Maths and RS GCSE today

[eveningqueen456]

Anybody have any idea what the maths and RS GCSE's were like today? I have figured out they must have been hard as my son has come home really stressed out and is refusing to speak about them. Apparently he left a 15 marker question out !!!!

Oh no! DD said maths was fine? She’s doing the higher paper.

Chemistry and geography in one day tomorrow will definitely be tough but they can only do what they can do. It’s not just about this week, it’s about their work and engagement over the last 4/5 years, and as I keep telling her everything is fixable.

My son did the higher maths paper today, said it was easy and he answered all the questions right except for 3... sounds like he's in the minority though, he's probably fucked it all up!

Dd2 said maths was hard but everyone thought it was. She’s fairly chilled about it, she thinks she can pick things up in the other papers.

GCSE not IGCSE

My son said RE wasn't great and maths was ok (in a voice that sounds like not the worst but definitely not the best) but he knows he definitely got the last question wrong and is annoyed about that. He needs a 7 for maths though.

Technically, you can still get one of the top grades (7 or 8) without providing any of the final answers because most of the marks are in the working out. You only get a grade 4 with all of the final answers being correct if the working out is absent or incorrect.

This opens a lot of scope for exam strategy - e.g. getting started on the harder questions is still worth it even if you can't figure out how to provide the final answer. It's important to start the answers and not so important to complete theme - especially if they are taking too much time.

You only get a grade 4 with all of the final answers being correct if the working out is absent or incorrect.

This isn't true. If a student provides the correct answer with zero working out then it will score full marks, unless the question says 'you must show your working' or 'give reasons for your answer'. Most questions don't require any working to be shown. Obviously students should show it in case they get the final answer wrong so that they can pick up method marks.

If a student has incorrect working but a correct final answer coincidentally comes out of the incorrect working, then they don't get the marks, but that's pretty rare.

That's not true at all. If you take a look at the marking schemes, they show exactly what the marks are awarded for in the working out. At GCSE level, they aren't interested too much in whether you get the right answer; it's your understanding of how to apply maths that they are more interested in.

They also recognise that people providing the final answers have the ability to do maths, which is why the exams are designed for the final answers to make up a standard pass - that being whatever the old C grade is now worth.

Here's an example marking scheme:

https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/sample-papers-and-mark-schemes/2022/november/AQA-83003H-MS-NOV22.PDF

Take note of how the marks are awarded as M1 or B1 and the final answers are awarded as A1.

Here you go, here's the bit from the Edexcel mark scheme guidance that says exactly what I just said.

And here's the bit from the AQA markscheme that you linked to that says the same.

@noblegiraffe when can the teachers see the exams question papers? Im keen to see what teachers made of it. DS said it was the hardest exam paper he's ever sat

I saw the Edexcel ones today, we chased down the exams officer and got the spares as soon as we could.

Yes mine didn't feel either exam went well either. He felt better about his first RE paper and thinks he'll do OK on the last one, but it's the maths he's most worried about, as he needs to pass it.

DD also needs a minimum 7 , these replies are making me stressed

My son did RE today and said it was hard!

DD took AQA Higher today and was happy with it. My sister is a maths teacher, said the most able were happy, middle ability not so much.

Another one here who found RE hard today. Has been horizontally laid back about everything else. Solidarity to those with chem and geog tomorrow - mine too. It's been a tough week with history and some other biggies (I can't even remember what now!) earlier in the week. Roll on the weekend.

@noblegiraffe A lot of questions require the working out to be produced as part of the final answer. Examples of this are:

• Questions that ask how x becomes y can't be answered without showing the working out.
• Questions that ask you to prove something are basically asking to show the working out like the above.
• Questions that require the population of data tables in order to identify the final answer.

Then add this part from the examiner's instructions for those that require the working out:

If it is clear from the working that the "correct" answer has been obtained from incorrect working, award 0 marks.

In short, it's the working out that allows the the higher grade marks to be awarded.

You're right about most of the questions technically not requiring the working out by the exam board, but I think that's mainly because other questions are either simple calculations or it's a requirement of the answer to produce working out The end result would still limit the student to achieving around the modern equivalent to grade C if they submitted a paper without any working out.

Both DD and her friend's said todays math paper was worse/harder then any of the practice past papers the had done. All are in top set and predicted 8/9's.

DD is looking exhausted as well is also doing Chemistry and geography. I would say at least it Friday, so she can have a lie in on Saturday. Except her school are having English intervention for English on Saturday which starts at 8.55 until 11am.

@leonaab you said that if your final answers were all correct but with absent working, you'd only get a 4. This is just utterly wrong.

If you get the A mark, the M and P ones are implied by the fact that you got the right answer. The working out specified for the method marks in the markscheme is not required to be shown as part of your answer unless the question explicitly asks for it, which it usually doesn't.

Obviously kids aren't going to be able to answer a 5 mark question without jotting down some workings, but that's not the same thing as being required to write those workings to get the M or P marks. The M and P marks usually come into play when a student hasn't got the correct answer.

Population of a data table is usually a question in its own right, rather than part of the working.

I’m a bit of a loser so I’ve looked at all the teacher solutions to the maths papers on TikTok

if you’re a geek like me then the channel is https://www.tiktok.com/@mathsconcierge?_t=8mPCnkXfs01&_r=1

In my experience of my ds doing gcses last year, the ones that he thought were a disaster he did better in.

He was predicted a 4 for Eng Lit. Ended up missing out the whole 40 mark unseen poetry question, thought that was it and so did I but managed to get a 5!
The 2nd Chemistry paper he thought was a disaster but got higher marks in 2nd than 1st one!

looking at it the maths paper was about right, nothing substantially more difficult than prior years. I think every year I hear nieces and nephews saying it was the hardest ever and then it’s fine

Dd didn’t turn over the final page of the maths paper and so didn’t do the last question, despite having lots of time. She’s annoyed with herself, as she’s been revising maths every day and working really hard at it.

@noblegiraffe You're taking what I said too literally. Let me rephrase what I said to be technically correct:

"The questions are designed in a way that requires you to show working out to achieve above the modern equivalent to grade C. If someone only provided final answers without showing any working out, they would only achieve the modern equivalent to grade C."

Is that better?

Full marks for correct answers will mainly be about addressing the possibility of being able to work out the answer in a way that's not mentioned in the marking scheme. These questions still require the working out to get to the final answer.

If any thing, I suspect that a paper with 100% correct final answers and 0% working out would ultimately get a fail grade. Not because the answers are wrong, but because they would suspect the student of having access to leaked answers. I've seen some creative ways that students sneak answers into exams. 😂