Unexpected English Lit result

[Zib]

Dc got three grades below his prediction. This was quite unexpected. Any other parents or teachers seeing odd results for Eng Lit? Dc's predictions were exactly spot on for every other subject. Is it worth us asking for a re-mark or should we put it down to some exams not going well.

GCSE or a level and which exam board to compare

CIE English Literature IGCSE

Mine did - Edexcel, mock was a 7, last piece of classwork was an 8, got a 4. She was very disappointed.

What grade did he get? Is he planning to take it for A level?

Might be worth asking for a review of marking but it is not a remark. And you pay unless it goes up.

I know it is hard, but having gone through this x 3, a GCSE grade here or there (unless it is pass or not, or an A level target, or child has hopes of Oxford) is not important in the bigger scheme of things.

Child does/did have hopes of Oxford... not an A Level subject.

We also had this scenario with English. Mocks were 8/9 so makes no sense at all

We had this for Eng lang. A nasty surprise..

We do this exam board and there was some odd marking on the Shakespeare paper. Fellow teacher at another school has had more serious issues. Talk to the school and ask for their advice.

Could be a lesson that they need to do better and revise more, rather than just presuming the predicted grade is the one they will achieve ?

what grade did he get OP? Mate of Ds's is at Cambridge despite getting (MN clutches its pearls ) a 6 in Eng Lang. He is amazing at maths so they obviously and reasonably were OK with his perfectly good grade in English.

He got a 6. It could be that he needs to revise more as another poster suggested, but I know he was quite diligent and that he'd got full marks on a number of his essays in Y11. He got 9s for 9 other subjects so it was out of the ordinary for him.

Oxford and Cambridge are different. I went to Cambridge having got a D in my degree subject at GCSE (albeit many years before). Oxford wouldn't have stood for that.

Oxford puts more weight on GCSE results than Cambridge does.

Ask the school about it. They may recommend a remark especially if it is very close to a 7.

Honestly then? I wouldn't be too bothered; one 6 amid 8 or 9 9s will not stop him applying to Oxford or Cambridge. How close was he to a 7? You can ask for the paper (free I believe) and have a teacher have a look to see if they think the mark was reasonable then maybe go for a review.

@ClumpingBambooIsALie I think a D at GCSE in your degree subject tho is a bit different from a 6 (=B) in Eng lang or lit when you are getting 4 x A-star in maths (related) A levels with a view to a maths degree.

We had the opposite - an unexpectedly high grade.

My point was that giving an example of someone who went to Cambridge with a low GCSE grade in something doesn't tell us anything about getting into Oxford with a low GCSE. Yeah Cambridge can be quite flexible sometimes (as with me), what's that got to do with Oxford? They may or may not be fine with it, but giving an example of something that happened at Cambridge is irrelevant.

When I was sent to Oxford for a week by my school as a part of a programme for potential law students, we were told that we shouldn’t bother applying if we had anything less than all A*s at GCSE. That was 12 years ago though so things may have changed!

International GCSE? Is your child in a private school. International GCSEs have changed this year for English. There's a push to try to bring them more in-line with GCSEs (there's a general belief that IGCSE is easier than GCSE). There was a big research project in, I think, 2019, but nothing could happen until now. I don't know about CIE as haven't checked, but Edexcel IGCSE grade boundaries are tougher than they were in 2019, so grades are lower. 3 grades different is extreme though - most are getting a grade lower than anticipated.

I'd ask the teacher for the paper breakdown (unless he does coursework option, in which case only one paper I imagine) and grade boundaries, and request a review of the marking if anything seems off.

Yes, it is a private school, hence the IGCSE. It also means some universities will expect straight 9s, which is fair enough.

DC seems to have come to terms with it, and he can get advice from his school next year to see if he needs to change his plans. We'll see if a re-mark makes a difference: but if it's straight 9s or nothing then it is what it is.

@ClumpingBambooIsALie fair enough. Seems a bit dismal tho if all 9s and one 6 is not good enough.

I note that if Oxford only takes people who gain all 9s then it must have struggled in 2021, as only 2100 or so students gained all 9s at GCSE in 2019, and Oxford uni typically accepts 3,600 or so students each year - and that's assuming all 2000-and-something applied! My maths is not as good as DS2's mate's at Cambridge but I can still see that that does not add up.

My DS did IGCSE, got a 6 for English Language and 9 for English Literature. He was predicted 9 for English Language. We are requesting the script to see if worth to request a review of the grade.

I’d ask the teacher for advice but wouldn’t sweat if nothing changes. A 6 is still a good grade and if your dc has mostly 8s and 9s it won’t be an issue if it’s not an a level subject