Help scoring a grade 2 in English Language mock

[Notagoodtime]

Ds is in year 11 at a local grammar school. We have had parents evening this evening and his English teacher has said his mock exam predicted a level 2 for English Language. I’m really sad that he has slipped so low in this subject. Is there any hope of lifting this grade to a 5? Any help or recommendations please. He doesn’t really read despite me buying him books regularly and he struggles with getting essays done in exam conditions and his writing has also been flagged up as very hard to read.

Has the teacher actually explained why?
Hard to read writing is the hardest to fix, so you need to know exactly where he went wrong. If it's AQA I am happy to give pointers.

Is he at a selective school?

Yes he can definitely improve. Has the teacher said what the problem is? Timing and missing out questions? Reading or writing? Does he need eg test for processing or use of a laptop?

From grade 2 to grade 5 is going to be a big job, but if he's in a grammar school he should have the underlying intelligent level to do it. Your best bet is a private tutor. If that's not possible, get him (sit and make him if needed) using YouTube video revision specifically targeted to the exam he will be sitting. They are very dull but very formulaic exams and if he learns what to do on each question and practices he should be able to do it to a decent enough standard to get to a grade 5.

Sigh. Typo. Intelligence level.

He can be assessed for using a laptop, my sons grades went up a lot when they could actually read what wrote. What's his typing like?
I have seen students go from a 2 to a 4 or 5. with a bit of tutoring .

Dd went from a 4 in mock to 8 in actual gcse in physics. She worked like hell and we got a shit hot tutor.

Too late to be assessed for extra time but push for a laptop. No need for assessment, it just needs to be his usual way of working for all assessments and extended writing from now on. He needs to practice typing quickly and accurately as he won't have any form of spellcheck and typos will be considered spelling mistakes.

What interventions are the school going to put in place? If he's at a grammar I imagine a 2 would be a hefty hit to their progress 8 measure. Can you afford a tutor?

It’s not too late for extra time. The deadline for applying is 21st March 2023 and there’s time for it to become a pupil’s normal way of working before then.

Is his mock result consistent with his work in class (i.e. was it just a bad exam)?

If just a bad exam, I'd suggest looking through the papers and working out why he lost marks - did he not understand questions, did he spend too much time on the first few questions and not finish? Exam technique can be fixed.

If he is consistently working at this level, then I assume the school must have flagged it before. What are they putting in place to improve his results?

FInally, does he particularly need a 5? Moving to a 4 may seem less scary :)

Only if you have an appropriately qualified assessor on the staff body with capacity to assess before half term, realistically. The specialist teacher who does our assessments is booked up until the spring.

That would be a poor show from a school. Even up until Christmas it would still be possible to prove normal way of working. Or a school could always give the extra time in school exams now and then formally assess after Christmas but before the deadline.

Tutor. It got my son to pass with a 4. He was terrible at revising and the one on one really helped. I used same tutor for my daughter really just to help with exam skills - she was predicted to do well anyway (7), but was nervous about timings and she ended up with a 9.

Can you ask what his predicted grade would have bee from class work and home work? Or do you maybe already have this information on a school report?
You need to figure out if it's something about this paper/exams or something more fundamental that he hasn't grasped yet.
And come up with a plan to progress once the issue has been narrowed down. But whatever the issue, it's going to take a lot of work from him with or without a tutor.

Has he done an English lit mock? What grade did he get in that?

In order to get 25% extra time the candidate will need either two standardised scores of 84 or less in two of speed of reading / writing / cognitive processing OR a diagnostic assessment report confirming a 'significant learning difficulty or disability' which has had a 'substantial long-term adverse effect on performance'. 'Long-term' is defined as twelve months or more. I think it's very unlikely that a student who has passed the 11+ to enter a grammar school will have the former and I suspect it's equally unlikely that the school has sufficient evidence to support the latter, even if they have an ed pysch or specialist teacher on the staff who can do the assessment.

I'm sorry if you think this a poor show but in nearly twenty years of teaching I've never seen a pupil receive EAA this late in the day with the exception of short-term injuries such as broken wrists. It's very rare for a genuine processing need only to manifest at the end of year 10 and the threshold of support is deliberately set high by the JCQ to stop schools shoving any student who underachieves in the year 10 mock through a quickie assessment.

I know what is required in order to be eligible for extra time. It’s not necessary to have 2 scores below 84. A pupil can qualify with one score of below 84 and one between 85-89, or 2 between 85-89, or even a cluster just within the normal range at 90-94.

