Y10 DD target 7 English

[TenacityWins]

DD has been informed that her target for English is a 7. She is at a state girls' comprehensive in the top set and aspires to studying a science degree at a London RG uni where entrance requirements are high.

I am going to ask her teacher f there is anything they or I can do to help her achieve a higher grade, or if it is already too late and I should readjust my expectations. But do you wise MNers have any advice? I don't even know if it is Language or Lit and based on Cats or current attainment.

Her spelling has always been her weak spot even though she reads every night.

So to start with, a target is not a predicted grade and of course she can do better than her target if she really works hard. Especially if it is lower than you and she thought.

But a 7 - that's an A, yes? I know that on MN everyone's child gets all 9s and maybe an 8 or so (horror) but in the real world, students will achieve a range of grades. IMHO an academic student who hopes to gain a place to study at an RG uni will need grades from 6 to 9 in the main. DS2 had offers from RG unis (he's at Lboro but hey) and that's what he got, as did DD.

A 7 in English would be a great grade. If she is in year 10 there is plenty of time to improve her grades across the board.

If you want specific advice on lang or lit, find out which board the school does (AQA is the most common) and which texts for lit, then have a look at some threads in Secondary Education - there are lots of good revision ideas from books and flashcards to videos and going to see the plays.

Echoing clary : a 7 in English when she wants to do sciences at A level seems pretty good to me. What makes you think it would be an issue?

Also agreeing with clary with the addition that it would be useful to find out her predicted grade (rather than her target) as this should give a better indication of how she will do if continuing to work at current rate.

But Christmas of Year 10 is very early to be able to assess this in any detailed way. Unless she goes to a school where they started GCSE courses in Year 9, she's really only just started studying the syllabus.

In addition to the other comments, they may not give target grades of higher than 7. We don't.

There are way too many variables with English- work ethic and determination being a key one.

“should I readjust my expectations” - what an odd expression to use 🤔

Why would it be “too late” to improve at a subject where she has almost 18 months to go before exams?

Why don’t you - and she - even know which actual subject it is?!

As others have said - some schools won’t set above a 7 as the target. Our school uses “7+” as a target, though they’ll give a prediction of an 8. They won’t predict 9s, ever. They’ll verbally tell you if they think you have a chance of it, but they say it’s too unpredictable and they don’t like the pressure or disappointment of putting 9 on paper.