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

It’s the fact that the first paper components are 9s but the 2nd paper is only just over a 6, when he’s always had 8s and 9s; paper 2 seems a bit odd.

Ask the teacher to look at that paper and then decide.

I know that in Eng. Lit. DD would usually answer the 'character' question for An Inspector Calls but because it was Eric who came up in the paper (and she didn't feel confident to answer a full enough response on him), she did the other question (which she said required a way of answering that she wasn't entirely confident doing but needs must on the day). So she was fully expecting to lose quite a lot of marks on that, although not having had a breakdown of her results per paper, I have no way of knowing whether that was indeed the case. Is it not possible that some of the DC on here have had similar experiences which may account for their lower than expected grades? Apparently one of her besties did answer the Eric question (which DD had not considered meaty enough) and got at least a grade lower (I think) than she'd usually been getting.

Bizarrely the only subject that my DS was predicted a 9, was one of only two that he didn't get a 9 in. I think it was a mistake and I'm sure he did less revision because of it.
Three years ago my nephew (in Wales) was predicted all A stars and A grades and really underachieved getting mostly Bs with the odd A. He definitely took his foot off the pedal because of the over estimating after his year 10 and mock exams.

Unseen poetry is notoriously tricky and often poorly prepped.

DD got ten grade 9s! 😊 She worked immensely hard and the grades are totally deserved. She’s clever but also very motivated and driven.

@Womblesaremyfavouritefood thanks for the suggestions. DD is not so much into brands (well apart from Brandy Melville) as just incredibly fussy. She also has sensitivity issues which means that the feel of clothes will put her off a lot of options! She has very long legs (34") so doesn't think that 'business type' trousers will suit her. I've suggested there's a type of trousers for everyone but she's dismissing them at the moment. She may change her mind as winter months come upon us, and her legs get cold.

Is it usual to not be able to speak to the examination officer until schools open up again?

I have emailed this morning and so far haven’t received a reply. I have phoned the school but a message comes on to say the school is currently closed and will reopen on 5.9.22. All emails to the admin email address will not be monitored.

I have asked for a review for one subject and access to scrips for another, but don’t know if they have been requested yet.

Yes. Ours won't be in until Monday now.

I had to pay when I requested review. Did it on the day of results and school replied to say it’s been sent in, the next day. If you haven’t paid then they probably haven’t sent it in yet?

Thank you NameInUseAlreadyAgain and MrsHamlet.

I wish I took the day off work but I had no idea how all this worked. My DD enrolment appointment is today and I’m hoping she can still enrol on the corses she applied for. Business A level, Law A level and Criminology (vocational). All were advertised as needing 5 GCSE’s at grade 5 and above and 2 of them being a grade 6 or above. My DD got 7 at grade 5 and one at grade 4.

I have no idea how strict colleges are when it comes to results.

One of my DD school friends enrolled yesterday for a level 3 BTEC and that haD the same criteria. She had one grade 6 short and there were no issues enrolling. So fingers crossed she will still be able to do them.

We've requested 2 re-marks with AQA papers. The first part of it is Free (scripts being recalled and we asked for that on Results Day) and once they've been looked at, it's at that point we decide if we wish to appeal and pay the fee (£38.50 per paper I think).

It depends, but she should be ok with a 4. We got turnt away from one sixth form with the 4 but accepted at another.

What’s the deadline for requesting remarks?

DS is one mark off a 6 in computer science. Do we go for a remark? It will cost £54.25 per paper for the two papers if the mark doesn't change. That's £108.50. It won't affect his A Level choices. What would you do????

The deadline for reviews (not remarks!) is the end of September.

Unless someone with experience has seen the paper and seen that there has been a marking error or that the marks awarded are unreasonable, I would do nothing. Reviews do not look for extra marks.

DD’s school are saying they’ll ask for remarks or reviews on 3 of her results:

RE - 2 marks off a 9
BIO - 1 mark off a 7
ENG LANG - 1 mark off an 8

I’ve asked that I won’t be charged if they don’t go up so just waiting to hear.

If there’s a chance of fees coming my way I’ll say no as DD is happy with results. School just seem keen to do it so we will see.

I think most schools don't have the money to absorb the cost of failed reviews of marking, @DaffodilGreen . It might be a different matter in schools in deprived areas, or even in private schools where such costs may already built into school fees?

As I've said before, I did this for DS and ended up circa £200 out of pocket. I will admit it was a waste of money.

It does make a bit of a mockery of the whole system though that the difference between a higher and a lower grade can be as little as 1 point. Obviously with 8 and 9 achievers, that's not such a massive thing but clearly people would generally consider someone much more academic for getting all 7s (or above) than 6s, and yet the difference could be 1 or 2 points across the board.

It does make a bit of a mockery of the whole system though that the difference between a higher and a lower grade can be as little as 1 point.

How else would you set grade boundaries?

But that will always be the case in any exam, think of the driving test, 1 extra minor and you fail even though the quality of driving isn’t that different.

My son had his maths paper reviewed and went from a 7 to an 8, which is useful for him as he wants to do engineering and his maths grades will be taken into account. Still waiting to her from biology, 1 mark off a 7 (teacher recommended he submit for review) as they all his grades are 7.

I think some colleges are strict about not accepting lower GCSE results as they know that realistically students with lower grades will struggle with the jump to A Level standard work. I know in my day it was seen as quite pointless doing A Levels unless you got Bs in the subjects/similar subjects at GCSE as most people with lower grades could not cope with them. So I suppose that would be a 6 these days. Unless anything has massively changed, or there are specific reasons the student underperformed in the exams, I would be looking at a different qualification type for someone who got grade 5s.

yh @LouisCatorze equally someone with all 6s could be just 1 mark off a 5 across the board. You have to set a boundary somewhere, and it's very unlikely in statistical terms that anyone would be almost at the grade above for every subject.

I woulnd't request a review @Popuptent in that scenario - in fact I didn't. DS2was one mark of a 7 in Comp sci, but delighted with his 6 as he thought he had got a 5. Now he is at uni (not studying comp sci obvs) it couldn't matter less.

Yes I guess you're right @clary. It can work both ways.

My DD was 1 mark off a grade 8 in Science but it makes no difference in the scheme of things so we've not even considered asking for it to be looked at.