Revised GCSE results - How is this possible?

bffded · 2023-02-02T18:52:20+00:00

I know a student (private school) who got a grade below 4 in one of the sciences yet in the revised gcse results published today it says the school achieved 100% of grade 5 in science. How is this possible?

Muchtoomuchtodo · 02/02/2023 18:57

They may have appealed the mark

BadGranny · 02/02/2023 18:58

Depends on the size of the year group. If 99.6% or above got all passes, they can round up to 100%.

Original poster

bffded · 02/02/2023 18:59

If you appeal, can it go up 2 or 3 grades or even more?

OP posts:

Testina · 02/02/2023 20:13

Well in theory it could go up multiple grades - but that would only happen if there had been a technical issue with the score adding up or entering.
But you said they got a 4 but school said all 5s - so easily a remark could do that, or as PP says, rounding up.

TheFallenMadonna · 02/02/2023 20:18

There are Combined Science GCSEs, and there are Biology, Chemistry and Physics GCSEs. If it said Science, it might refer to Combined Science, maybe?

GandTtwice · 02/02/2023 20:28

DD got her one set of results from school on results day but two of her grades had been increased on the official certificate when she got that. We didn't appeal it just happened - assuming either that the school made an error when they copied it over for results day or the grade boundaries were adjusted and there'll be several others this has happened to.

surreygirl1987 · 02/02/2023 20:56

Of course- we had loads up in reviews of marking. One went up by 3 grades! Also, in a large cohort one pupil would count for very little so the percentage may have been rounded up.

Postapocalypticcowgirl · 03/02/2023 06:39

bffded · 02/02/2023 18:59

If you appeal, can it go up 2 or 3 grades or even more?

If you appeal, ultimately the marking of the whole paper or papers can be checked. It may be that in an essay subject especially, students would jump up several grades. This may be rarer in science but not impossible. If you got every one of the 6 papers re marked you might well find an extra couple of marks.

But also he may have only needed a few extra marks to get a 5. And as has been said they may be fiddling the data slightly by referring to a specific science qualification. What is the exact wording?

Noshiz · 28/08/2023 14:20

My dd has always been a grade 9 student for English Language and never received a lower grade in any of her tests/ mocks/class work for the past two years. Her teacher always used her work as an example to other students and even in the last meeting with him before her GCSE he told me to tell her not to even bother revising as he was so confident in her getting top marks. We were so shocked when she actually got a grade 5 on results day. I can’t understand how she could drop 4 grades. She said it went well. We are so confused and I know even if I get I get it remarked it won’t go up 4 grades. Just wondering if anyone else’s child had significantly lower grades than expected.

NillyNoMates · 28/08/2023 14:32

@Noshiz the English Language marking this year has been shocking. Is the school asking for a re-mark?

Sausagesandpeas · 28/08/2023 14:37

Noshiz · 28/08/2023 14:20

My dd has always been a grade 9 student for English Language and never received a lower grade in any of her tests/ mocks/class work for the past two years. Her teacher always used her work as an example to other students and even in the last meeting with him before her GCSE he told me to tell her not to even bother revising as he was so confident in her getting top marks. We were so shocked when she actually got a grade 5 on results day. I can’t understand how she could drop 4 grades. She said it went well. We are so confused and I know even if I get I get it remarked it won’t go up 4 grades. Just wondering if anyone else’s child had significantly lower grades than expected.

Yes my Dd was predicted a 9 in English language. 9 in all her mocks etc. came out with a 6. Very shocked. She said the exams went well, no surprises. Have requested access to the scripts to see if it’s worth a review.

Noshiz · 28/08/2023 14:47

I have sent an email to her teacher waiting for a reply. I think they’ll get back to me when school reopens.

CuriousPorg · 28/08/2023 14:48

Noshiz · 28/08/2023 14:20

My dd has always been a grade 9 student for English Language and never received a lower grade in any of her tests/ mocks/class work for the past two years. Her teacher always used her work as an example to other students and even in the last meeting with him before her GCSE he told me to tell her not to even bother revising as he was so confident in her getting top marks. We were so shocked when she actually got a grade 5 on results day. I can’t understand how she could drop 4 grades. She said it went well. We are so confused and I know even if I get I get it remarked it won’t go up 4 grades. Just wondering if anyone else’s child had significantly lower grades than expected.

The teacher was ridiculously stupid to tell her not to revise.

Noshiz · 28/08/2023 14:49

Yes I will request for her paper to be checked and perhaps remarked.

Noshiz · 28/08/2023 14:51

I think he was just trying to show he’s confidence in her. However, she did revise and think of all the techniques she wanted to use in her creative writing. It’s just such a shame the grade is completely not reflective of how good she is at the subject.

boobies1234 · 28/08/2023 14:55

If they are out of year you don't have to include the results either. Any chance they are out of year?

tennissquare · 28/08/2023 15:18

@Postapocalypticcowgirl , the Eng Lang grades are all over the place this year, at least when the cohort applies to Uni they will all have low Eng Lang! I have read on Mumsnet on all the various threads that the exam boards stuck to a really strict marking scheme so they wanted the answers as per the mark scheme and not anything else. Also AQA handed out 2.5% of Eng Lang as 9's this year.
If you read the thread called Exam data nerdery you can see the weird allocation of Eng Lang grades too.

tennissquare · 28/08/2023 15:18

Sorry this was for @Noshiz

DelurkingAJ · 28/08/2023 15:21

Back in the 90s a whole subject in my school did much worse than predicted at A level. School investigated and found one paper’s marks hadn’t been included…those grades changed overnight. I’m sure that would be more obvious now but sometimes an appeal can be resolved very quickly.

Noshiz · 28/08/2023 15:27

That’s what my initial feeling was that they’ve missed out some of her marks or perhaps a whole paper.

RedHelenB · 28/08/2023 17:09

CuriousPorg · 28/08/2023 14:48

The teacher was ridiculously stupid to tell her not to revise.

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Not necessarily. None of my children or myself revised Eng Lang and we all got top marks, ds was this year too.

CuriousPorg · 28/08/2023 17:34

RedHelenB · 28/08/2023 17:09

Not necessarily. None of my children or myself revised Eng Lang and we all got top marks, ds was this year too.

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Yes but would you expect a teacher to advocate not revising? It's like a doctor promising they'll save someone. They have no idea what will happen on the day. I have students I assume will ace exams but I'd never say this to their faces in case they get lazy because of it fail miserably and blame me!

SparklingLime · 31/08/2023 08:14

RedHelenB · 28/08/2023 17:09

Not necessarily. None of my children or myself revised Eng Lang and we all got top marks, ds was this year too.

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But look at the state of your grammar! 😂

WombatChocolate · 31/08/2023 08:54

Sometimes school day at isn’t entirely accurate. Schools might remove certain students from the statistical analysis for various reasons. This can also explain why it looks like everyone has passed but they haven’t. Look carefully too at how figures are confessed and what they are compared to it. A lot if it is lies, damned lies and statistics.