GCSE Support - nervously waiting

[Hellocatshome]

Hopefully everyone from GCSE Support The Final Frontier can find this new thread!

@Mia85 It felt exactly the same as pre=pandemic, after a very weird few years!

Can anyone tell me that if the grade boundaries are high and the results are down, is this always mixed equally between the grades?
So if the number of 9s and 8 are down, will that automatically mean there will be more 3s and 4s?
My DS is predicted mainly 5s, needs most of these but 4s would be ok. What we don't want (and I can see others above me worrying too) is 3s.

My daughter is worrying about he GCSE Grade boundaries now having read all the stuff on A levels.

It's getting very worrying now. 😟

I just hope my DS does generally well. I'm dreading seeing the disappointment if he doesn't get as he expects.

I honestly can't judge it either way because he's very clever but also lazy and last minute with things.

Just want next week to be over with now!

I think they are pegging x% get a 7 or above and y% a 4 or above and intermediary grades are set according to some formula.
The x and y values are meant to be approx as per the values in 2019.

I think the media (and MN a bit) are whipping up a frenzy that isn't justified. The A level grades have on average been pegged to 2019 so an average grades are 'right' and as they should be. Unis kept offers high perhaps in case grades stayed inflated, but they've been letting in kids with lower grades than offer.

Unless they have really screwed up then GCSEs will be where they need to be, with some kids as usual doing better than expected and some worse, for a variety of reasons.

It would be in DD's favour for them to be generous but I'm kind of philosophical now after the last few years.

My son is waiting for his 3rd attempt at English result next week…. He missed out by 7 marks last Aug and 1 mark (the grade boundary went up by 1!) in November. Even paid for remarks and it didn’t move :(
Really worried now for next week for him now they have reverted back to 2019 levels.

DD didn't even attempt Eng Lang this time around. She can't do maths & English simultaneously. So she had TAGs in 2021, Engl Lang resit 2022 (another 3), and now maths resit 2023.
It's so depressing resitting in college.

Very simplistically ofqual say what percentage (ish) should get each grade. Let’s say they say the top 5% get a 9. Exam boards look at the papers, find where that is, and that is the boundary for a 9. If it was an easy paper the boundary will be high, if it’s a hard one it will be low. The number of 9s will still be 5%. It might be 4.8 or 5.2% but it will be close to what they asked.

same for all other grades.

Actually yes they are set for 4/7 as percentages and then a formula within that but it’s still depends on how easy/hard the papers were.

It really is soul destroying for them isn’t it? :(

We are switching DD to L2 Functional skills for English (if we can find somewhere to teach it to her). It looks much more straightforward than Eng Lang (though I don't know what % is needed to pass). Slow processing, dyslexia, dyspraxia and MH issues do not make for and easy life. The annoying thing is she was working at a pass in y10 pre-covid.

DS passed everything else - even Eng Lit! Got 6’s and 7 in Maths and Sciences it’s just bloody English Lang that he really can’t be arsed with the lazy bugger! 😩

Also feeling apprehensive about next week now. Especially Maths. I've just seen a grade boundary chart in the A Level thread and it was much higher than 2019. If GCSE Maths sees a similar rise then 😱

DS has worked hard to try and get his Maths grade up and I think we are both hoping for a 6 (with a 5 being acceptable and good enough for his course).

Feeling less optimistic overall today and steeling myself for some potential disappointment next Thursday.

I have seen that chart too- edexel maths requires a 9% overall increase in marks attained to get a comparable grade to 2019 - it’s crazy.

Dd has shown me the chart too. Very clearly not the same as 2019.

This is us.. maths was already the touchy one

For those of us in Wales where we take some GCSES in year 10 it is going to be really interesting to see what the grades are. So ds took half of RS, Sciences History last year and the second papers this year. It will be very telling if his grades are lower this time. Maths and English lang are my biggest worry, he took English lit last year.

DS felt 2/3 of the maths papers were harder than he expected so none of it is boding well. He needs a 5 in maths to do biology. His other two chosen subjects are Art and History. He knows his submitted art mark and if it tallies with 2019 he should get a grade 8. History based on his mocks I'm reasonably confident he will get upwards of a grade 6.

Worst case scenario being his maths and biology are lower than hoped and lower than a 5 I'm wondering if college will take him for Art and History but ask him to choose alternate as a 3rd option? I don't want to panic him but it might be a good idea to at least think what he could replace biology with.

If the grade boundary is higher than 2019, then either the cohort did better than 2019 or it was an easier paper.

I don't think there's any need to worry more currently.

I think we all tend to remember the shock bad results and they are also the ones that on these boards you hear more from as they process it and go through the process of clearing etc with decisions to be made.
Someone who scored better than their results is likely to put one post "Got amazing results, off to first choice" and that's it. Someone who didn't get their choices may post several times, because they're venting/worrying on mn which helps them to be positive in front of their dc.

Ds' school (standard comp) has said their results were slightly better than 2019, and also better than they expected and everyone got into their firm or insurance offer that had one.

Looking at his strengths Eng Lit would be his best replacement A level but he chose biology because he was trying to avoid 3 subjects that are essay or coursework heavy. Art takes up a lot of time.

I hope you are right and I'm back here on Thursday with a smile!

Cross fingers!

Thank goodness I've found you all, finally! Very very nervous here. DS was off school ill from February and struggled through on his own, so he's not optimistic about his grades and the stress is making him feel ill again. He needs five Cs including maths to get onto his college course and maths is going to be very very borderline.

It's going to be an incredibly stressful morning, though, because he has to be at school at 9am to pick up his results and at the college 25 minutes' drive away at 9.30 to enrol. Blooming stupid and unfair. Why can't they enrol them in the afternoon or the next day, to give them time to process things? We've rung the college and they say not to worry if he's not there on the dot, but even so, he'll have no time to really process his grades or speak to his friends.

I made the mistake of looking at the A-level thread yesterday - I really hope the GCSEs haven't been marked so harshly.

I couldn’t sleep last night, worrying about grade boundaries etc. after the a level results shock, literally up all night.

I’m usually good at putting things like this to one side and dealing with it when the time comes but I’m feeling overwhelmed. I think it’s the thought of DS being shocked and disappointed that worries me and having to find him an alternative Avenue on the day. He needs 5 5’s fyi. Will be happy when we know for sure. Hope you’re all doing well.

DS is borderline for English, RE, DT and French. He refused to revise which makes it worse. I'm keeping myself busy for the next week.