'in line with'. even mean?

@Fortyfifty It's highly unlikely that there are more students this year that are working at A* level considering the shorter timeframe, missed lessons, stress and the assessment date being earlier than previous years. I think if a student can prove they are achieving a level they should get it- results will be 'broadly' in line with recent yers results if teachers assess fairly.

So @FreekStar by your reasoning this years results would be the worst ever. Most kids have missed a large part of their education through no fault of their own.
Most of them must be working below what they normally would in a normal year otherwise why bother with schools and strictly no term time holidays. How is that fair?

I am so cross that essentially every school is assessing their pupils so differently. It is not fair.

I really feel that last years cohort had a much better deal. I have no idea what grades dd is actually likely to end up with.

There will almost certainly be English and maths in November as there always are.
The 2021 papers would have already been written, and there's a spare 2020 paper somewhere so there's no reason for that series not to run.

When DS retook last November they used the summer paper
and didn't even change the date on the front page.

My guess is they haven't even printed the papers for this summer.

They probably aren't printed but they will exist.

@phineyj that's what we have been told too. That results should be broadly in line with 2017-19 but as long as there is evidence for an increase that is acceptable.

At my dd's school, their year did exceptionally well at GCSE (10% better than the previous year) and most of them stayed on for A levels so their grades might be expected to be a little higher than the 2017-19 average, but they fully expect that any differences will be investigated so will ensure very robust evidence. I think that's pretty fair, that all students have to put in the same evidence, there is no limit to the amount you can put in, the more the better.

Absolutely gutted for my DD2 (Y11). She had assessments (under full GCSE exam conditions) shortly after returning to school post-lockdown. No revision time in school or opportunities to ask teachers to go over topics missed/misunderstood. She is an incredibly driven and hardworking girl who has consistently hit her target track 8/9 in Maths ever since starting secondary school. She was planning to sit Maths A-level and had been told repeatedly that she would be extremely able to do so. Over lockdown the maths teaching has been pretty poor and DD's confidence has dropped through the floor, to the extent that she has been having online tutoring to try and fill in the gaps in her knowledge but mainly to boost her confidence.

So they come back into school and immediately sit an assessment - that we are told WILL definitely count towards the final GCSE grade. You might think that after all the difficulties these students have faced the school might set an "encouraging" exam to boost confidence and try and reduce the intense pressure on these children ahead of the next assessments in May.

You would be wrong! The maths assessment the school set was incredibly hard. DD says it was the hardest paper she has ever seen even taking into account all the past papers she has done. All the students were shell shocked afterwards. Bearing in mind DD is in Set 1 and there are 6 sets of which sets 1 - 3 (and some of set 4) usually sit the higher paper, she has just text me to say she got a track 5 in the assessment. She thinks her mark was about average for set 1 so goodness knows how the children in the lower sets have done. I'm absolutely gutted for her, and am gobsmacked how a consistent track 8/9 student (in all those many, many prior homeworks and assessments that won't count of course!) can now be facing a Grade 5/6 . All thoughts of maths A level and possibly physics degree now out the window and confidence in absolute tatters
Trying to stay up beat in front of DD and have talked about retaking if necessary (if possible) in November. But she is so, so upset.

Our school are stressing the students out too and just had a very hard maths exam.
Compared to other schools in the area who seem to be really caring for their students all our parents are in shock.
@storminasnowglobe do you know how much that exam will count towards her final grade?
Have you and all the parents complained? You could do this anonymously.
It's heartbreaking isn't it.

@saucermilk I think if students had been able to sit the exams then they would have been lower than previous years, yes. The original plan was to sit them with adjusted grade boundaries wasn't it? If teachers use past exam papers as mocks, and use the published grade boundaries for those I think the overall results would be lower. I'm wondering if schools are getting results which are lower than previous years for their school, then can they adjust everyone's grades to bring the results in line- or will we just have a cohort with poorer grades? That would seem unfair!

@saucermilk @FreekStar yes it is so awful 😢. The grade boundaries they used were from 2019 apparently. How on earth is that fair. DD got 32/80 which was a Grade 5 in 2019 (2 marks off a 6 apparently). However her friend got just 16/80 which was apparently a Grade 4 I just don't understand how 32/80 can be a 5, and half of that again can be a 4?!?!

Even the notoriously strict and serious maths teacher said it was a very hard test.

So now I have a daughter upstairs sobbing into her chemistry book, trying to revise for the next lot of "assessments" in 3 weeks time. She is absolutely cracking under the pressure and I have no idea how to help.

@storminasnowglobe I think all is not lost! The mock result could just have been a blip for her- it might be included in her profile but it won't be the only evidence- later assessments could carry more weight if she can do better in them, after all the grade shouldn't be an average but the point they have reached at the end of the assessment period. My dds school have stressed that their final mark will not be an average of their grades and their portfolio will be a profile which shows their progression through the course.

Fingers crossed @FreekStar . Unfortunately I think her profile is going backwards ie she has always done consistently well over the past 2 years up until the last 2 months where her assessment marks have absolutely plummeted (still getting good marks for homework - but that won't count). It seems the pressure of the timed "exam conditions" assessments is what has done it for my DD. They have had no previous practice at all at sitting tests under timed exam conditions as she had not even sat any mocks at her school and the schools constant emphasis on "every assessment counts" since return from lockdown has not helped at all.

Just praying she will have better luck in the next exams in 3 weeks although I fear there may be no coming back from this for her mentally speaking.

