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Secondary education

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GCSE 2022 Results - the moment of reckoning!

807 replies

Rollergirl11 · 24/08/2022 19:48

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

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JudgeJ · 28/08/2022 20:48

TeenDivided · 28/08/2022 08:59

I think schools should be banned from predicting 9s. They really seem to cause unnecessary stress and lead kids with 8s to be disappointed. If they were never predicted but were just a bonus everyone would be happier.

You could extrapolate that to all grades, if the school predicts a 5 then a 4 would be disappointing.

NameInUseAlreadyAgain · 28/08/2022 21:12

LouisCatorze · 28/08/2022 09:49

Another school here that if anything underpredicts for mocks (and has a reputation for doing so). If only 18% of students get their predicted grades in A Levels, isn't it likely to be similar in GCSEs too?

I'm not contemplating requesting any reviews of marking for DD but there again she was someone who 'got lucky' with two of her highest grades, just scraping them.

Got caught up in doing it for DC1 (who was very close to higher grade boundaries across four subjects at GCSE), fuelled on by MN posts (!), and I ended up circa £200 out of pocket, with DC1 very disappointed because his grades didn't change at all (he lost a few points along the way). It was also very important for DC1 to get better grades because sixth form place was dependent upon it.

It's also yet another way in which the reasonably well-off can throw money at helping their DC (as with tutoring), in a way that those who are struggling cannot. I know some schools do absorb the cost of reviews of marking but based on my own experience, it's certainly not all of them.

we’ve done it for a fail - by one mark - £38.35. Wouldn’t do foR any of his passes no matter how borderline (he got a 4 for Eng Lang for example but hey it’s a pass!)

NameInUseAlreadyAgain · 28/08/2022 21:15

Off topic slightly but feel totally sick that some 16 year old that opened his results on Thursday took a pill at festival this weekend and has died. So, so sad. Poor family :-(

LouisCatorze · 28/08/2022 21:22

@NameInUseAlreadyAgain that is sound advice. I was swept along by the seemingly high number of MN successes on asking for reviews of marking (and getting a higher grade). I wouldn't do it again. It really was a waste of money. And it was actually more disappointing not getting any 'upgrades' than it was for DC1 getting the original ones!

Once the young people start back at school, the odd 'rogue' grade will soon be forgotten. Realistically, once A Levels are done and dusted, does anyone ever ask what GCSE grades people got?

NameInUseAlreadyAgain · 28/08/2022 21:23

LouisCatorze · 28/08/2022 21:22

@NameInUseAlreadyAgain that is sound advice. I was swept along by the seemingly high number of MN successes on asking for reviews of marking (and getting a higher grade). I wouldn't do it again. It really was a waste of money. And it was actually more disappointing not getting any 'upgrades' than it was for DC1 getting the original ones!

Once the young people start back at school, the odd 'rogue' grade will soon be forgotten. Realistically, once A Levels are done and dusted, does anyone ever ask what GCSE grades people got?

Just be nice if they can find one mark and he then gets a clean sweep. It’s the poetry and Jekkyl and Hyde paper - he hates poetry - so I’m fully expecting a downward revision or stay the same but we owed it to him to try !

cheninblanc · 28/08/2022 22:50

Nameinusealreadyagain yes me too, a life gone just as it was starting

PugInTheHouse · 28/08/2022 23:03

That is so so sad, that poor family.

TeenDivided · 29/08/2022 07:04

JudgeJ · 28/08/2022 20:48

You could extrapolate that to all grades, if the school predicts a 5 then a 4 would be disappointing.

It's not the same. Many high achievers put great pressure on themselves to get the best marks, being predicted 9s means there is no way to over achieve, only get the grade or under achieve.

Furthermore, 9s aren't needed for anything.

Whereas the borderlines between other grades can make all the difference. Some places require 5s to do A levels at all. Some need 6s to do specific subjects. 7s are often required to do maths / science, even an 8 can be relatively frequent to do FM even away from selective 6th forms.

Also kids getting 4s and 5s are used to disappointment, sad, but true.

TeenDivided · 29/08/2022 07:15

PugInTheHouse · 28/08/2022 23:03

That is so so sad, that poor family.

Agree, it's unthinkable.

LouisCatorze · 29/08/2022 07:35

Really awful about the teenage boy dying at the festival Sad

MyOtherProfile · 29/08/2022 07:44

I hadn't heard about the boy. Tragic.

MirandaWest · 29/08/2022 09:45

Awful about the boy dying at Leeds. We aren't too far away and lots of people from DD's school will have been there. She wasn't and neither were any of her close friends but there will be people she knows there.

PugInTheHouse · 29/08/2022 10:04

I agree TeenDivided. Several of DSs friends was in bits before results, they knew 5 x passes was going to be a struggle and their much wanted college place was at risk, what they went through is so vastly different than someone worrying about getting 9s rather than 8s. DS was predicted a range from 6-9 and knew whatever happened he would pass them all and get on the course so he knew he may not get all as predicted but there was never that stress.

