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

Disruption should have been reported.
I don't think I'd go for a review if I was only 4 marks above the lower grade.

@DFOD the centre should have reported itself to the board and should've applied for special consideration. It wouldn't have been much though.

DD (also at a state school) was predicted a number of 9s. Definitely didn’t make her relax - in fact quite the opposite!

I do wish they didn’t predict any 9s for anyone though.

I got shouted at at parents' evening once by a parent because I wouldn't predict a 9 for his admittedly very bright daughter.

Oh dear @MrsHamlet .

@Newgirls are you kidding? Ds1 was predicted all 9s and it caused years of stress and "failing grades" every time he got an 8.

That sounds awful

I’m sorry but kids complaining at not getting a 9 need to get a grip

both their teacher and parents need to teach them to grow up and give their heads a wobble! They sound like spoilt brats.

That's horrendous.

I did put on the feedback form for one report that I felt predicting 9s was not a good idea and shouldn't be done.

Telling them that doesn't end well. Doesn't stop me though 🤣
Part of the issue is that when we mark internal assessment, we make up grade boundaries to give the full range of grades rather than using real ones. It's unhelpful in the extreme. Just because you "got a 9" against your cohort doesn't mean you will against the half a million real candidates.

TBH I would be pretty pissed off with DS if his attitude was such he was complaining about not getting 9s when he got a load of 8s. He was happy with his grades and finding out he was a couple of marks off 8s was even nicer for him, surely knowing they are so close to the next grade should help confidence. He tried his hardest in the exams, he could have revised a bit more perhaps and a review may have changed them but just knowing he did that well should be enough.

To review to get a 9 from an 8 seems very much pandering to a child. Life can be a but unfair and to achieve A*s in GCSEs is bloody amazing. My friend works at a college and is completely drained after the enrollment days, so many tears and very upset children not able to do the courses they wish because they missed out on a 4 in certain subjects. I think that gives a bit of perspective. I really don't want to sound unkind as I know covid has affected kids mental health but it really is a 1st world problem not getting 9s.

My main concern with DSs grades is the poor marking of his PE practical and the fact that I don't want the same for DS2. That is about complaining to the school rather than a review though.

Ours has chosen Politics, Philospohy and...Biology! Which is a bit weird, but she likes them all, so we're happy with it. Just unsure where she'll go with them! And she got (D in Eng Lang, which is a huge relief, seeing all the problems everyone else seems to have had.

DS has just finished Y13 and did Geography, Maths and Religious Studies which worked well for him. He did say he thought he was the only person in his year doing that particular combination

I have just been telling DH about this thread. He reckons getting 8 instead of 9 will impact on kids who want to go to Oxbridge. He's an Oxbridge grad himself so I guess ought to know but that seems mad to me.

The issue with getting 8s not 9s is that the first headline you’ll read on any school exam results comment is which students got a clean run of 9s; the kids with all 8s don’t get a mention!

If 9s aren’t “better” than 8s, we should have stuck with the A to E system of grades, otherwise who can blame kids/parents for wanting to aim for 9s.

I'm not saying 9s aren't better than 8s but I am questioning how much difference it makes - possibly it could affect Oxbridge entrance but I don't know. It hasn't affected my DS in terms of which 6th form and which A levels.

DN has just got a place at Oxford, with a mix of 7s, 8s and 9s. So you don't need a full set of 'perfect grades'. And he got three A*s in his A Levels for the record.

Experiencing some disappointment when young helps build resilience, and humility. Too much importance (increasingly so) is placed on exam results these days. School league tables don't help the cause either.

The school DD is going to for sixth form showed a mix of young people (this for A Levels rather than GCSEs), their grades and what they're going on to do next. I thought the celebration 'across the academic range' was great. And just one reason why we're delighted she's chosen to go there.

Great post @LouisCatorze and really interesting about your DN.

News here also showed a range of results from happy kids.

I went to Oxbridge from a comp and I did have straight As when that was maximum but I would not say you need straight 9s at all esp if you took a larger number or have a spiky profile. It was mainly on interest in subject and ability in subject but you do need to be exceptional in some way, well there needs to be a reason to take you rather than someone else. So say a child with 7,8 and 9s in 9 subjects and nothing extra would be unlikely to get an offer but one with the same grades, who could interview well and has something exceptional in their subject area or can think extremely well by themselves could. There is also some luck about it. And its contextual now so grades considered in relation to school.

You can try!

I think the knowledge that you are capable of achieving something, followed by a lack of achievement of said thing, is often upsetting, whether your capability extends to a 4 or a 9. It’s just human nature.

(I’m still not over ‘only’ getting a B in German GCSE, because I knew I could do better!)

I totally understand feeling disappointed but to request a review because the DCs can't cope without getting a 9 (mentioned a lot on this thread because their friends got them) just seems wrong. Can totally understand if it affects getting into college of course then that is different. I guess nothing wrong with a review if really close but it just feels like it's for the wrong reasons mentioned by several posters.

DCs need to learn resilience.my DCs play a lot of sport, they are both quite good but it doesn't always go as planned and they have go learn to live with that. One week they'll do brilliantly then the next it may not quite go their way. They know the next week they'll have to work that bit harder but even then that won't always be enough. That is life unfortunately.

GCSEs are a stepping stone for them, hopefully they will excel in their A levels and beyond. Most kids fine the right next steps for them, whether that's a L2 apprenticeship or 4 extremely academic A levels.

PugInTheHouse

A common outcome of a review is no change/ losing a mark or two, so you could think of that as providing delayed resilience.

@TheMarzipanDildo true I guess, although if they are already so sensitive they cant cope with getting an 8 then god knows what the fall put would be if they got a grade so awful as a 7 😉

I'm sorry, I am feeling a bit sensitive and grumpy over the whole subject as I know my DS2 will have to work his socks off to just pass as he had additional needs. He will be brilliant in his own way but has had to earn resilience the hard way, also at work we see many young people coming through with a huge sense of entitlement and I don't think all this pandering to them helps. Life is hard, not always fair and you don't always get what you want.

Oxbridge state that they do not differentiate between and 8 or a 9 as ‘there is little evidence to demonstrate that one is significantly better than the other’