GCSE Support - nervously waiting

[Hellocatshome]

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

Spot on, @TeddybearBaby. The examiners say "this paper gets a 75, this paper gets a 49" based purely on the mark scheme. The grade boundaries are only decided much later once all the data is in.

Changing the grade boundary by one mark can move 1000s of students from one grade to another, so the percentages are never quite exact even if the boards want to keep them the same!

Last questions then (that’s not a promise 😬). Are the grade boundaries made nationally and who comes up with them, how does the fact that there are different exam boards change things? Thaaaaaaaaanks

As far as I know (but this is getting out of my area!), Ofqual tells all the exam boards, "we want 5% grade 9s" etc etc. Each exam board will end up with a different grade boundary to achieve this, as the OCR paper might have been easier/harder than the Edexcel paper.

However, in a normal year (not this one!), Ofqual don't dictate to the exam boards how many Grade 9s there should be. The boards are allowed to let the percentages change within certain limits to allow for a strong or weak cohort. Grades within a subject creep up over time mainly as teachers get to know the spec better, and also as they learn what sorts of answers get good marks (through feedback session with the boards)!

Thanks for the explanations.

Dd was told at prom they had been taught some of the wrong syllabus for music, which is her strongest subject, so can't wait to see how this goes.
They also only just finished the science syllabus as the exams started!

If it helps (I don't know if it does?) this is really normal for science. The combined science syllabus (never mind triple) is really full, with an awful lot of things that need to be covered and skills (e.g. graph drawing) that need to be practised. Some of the required practicals are also time consuming, and have to be done! Many schools don't give science quite the number of hours that 2 separate GCSEs would get, either.

Most schools try to start some of the science GCSE content in Y9 to fit everything in, even if they don't start options until Y10. But obviously Y9 for these students was very disrupted (Even when we were back in school, I rarely had full classes in that summer term), so lots of schools struggled to fit science in.

We finished teaching around the Easter holidays (some classes a bit after) which is very late for us. For schools who normally aim to finish at this time, they'll have struggled to finish the content before the first exam. It's not great, but a lot of schools will have been in the same boat.

Not sure if all these questions have already been answered but I used to be an exams officer until last year and schools the results the day before so we have time to collate them and print results slips etc.

Depending on the school most teachers are embargoed from seeing results until results day but this may vary.

Getting results is normally fast if going in person. Literally just picking up an envelope.

Good luck to all.
Remember that GCSE exams are just like keys. You only need enough of the right ones to open the door to whatever you want to do next. And even if you don’t get the right keys, there’s usually a way around the door !

*”schools get the results the day before” that should say 🤦🏻‍♀️

Remember that GCSE exams are just like keys. You only need enough of the right ones to open the door to whatever you want to do next. And even if you don’t get the right keys, there’s usually a way around the door !

Thanks @AnyOldThings I think that’s really useful to hear - puts it all in perspective.

@PhotoDad thanks - great explanation

@Postapocalypticcowgirl funny you should say that.
Dds school have always started gcses in Yr 9. Because of covid they had to fit it into two years for the first time.
We got the impression they struggled to adjust the syllabus.

I don't think we are going to see a bigger gap than usual between private schools and state schools in the results. Most private schools had online learning with a teacher from the first lockdown.

I wouldn't be so certain.

Private schools & families that use them would have funds for children to have their on laptops and bigger houses so they could have space to work. Plus, and generalising massively, more likely to have parents 'working from home' who could supervise / help as needed.

Contrast with the subset of state schools in less well off areas. The teaching may well have been online, but it is clear not all children could access it properly due to lack of technology, lack of space, lack of parental assistance when needed.

That was meant to think 'I do think' yes I agree with you totally..

Yes I'd be interested to see the breakdown between private & state, I'd expect to see the gap widen. DS was at a good academy but the online support still wasn't that great during Covid, especially for the first few months.

In my opinion, the science syllabus is just too full to fit into two years, but they don't acknowledge that at all.

Anyway, they definitely won't be the only school in this situation.

I think the learning done in the first lockdown (when these students were in Y9 and may not have started GCSE learning in some subjects) is probably of lesser importance than the difference between being in a private school with stable teachers and subject specialists all through KS4, compared to many state schools which have been dealing with the retention/recruitment crisis for the last couple of years.

I also think the impact on Y10 when we weren't in lockdown will differ a lot between schools. For the autumn term in Y10, we didn't have that much absence/self isolation compared to a lot of schools, whereas we were hit quite hard in the summer of Y10. However, I know a lot of schools elsewhere in the country that were having to close or close to year groups in that Y10. I think that will have a big impact, and it would be interesting to see if there's a correlation in results- but I doubt that will be published anywhere!

I think it seems to be forgotten that just because our children had a "normal" y10 and 11, they didn't have thorough foundations laid in y8 and 9 with 2 lockdowns and so much missed there.

Totally agree @boysmuminherts . Most of year 9 here was on line as we were in lock down for much longer. Dd's dyslexia was picked up at the end of year 10. The school had to be really pushed to assess and they said any issues would have been flagged in year 8/9. We pointed put that would have been difficult as she hadn't been " taught" in those years. Assessment showed significant processing issue which explains the hours she spent working in lock down . It takes.her much longer to read and process information. How many other kids were missed or didn't have the acess to education? I donfeel they are political scape goats TBH.

Thank you!!! I love this! Going to use this phrase as needed in the coming weeks/D-day for my DD (and any relatives/friends who seem to think that anything less than 9's are a 'failure')

any relatives/friends who seem to think that anything less than 9's are a 'failure'

These people are actually nuts and you should definitely practice ignoring them. Cannot bear this attitude. It's awful for the kids hoping for a 9 and much much worse for those who are desperately hoping for a pass.

@BonjourCrisette worth remembering only 5% of candidates get a 9

I wish my family had encouraged DS to aim for any 9's. I was the mean pushy mum wanting him to aim for 6/7 and they thought he only had to get 4's to pass, so he didn't revise. If he doesn't get the grades he needs I'll be shelling out £100 a month in his travel to the alternative college.

The thing is it doesn't matter what you or your family encouraged DS to aim for. They are his GCSEs and his life.