His friend just scraped 5 passes, it would have been awful for him not to have as the vocational course they are both doing is something his friend already does and gets paid for so will be the most experienced person on that course but would have potentially had to do the L2 first which he is years passed in experience.

My friends DD still doesn't have a college place, she was always going to struggle to pass any but ridiculously they had no back up plan, thankfully she passed Maths and English but no others but left without a course to start and obviously with bank holiday weekend there's a bit of a wait. Her DD could not have worked harder to pass, probably way harder than those achieving higher results, she wasn't predicted to pass any and got 5,4,4 in Eng Lang, Maths and Eng Lit which is amazing.

PugInTheHouse · 29/08/2022 10:09

Festivals for 16-18 year older terrify me as its often after exams/results. Mine have always got from the age of about 7 or 8 with us, we have a big festival 10 mins from us but now they are older I worry so much. They are off with their friends and I hate it as teenagers do such daft things. I hope they are sensible but you never know. I was at home yesterday and they were at the festival and all I saw on FB were reports of crushes and overcrowding with security not controlling anything. I knew they would have been at that stage also.

DS1 was at the front apparently (probably safer to be fair as it was the moving between stages where there was an issue) and DS2 had moved to the rave tent, someone had been spiked apparently as had taken a drink off someone. Luckily both boys said how they can't believe someone would accept a drink off a stranger so hopefully they understand the risks.

mondaytosunday · 29/08/2022 10:23

Having a plan B is essential- a friend's daughter was unlikely to pass anything despite working hard. She got her English but has now failed math three times (hers were last year). But her parents knew this and started looking at vocational courses ages ago. She has done well and got her level 2 and despite lack of maths she is starting level 3. At what point do they just stop with the math? It is not needed for her career and it just a series of discouraging results to keep trying and failing.

Fiddlersgreen · 29/08/2022 11:28

@mondaytosunday i believe my friends DD took Maths 5 times and got a D every single time (a few years ago, before the numbers were introduced) they kept making her redo it until she left the college

cheninblanc · 29/08/2022 11:43

My dd had low grades as predicted, she struggles. We had several back up plans but her new 6th form took her anyway as she's attended all the induction days and done all transition work so the 4 that she did pass they know she worked hard to achieve. She's taking btecs now and I think will do very well as her btec at gcse was a distinction. She manages course work very well just not the big test at the end

MumofSpud · 29/08/2022 11:48

cheninblanc · 29/08/2022 11:43

My dd had low grades as predicted, she struggles. We had several back up plans but her new 6th form took her anyway as she's attended all the induction days and done all transition work so the 4 that she did pass they know she worked hard to achieve. She's taking btecs now and I think will do very well as her btec at gcse was a distinction. She manages course work very well just not the big test at the end

That's great (and good of the school to recognise her as an individual )
Good Luck

PugInTheHouse · 29/08/2022 11:54

MondaytoSunday I agree, I had spoken to my friend and said she needed to have a backup even if she changed her mind at least she's have a place lined up but she suffers from bad anxiety and struggles with practical stuff, no support from any family at all either sadly.

clary · 29/08/2022 12:32

@mondaytosunday can she take Functional Skills? My ds2 was never going to pass English (got 3x E) but he did pass FS level 2 which is at an equivalent level to C/4 in GCSE (not equal to as the breadth is less) and that really opened doors for him for jobs that wanted GCSE C.

LouisCatorze · 29/08/2022 12:47

It puts into perspective angsting about slaying top grades when some young people are faced with such challenges to getting passes in maths and English. Exams do not come easy to everyone.

There is something wrong with an education system whereby one third of young people don't pass these subjects. Where does it all go wrong?

MumofSpud · 29/08/2022 12:55

I had said to DD that if she failed maths / English - she'd have to retake but also I would advise doing the functional skills equivalent - at least that would cover mist jobs asking for maths and English
I failed my maths GCSE 3 times and redid it this year so I could do teacher training

I think that they should do functional skills in Years 9/10 - it would take the pressure off in Year 11

MrsHamlet · 29/08/2022 13:12

There is something wrong with an education system whereby one third of young people don't pass these subjects. Where does it all go wrong?

It doesn't "go wrong" per se. Grades are awarded on a bell curve. No matter what, some students have to be awarded grades U to 4.

blackpearwhitelilies · 29/08/2022 13:14

My eldest DS has failed Maths about 6 times. Once he was within 2% of passing, which slayed me. He’s at uni anyway though. He did say a couple of days ago that he might beat the record of the man in the papers who’s just passed at the age of 92 .. .

mondaytosunday · 29/08/2022 13:16

@clary yes she failed functional math three times. If it's a requirement for her course I wonder if she will pass it - she has done well on it, it's just this wretched math requirement (which has nothing to do with her course, it's just a box that needs ticking).
My son was just saying today (he got a 3 in maths despite getting a 4 on mocks snd predicted a 5), that he should have taken functional maths, which was offered to those at the bottom of the class. He was expected to do better as I said and has subsequently passed it at college, but he resents that he wasn't offered it and would have saved him from having to redo it.

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