I don’t get the grading levels at all. DS1 is doing the higher maths paper and was told around 164 out of 300 across all 3 papers was equivalent to a grade 7 (which is what he is aiming for) but I don’t get how roughly 55% (maths is clearly not my strong point!) can equate to a grade 7. He is good at maths but did to appalling maths provision in lockdown hasn’t even been taught the Grade 8/9 stuff. So he’s sitting a paper when he can’t even access nearly half of it despite being good at Maths and in Set 1.

@storminasnowglobe I thought schools weren’t allowed to tell them ANY of their grades that count? Ours isn’t giving anything away. No feedback whatsoever. Not sure if that’s been a good idea or not. I really feel for your daughter but not all is lost. Please don’t let her see it that way. As you say, all you can do is support her in the next series of tests. She’s got other chances at getting the grade she deserves as luckily that wasn’t the only test. Hideous as it is, I know! I do feel for them. If you’re concerned about her MH maybe let her know that whatever grade she gets is fine with you. They put huge amounts of pressure on themselves don’t they? I think it’s easy for us to add to that unintentionally. I have to catch myself sometimes. I’m also surprised she’s never had any timed test. I think that’s very unusual. Okay, most will be rusty given hardly any schools did yr11 mocks or end of year 10’s, but this shouldn’t be the first time she’s ever sat a timed test. That’s madness.
@ihearttc again, schools are meant to be assessing only on what they’ve been taught. So if he’s not covered integration for example then that shouldn’t be on his exam. The whole point of tags is to align the assessments with taught topics. If anyone is being tested on untaught topics the school with face an awful lot of appeals. I’d check you’ve got this info correct as that would be unfair.
Having said this, our school for A levels is testing everything as all topics have been covered albeit some topics rather superficially. They’re not been told topics in advance other than steers such as ‘synoptic questions’ on chemistry or ‘mostly pure & mechanics not much stats’ for maths etc. They still have to revise everything including the stats as who knows which bits of ‘not much’ will be in the paper.

@NotDonna

His teacher told me himself during lockdown that they haven’t had time to teach most of the Grade 8/9 stuff and if my DS wanted to learn it he’d have to do it himself. It was definitely on the assessment they sat. My friends son is in the same group and is a bit of a maths whizz and got 96 marks out of 100 on the paper they just sat so it must be on there. Surely they must put it in the papers they sit or they kids that genuinely know how to do the 8/9 stuff without being taught won’t get the grade they deserve?

To compare, DS got 61 marks which seems to suggest he was only able to do the grade 6/7 stuff. I also didn’t think they were supposed to give marks/grades out?

I don’t think there’s such a thing as grade 6/7 or 8/9 stuff with maths. @noblegiraffe may be able to clarify please? Ofqual have said all along that they shouldn’t be assessed on stuff not covered. If they put questions in the papers that haven’t been taught remotely or face to face you can appeal. That’s the whole point of tags; testing what they e covered. Have you asked school how true this is?

@NotDonna sorry I was a bit muddled in my rant . Yes DD has done timed assessments before but only in class conditions. I meant that these recent ones (and the ones to follow in 3 weeks time) were in the huge sports hall with invigilators, clear plastic bags for pens etc etc - so basically thrown straight into a proper GCSE exam having not been in school f2f for months - without ever having sat a proper mock or had any revision lessons .

It also didn't help DD that the fire alarm was set off THREE times during the maths exam, completely throwing her concentration.

I also was shocked that they were given grades as I was sure that this was not supposed to be allowed. I think maybe they have got round it by saying "this is what you would have got in 2019" and then gone on to say "of course the grade boundaries may change for this year so that doesn't mean that is actually what you will get". Which is ridiculous in itself as there will be no national grade boundaries this year!!! It is such a mess.

I am thinking of emailing in. I hate to be "that" parent but I am really shocked how this is all being played out.

That’s so hard @storminasnowglobe Every school my kids have been to (there’s been 5) they’ve sat end of year exams in the huge hall, with candidate numbers and clear pencil cases from Yr7 onwards. I just assumed all schools did this.
Blooming fire alarms are incredibly disruptive! What a nightmare for her.

@NotDonna

There are questions at every grade level surely? Because if not then everyone would get the same grade? Or am I missing something obvious. The foundation paper is for up to grade 5 and the higher paper is from grade 5-9. From completing past papers at home with him (which is what they did at school) the grade 8/9 stuff is towards the end of the paper so they need to be confident on the other stuff to even get to that. So he has easily been able to answer the start of the paper but struggled towards the end as they haven’t covered it in class.
I do get what you are saying that it shouldn’t have been on the paper but then it wouldn’t have been fair on the ones who naturally know how to do it without being taught?
I’m not really that bothered, he possibly could have got an 8 (that was his predicted grade before covid) but he’d be more than happy with a 7.

There’s stuff on the higher paper that’s not on the foundation. It’s just what maths teachers have said on here over the years - that there’s not grade 8 questions etc. The kids that are likely to have covered extra topics beyond taught are those that have been tutored (so unfair anyway) and those that would get high grades regardless as they’d get high raw marks. Grades are on a curve, so if your DS is the next raw score behind the maths genius he’s on for a high grade. If there’s loads of kids between DS and maths genius then maybe not such a high grade. Schools are still doing the curve in Oder to have them aligned with previous grades. At least I think so. I’m very confused!

Thank you that’s really helpful. They’ve been told there is no curve and they are going to get the grade at the level they working at regardless of anyone else. Which is at complete odds to what should be happening.

@storminasnowglobe

I could have written your post almost word for word about my daughter. She's a usual high achiever, but her confidence has dropped through the floor. I can't believe the way this playing out. I don't understand how schools are expecting good results. Our school has refused the students any extra support or help. I actually hate her school at this point.

I have been 'that parent' and complained to the head and SLT. Basically they don't care. Other parents daren't complain for fear of upsetting the teachers who are giving the grades.