GCSE 2022 Results - the moment of reckoning!

[Rollergirl11]

Hello everyone, here is a shiny new thread ready for DC’s results day tomorrow and a much needed hand hold for us nervous parents. 🥴🤪

Tomorrow is the culmination of an incredibly turbulent 2 year journey that our young people have had to navigate. Fraught with ups and downs. They have done us all proud!!

Here is a link to the previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4566030-current-year-11-2-more-weeks-of-exams?page=37&reply=119483572

DD did Edexcel Eng Lang and no mark for that so it's not limited to AQA.

Aw, that's lovely.

I'm the same, not put any grades on FB either, but it's nice to do it on here and share experiences/support.

It's being proud of your child's achievements relative to what you know they can do/were hoping for, surely?

DD has been working a 9 level in English Language for the last 2 years. Getting an 8 would have been a disappointing result for her personally, but clearly an 8 is normally a high level and would be amazing for another child. My DS struggled with English and we didn't know if he would pass - his 4 was worth every bit as much as DD's 9.

It really is heartwarming tto see, so glad your friend's twins have that bond too. X

Hi

Sorry for being an interloper - my DS had A levels. I also teach English Lit at a uni, and know teachers who were marking for AQA faced an utter shambles. This really hit GCSE Eng Lang: they were scrambling for markers after the deadline. As reported in the TES and a Twitter storm about non-payment and a real mess. This is the eye-watering stuff that was going on

www.reddit.com/r/TeachingUK/comments/w57xia/has_anyone_been_paid_yet_by_aqa/

Congrats to you all btw, but I have to say AQA take the prize this year for being an utter shambles.

I've been thinking about why perfectly good grades are seen negatively. Do you think it is because we are conditioned to only think about things in 3s? I guess a lot of people did exams when A was the top grade, so A, B and C were the passes, and quite a lot of other things are graded as Distinction Merit Pass Fail. And of course in races and sports competitions there tends to be gold silver bronze and unplaced. So is there a subconscious belief that for any result the highest grade is good, the second is ok, the 3rd just a pass and everything else is failure?
I also think it's something to do with the frequency with which the top grades are awarded. If I recall rightly, the A* grade was orginally touted as being something that would be fairly unusual and was meant to be a discriminator between those who had done extremely well in an exam and those who were exceptional. I thought 9s were supposed to be the same, and should be a relative rarity. But they seem to have morphed into something different. Getting all or mostly 9s seems to be viewed in much the same way as a complete set of As at O level was in my day. I didn't really think that was supposed to be the idea, though I could be wrong.
Possibly attitudes will change as this system gets more bedded in and less people remember the old one, but I have to say, I don't think it's been a resounding success so far. In particular I really feel for kids who are getting 4s and treated like failures. I honestly don't think C in the old system was viewed as negatively. My eldest really struggled with maths. When she got a C we, and she, were over the moon. Even though she had higher grades in everything else, that was her big achievement. Everyone knew a C was a pass. Not a great one, but a pass all the same. Good enough, and never questioned. But I think that it would be very different were she getting her results today and receiving a 4. I wonder if things will revert at some point?

I think it's because "4" is below average when your grading system goes up to 9.

Also, the number grades don't translate well to the letter grades.
I've heard so many people saying a 9 is an A*, an 8 is an A, a 7 is an A, a 6 is a B, a 5 is a C ... which means that lower than 5 sounds like a "fail".

blooming bolding ... 9 is an A star star, 8 is an A star ...

I'm pretty sure A was new when I did GCSEs in the 1990s. At my school only the really nerdy bright kids got them and none got a full set of A results.
I agree with @MrsAvocet about "top 3" but also that for a long time "A" was what everyone wanted and was aiming for. But a lot of DDs teachers made it seem that a 7 (and sometimes even 8) was somehow disappointing. And DD was disappointed with a 7 in mocks/coursework when she said she would have been happy with A (if that makes sense)

Aargh A* has been replaced with bold!

I thought four was equivalent to a low C and five a higher C?
Anyway it doesn't really matter what mumsnet believes a four is an accepted pass and that's good enough for me .

A 5 is a high C low B. Anything a 4 or above is a L2 pass.

I don't like 9s because they are unnecessary and lead to high achieving kids thinking they have 'failed' if they 'only' gets 8s. They just add to stress.

