Y11 2023-24 thread 4

[Techno56]

New thread for GCSE survival 🙂

I wonder what they mean by weird? Layout? Style?

Congrats!

Dts said Biology was ok, dtd loved it and enjoyed the Mathsy 5 marker. It’s an A level choice for her so that’s good. Dts happy to wave goodbye to biology!

Well done DD2!

Per DS: Weird in the phrasing of the question @Panic71 also, topics of the questions were a bit unusual. As if the examiners are trying to trick you into thinking a question is about one thing when really it's about another.

(edited for missed word)

Yes I got weird too. I think he said it was the wording. He said he did well on the long questions but not the 5 markers. So hopefully hes got some marks for the small ones and did ok on the long one.
RE apparently was really good. Hopefully he can pull something out of that, as he liked both the Christianity ones but thinks he did terribly on the Judaism. He was considering doing RE for A Level as the RE A Level sounds very ethics and philosophy based

When they get their results does it tell you what percentage they got as well? In GCSE’s? In my day (1996) you just got a grade.

@JaninaDuszejko Congratulations!

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn Also Edexcel here. DS is too tired, but he said he tried his best. He thought it was all right.

@BlackBean2023 Ds is also at a selective and the approach has been very much 'it's up to you now' with only a couple of specific subject revision sessions at the start of May.

No idea how this afternoon went, he's gone to have dinner at his girlfriend's.

Roll on this time next week!! We're nearly there folks, well done all!

Same with DS - super interested in morals, ethics and philosophy so picking RE or philosophy at A level.

AQA Triple Biology went well DS thinks, although bummed as he spent longest revision time (thats not saying too much) on practicals as they are usually 6 markers, and there were none! and lots of major topics not covered too. So I guess that what made it 'weird'.... Now doing a Paper 3 practice. Will be very hard going into Chem and Physics but Biology is officially done!

Happy weekend everyone!

@Booksandflowers from recollection with older ds they got raw marks and you work out the percentage from that.

Not a great start to today. Woke DS up at 9.30 so he could do some Bio revision for exam and went out, did shopping etc. got back at 11.00 and he's still in bed! He's meant to be on midday train to get to school and have lunch before the exam. Trains only every 45 mins at that time of day (normally every 15). Had a massive row about it. He had half a bowl of pasta and I had to chase him out the door 😡. Tbh he's not really got back into it after half term at all. He thinks bio went 'ok'. IGCSE Edexcel higher. Not a favourite subject and sounds like he waffled a 5 marker on fish farming that he didn't understand. I don't think his knowledge of content was great as he's not really applied himself to it properly.

4 more left; chemistry, physics and both further maths papers. At least they are subjects he prefers. So still at it until the 19th.

Yes you get marks (if not shown for a subject the school will know them) and grade boundaries are published on line so you can see how far above or below a boundary they are, if you want to stress yourself.

DD was happy with biology too. There were a couple of questions she couldn't answer but I think they were just 1 mark questions.

You can also challenge them if they are close to the higher boundary . My niece raised her grade by doing this and there was a 8 mark difference between the markings!

Oh right. I didn’t realise this. Thought you’d just get a number.

so you might get 5 (44%)

and then you could look up grade boundaries and see that 45% would have been a 6? Oooh that is stressful! 🤣

My daughter did some papers last year but never got a points total, just a final grade. Can she still find out?

DD reports that Biology AQA was "good"!

All the Y11s are now down the beach...

Lots more exams next week so hopefully back to some studying over the weekend 🤨

Take Eng Lang for example, that is out of 160 total. So you get the grade 4, and the marks, say 87, made up of 40 in paper 1 and 47 in paper 2.
You then see that the boundaries are 85 to get the 4 and 93 to get the 5.
(Though eng lang seems to be one where you may not get the marks on the sheet due to the s&l assessment).

You can request a review NOT A REMARK. They look to see if marking is reasonable, but if for example one examiner gives level 4 12 marks they won't change if the reviewer thinks level 4 14 marks, but will change if reviewer thinks level 5 which maybe has min of 16 marks on that question.

DS said aqa biology foundation was easy. Never sure if that comment is a good sign or not! However, after the English upset I'm just really pleased he's happy and feeling good about himself!

@TeenDivided as in a grade 5vs grade 4?
DD has been a high 6 in both her maths mocks so I’m thinking if she does the same in the actual exam it may be worth a review. My friend was really shocked at the different marks, I think it was biology so even more odd!

The marks I said are just made up. In English answers are banded (not levelled, I used the wrong term) according to certain criteria @MrsHamlet can say more, and each band has a mark range. I think marks only change on review if the band is changed,( but I may well be wrong.)
Maths and sciences are more objective so something has either been marked to scheme or not.

You pay for reviews unless the grade/mark/? changes. By paper. So you put papers in one after the other, don't want to gain 5 marks on paper 1 to take you over a boundary but drop 3 on paper 2 to drop you below again.

The marks I said are just made up. In English answers are banded (not levelled, I used the wrong term) according to certain criteria @MrsHamlet can say more, and each band has a mark range. I think marks only change on review if the band is changed,( but I may well be wrong.)
Maths and sciences are more objective so something has either been marked to scheme or not.

Broadly correct - I can't say more than that though.
Grades have to change for a review to be free.

Reviews are not looking for marks. They are not remarks.

We got DD1's English lit reviewed. We very nearly didn't as she wasn't going to take English literature for A-level but her teacher flagged to us that he thought it was odd. She got a 6 but had been predicted a 9. She felt both were actually wrong. Went for the remark and she went up 13 marks which changed her grade.

well dd says biology (AQA higher) was 'alright' but then told me that she missed a whole double page on a topic she didn't know.

Oh well, the world won't end if she fails biology, it was always a long shot as she missed pretty much every lesson from Christmas to Easter. But it isn't essential for next year in any way. Just hope she can pass the physics. Paper 1 wasn't great on that either, so she needs to pick up in paper 2. She is a mathmetician so she should but somehow finds it hard.

DC found biology OK. They are so exhausted, even more tired than the at then end of each of the first two weeks, which had a lot more exams. Also finding it hard to revise for anything, though TBF, they have done a lot of preparation, I think they will do their remaining papers OK even if they don't revise as much.

Wow! What on earth happened? This sort of thing scares me - it’s so sad that you can’t assume marking is right.