Do private schools have two lots of official gcse no socks

[NovemberBlues]

My friend is insisting they have mocks just gone and mocks next Feb? §

My dd school had in house school run "mocks" but her official mocks are end of Nov

All schools vary. There is another thread in this. Scho I worked in had mocks Nov and Feb; my dcs’ school had them in Jan and then maybe March. It’s nothing to do with private or state as such.

Surely it depends on the school?

My kids state secondary has two sets of socks 🤣 nov and Feb

All schools set their own mocks and timetables for them. Private or state makes no difference, they all do their own thing.

There are no 'official' mocks. They only official exams are the actual real ones. Summer series, May/June, and then resit opportunities in November.

Private schools have more socks, as the parents are wealthier

Lots of schools do two sets of mocks,both private and state

Idk what “house school run mocks” and “official mocks” are but my dc comp have y10 mocks, y11 mocks around about November and then again in y11 in March time. My nieces school - also a comp - have y11 mocks in January (presumably something in y10 too).

There are no 'official mocks' it's just a term given to the last set of exams before GCSEs.
Some schools call all exams sat in KS4 mocks some don't. Most children will sit exams at Christmas and easter/late summer term (after year 11 have left) in year 10 and a set in January of year 11. Some or all of these will be called mocks.

Each school is different and you will find a variety of approaches and timings to mocks. You surely realise that there isn't a private school rule for running mock exams..?

I used to work in a state school with 2 mocks, now I work in one with 1 set of mocks. Depends on the school. The school I'm in now has a 6th so needs to also hold a mock for y13 and can't logistically fit more in. Most schools also do some sort of end of year exams as well but it might vary as to whether this is in classrooms or a full exam hall experience, again depending on space.

There are no official mocks!

There are national GCSE exams and then individual schools have their own internal arrangements for mocks which vary massively.

Depends on the school. I invigilate at a state school and we have mocks in November and February, full exam hall experience.

My kids state secondary has two sets of socks

One on, one in the wash? LOL :)

Very common to have two sets of mocks- either term 1 of Y11 and term 2 of Y11, or end of Y10 and at some point in Y11. For some students, their first experience of the exam hall is pretty overwhelming, so the first lot of mocks don't always give an accurate picture. The second time around they know what to expect and are more likely to perform in line with their expected grades.

Equally, some schools don't do this, and that's fine too! Running a full set of mocks is time consuming and leads to missed teaching time- it doesnt' necessarily help the students do better to have two.

If they don’t have socks it will be because my marauding kitten has nicked them.

@EmpressaurusOfCats 💕

But yes, lots of schools have two sets of mocks .

It’s just past papers under exam conditions isn’t it? So, just up to the school as to how many they want to organise.

Thank you.
For some reason I assumed there were official mocks which could then be used as back up if the student doesn't sit the actual exams like 11 plus...

That only happened for one of the Covid years. (And even then they weren't organised officially.)

Scotland has sort of (or even actual?) official mocks for public exams, I think, called 'prelims'?

As for 'back up' for GCSEs etc, grades for pupils who miss some of a subject's exams are calculated using a formula for that subject for that candidate, involving their marks for the papers actually taken and iirc, the pattern of marks for the papers in that subject. It's all explained in the JCQ guidelines, anyway.

Thank you.
For some reason I assumed there were official mocks which could then be used as back up if the student doesn't sit the actual exams like 11 plus...

Nope. Mocks are just last year's paper that the school uses as a practice exam and to help predict grades for the real thing. Some schools (including some state schools) do two lots of mocks. Some also call end-of-year exams at the end of Y10 'mocks'.

Made me giggle