The impairment must be long term, but the normal way of working doesn’t have to have been in place for 12 months and the impairment doesn’t have to been assessed more than 12 months previously.

You don’t think pupils passing the 11+ can have below average standardised scores? Of course they do! It’s not a measure of intelligence or academic ability.

I'm sorry if you think this a poor show but in nearly twenty years of teaching I've never seen a pupil receive EAA this late in the day with the exception of short-term injuries such as broken wrists.

I struggle to believe that. Many schools, wrongly, don’t even start to think about assessing for access arrangements until some time in Y10. It’s not uncommon for access arrangements to still not to be in place at the beginning of Y11. You only have to read MN each year to see that.

It's very rare for a genuine processing need only to manifest at the end of year 10

You don’t know they have only manifested themselves at the end of Y10. Even if the school only noticed them then it doesn’t mean they weren’t present prior to that e.g. a discrepancy between work requiring different skills. It’s not uncommon for DC’s difficulties to be hidden because a pupil can compensate for them up to a point.

A pupil can qualify with one score of below 84 and one between 85-89, or 2 between 85-89, or even a cluster just within the normal range at 90-94.

Then you know the burden of proof for a student to qualify in the latter case as a 'rare and exceptional circumstance' and that it's disingenuous to suggest to OP that it is a realistic expectation for her DS.

I struggle to believe that.

I think we've found the source of our contrasting experiences. Every school I've worked in has started screening and assessment processes in the middle of year 9. If EAA needs suddenly emerge at the beginning of year 10 then this is a failure of that process.

For my part I find it a little hard to believe that there are so many schools who are simultaneously too disorganised to start early whilst also being able to secure the services of a suitably qualified assessor at such short notice but I will bow to your lived experience and assume that you are in for a very busy autumn term. If the child needs the access arrangements for their examinations then they need them for all of their learning and it's appalling that students are missing out on these adjustments for most of their time in secondary education.

Extra time is realistic for the OP from a time POV, I didn’t post he would definitely receive it, but it’s not too late if he does qualify. I was just pointing out 2 scores below 84 weren’t always necessary like your post suggested they were. That’s not disingenuous.


Every school I've worked in has started screening and assessment processes in the middle of year 9. If EAA needs suddenly emerge at the beginning of year 10 then this is a failure of that process.

If the child needs the access arrangements for their examinations then they need them for all of their learning and it's appalling that students are missing out on these adjustments for most of their time in secondary education.

I agree it is appalling and a failure. A good school would start much earlier, but sadly many don’t and it happens all too frequently, especially over the last few years. Both situations are posted about all the time on MN.

Push the school for a dyslexia assessment/screening immediately. It is very possible for a bright dc to reach year 11 or beyond and not raise concerns at school. My dd was was in yr 12 before she was assessed (new school) and diagnosed with dyslexia - mainly processing & short term memory issues. She went so long undiagnosed due to ignorance by the previous school as to their thinking that a bright girl could not be dyslexic and was instead just lazy & a perfectionist, hence her writing so slowly and not enough. Turns out she was on the 99th percentile for ability in pretty much all areas, but 3rd percentile for processing. Awarded 25% extra time & laptop for A levels, but sadly missed for GCSE

My DD1 got extra time after January mocks in y11. This was in 2015 though and I know things have tightened since then. She was increasingly struggling with work especially essay based subjects and had a full dyspraxia assessment in the December. Prior to that she already had the access arrangement of typing.

EAA assessments and audits have been tightened significantly thanks to an unscrupulous handful of schools and parents who abused the system to give children who did not really need adjustments an advantage. The JCQ had to ban private Ed Psych reports a few years ago for EAA evidence.

The regulations have been tightened, but independent Ed Psych assessments haven’t been banned completely, only sidelined for applications requiring a Form 8, but many applications don’t require a Form 8 to be completed and evidence from a HCPC registered Ed Psych is acceptable.

Let's be blunt: what has been banned is the practice of wealthy parents buying their child a diagnosis and presenting it to the school to insist upon EAA.

Mr Bruff on YouTube. There's another one I'll post it when I can remember it.

What does he say about the exam, OP? Did he revise and give it his very best shot or did he try to blag it?

Please check whether the result is a grade 2 or a level 2. Level 2 is a grade 3 - 4.
Get a computer for NWW (normal way of working).

Practise a story for Paper 1 Q5 on the theme of Triumph in the Face of Adversity including: varied sentences, correctly spelt uncommon words, paragraphing, varied punctuation, language techniques. These 5 will meet every bullet point on the mark scheme for the 40 mark Q.