Not that they are relevant in our household.

School have said no to providing marks. They gave the pupils their own grade sheet with them all listed on. They have said it will take too long to do as different exam boards. I have asked for PE now specifically as I need to take things further with the school.

Exactly - but people can't get their heads round 2 old grades = 1 new grade.
which leads to a 4 being devalued.

@MrsAvocet I agree with you.

Once upon a time it was extraordinarily rare to find anyone who got all A grades, even amongst the most academic of young people in the highest achieving schools. For context I knew one such person but they were so bright they went up to Oxford at just turned 17 and became an academic there.

Even most of the Oxbridge-bound young people would have gained a handful of As but also Bs and even the occasional C. And they may indeed have got in with AAB or ABB (and those who passed the entrance exam could conceivably have gained their places with EE).

When the grading change happened, I thought it was predicted that only several hundred pupils across the whole country would get all 9s but the reality seems to suggest that it's many more?

Plus there was talk at the start of having to resit Maths & English if you didn't get a 'strong pass' (ie a 5). Until they realised that was pretty much unworkable.

I am not entirely sure what was wrong with A-C etc, why haven't they concentrated on overhauling the whole system and made the exams fit for purpose. If too many were getting A*s that's the issue of the marking system or difficulty of the exams surely.

I must say even though I know a 7 is good I felt like DSs results were quite average esp compared to lasts years results but after going to college they were so happy with 7s for English and Maths it's reassuring. Even if he had 4s we wouldn't be worried of course but it's definitely a conditioning (and MN doesn't help with that lol).

It's not my reality, and hundreds of kids pass through my department. I think it depends very much on where you live and what schools your kids go to.

That’s really concerning, tryingmybest.
Do you know whether it was an issue across all AQA subjects, or mainly English? And was it both lit and Lang, or just Lang?

We have just spoken to the exams officer at our school about another topic, but did ask whether this year’s cohort had had unusual English results. She was very careful in her answer, but suggested they had, as had another school in the area (both selective independents).

DS actually got a 9 for language and an 8 for lit, but given that requests for priority copies of scripts are free, it would be interesting to see whether there is a problem among the cohort’s marking.

@Alsoplayspiccolo The marking non payment hit all subjects but GCSE Lang was the hardest hit to my best knowledge. The team leaders telling markers to do certain things to avoid challenges is very worrying indeed. AQA seems chaotic. Worth getting schools to check it out if it looks odd!

A 7 is to be celebrated and certainly an A in old money! As others have commented, the fact that the numerical system doesn't match the old one is the problem. Grade 8 straddles A star/ top A and there are cumulatively more grade 9s and 8s given out than there were A stars.

I guess it will shake itself out when people eventually stop comparing this system to the old one.

Do teachers have access to AQA GCSE scripts? DS teacher said to him yesterday his English LIT paper 1 needs to be checked as she thinks the mark maybe wrong? Do they need permission from parents as she said she will in contact about it (not sure if to son or us)?

I think we will have paper 1 of his English language reassessed as it's odd that he scraped a 7 on paper 1 (which he thought went better than paper 2) and solid 9 on paper 2 (ended up 1 mark off a 9 overall). English is a really strong subject for him and he's doing it for A level. 8 is a brilliant grade but he isn't happy with it! There seems to be quite a few people in my son's school that don't have what was predicted specifically for AQA English Lit and Lang. Is this what other schools are seeing.? I know AQA English grades being lower or higher than expected has been mentioned a few times in his thread. With the review of marks do they actually look at what the student has written and check the mark scheme was adhered to, or actually just check the allocated marks add up? @EngHOD I'm wondering if you know?

mushroom, I think they do a clerical check as a matter of course as part of the review.
I am guessing that teachers have a breakdown of marks for each question for all results, not just those under review - my DS’s history teacher was able to tell him what he got for specific questions yesterday, before suggesting he requests a priority copy of scripts so they can check his answers.
I was surprised but maybe it’s so teachers can spot weak areas and use that info for teaching the next cohort?

You can request access to aqa scripts for free. Someone experienced in the centre should then look at them and advise you about whether a review will likely lead to a grade change.
A review includes a clerical check as well as a full review of the whole paper.

We are also AQA and no mark on the sheet either for English language and it is the only mark missing.