Y11 2023/24 thread 5 - results!

[Techno56]

New thread as no 4 is nearly full

DD was two grades below predicted and mocks for English Lang as well. She was surprised as she's always excelled at Lang.

I've been thinking about mocks.

In my school, we're only allowed one slot, so they do one paper out of the 4. That's true of all subjects - one slot max.

So although they've done all parts of the exam in exam conditions over the course, they only time they ever do it all is in the summer of y11.

And the papers are marked by class teachers who - with all the will in the world - are going to be somewhat lenient in applying the mark scheme in a way that an examiner won't.

So when Fred gets a grade 5 in his mock, and a 4 in the real thing, there might be a reason for that that's not to do with exam boards at all.

Very true @MrsHamlet although you would hope that with years of experience in these things schools would be able to hone their skills in predicting from mocks.

My DD and most of her friend group got either their mock prediction or a grade up in most cases.

This is such a good point @MrsHamlet Same in our school, I think they only did parts of each paper for English language - like the creative writing on one sitting and the comprehension in another. They certainly never did all of the lit papers in one sitting - the stamina needed for paper 2 is quite something.

I'm a teacher and examiner with many years of experience, and some of mine didn't get what I predicted... in both directions!

I think the pressure got to some in a negative way, and others used it to turbocharge themselves.

@Rumplestiltz paper 2 lit is a beast! Ours only sat that for the first time in the real exam. We literally cannot fit it in.

For the English teachers, I can completely see that predicted grades aren’t always accurate. But did you have any results in your cohort that made you raise an eyebrow?

@ResultsHere in my class, a couple of disappointing ones - but not very surprising given the individuals. And a couple of ones that surprised in a good way - but students who were really putting in the work.

On a cohort level, a few who didn't get the very high grades their teachers were expecting, but we (I) will have a look at the papers to see what's happened.

DS did his main set of mocks with volunteer invigilators in exam conditions (in the hall, with everyone, no talking, no phones, etc), and another set under slightly more relaxed conditions. Not sure who graded. He consistently got 2-3 marks higher in English than he got as an actual score. I think what I can't get out of my head is that he used a laptop (he has additional needs) and what if something went wrong? That's why I wanted Lang to be reviewed, since it's right on the border of a 7. Other reason is his chosen college wants a 7.5 average for students to do 4 A Levels and the two 6's he got puts him slightly under.

Am not usually the type of parent who makes a fuss about exams. Not someone who kicks off about minor things or thinks my DS can do no wrong. But I just can't shake the "huh" feeling given what I know of DS's capabilities.

@Scattery have you asked for the Lang papers back first?

That's a good idea, @MrsHamlet thanks. DH was the one to write the exams officer. I'll see if he asked for the papers back. I have never done a GCSE so this is all a new system to me. If I could see that he filled out all portions or that the numbering wasn't messed up, I'd definitely rest easier even if the grade stayed the same.

@Scattery I honestly think getting the papers back first is best. It's a lot to spend if there was nothing awry

My DS did paper 1 for his Eng language mock last Nov, got a low 6. In Feb did paper 2 and got a low 9.
He was predicted a 7 plus, got a strong 7, both he and I didn't think would get a 9 just based of 1 mock paper.
With Maths for both set of mocks they did all 3 papers so I do think the mock results are more accurate then.

With Maths for both set of mocks they did all 3 papers so I do think the mock results are more accurate then.

I'd much prefer if we could do full mocks, but it's a logistical nightmare

DD noted wryly that with a very high 9 (and 100% for speaking) in French, and “only” an 8/Merit in English Language, she’d be better just speaking French to us from now on!

I hope everyone’s 6th form or college plans have come together now that the dust has settled. We know a wonderful talented youngster who was expected to ace the exams en route to a planned medical career, for whom results day brought a tremendous shock. He’s gone into the bank holiday weekend without a 6th form place anywhere. So hard on them at such a tender age.

Can anyone who did a Btec help me understand the results. There are 2 different results on the results slip for the same btec:
74 L2D
74 L2P
No idea if it's a distinction or a pass?!

Is it a double award? From my distant memory it's worth 4 gcses altogether so one single award (2 gcses) is a pass and the other a distinction. That's quite a difference!

This is where I'm confused. I can't find any info anywhere so don't know which result to count as one is much better than the other.

@Spacecowboys @PugInTheHouse apparently it's the school who emailed her to alert her?

Interesting comments about Eng Lang. My son was predicted a 6/7 but just got a 5 with the exact mark in one paper and 1 above in the other.

Lots of kids in his year got 1-2 grades below their predictions but the issue only occurred in Lang.

Assumed it was the board Eduqas as English is the only subject they did with that board

Regarding mocks, Lang is the only subject he did worse than in his mocks. He got 1-3 grades higher in all the other subjects he did.

Luckily the sixth form he is going to accepts a 6 in Lit but he's potentially restricted for Uni.

Hopefully the issue will be sorted out if it happened last year as well as there are too many subjects that require language at a 6 to do them at A level for the subject to seem a lottery for some

Agree last year was strange too. We'll never quite understand how DS came out with a 5 in Eng Lit when he was a consistent 7/8 (predicted 8) through yr 10 and 11 (was remarked too with no change). Conversely he was never as strong on Eng Lang but did get a 6 there.

One possibility is he had a bad exam, didn't read the questions properly etc. Which he insisted wasn't the case (thought he'd done well). Another possibility is his class teacher spent 2 years not marking them as clearly/harshly against the mark scheme as she should. So what he thought were strong answers in reality were actually mid.

His whole class (top set) did poorly against predictions whereas a lower set (different teacher) did much better than expected with a not insignificant number outperforming the top set which does led some credence to the idea the top set were allowed to coast too much.

At the end of the day though it is what it is and he could have done more independent study than he did which might have improved his grade.

Actually reflecting back now on last year, GCSEs seem like such a high pressured game of chance. With so many subjects to study for it's difficult to know revision wise where to put your focus.

Our strategy was to go all in on Maths which was his weakest subject. Not getting a minimum 5 would have prevented him from getting into sixth form college. It worked, he got the 5 which was always touch and go.

The amount of time spent on maths definitely was to the detriment of some other subjects looking back.

MrsHamlet I know you're giving very good advice about getting the papers back to look over BEFORE actually requesting a review, and that you've said the schools have the copies of the papers.

But if we do request the papers (I'm thinking English Lit Edexcel) what then? I'm an intelligent woman with a PhD (not in literature!) and DH is an academic with obvious experience in exams and marking at university level, but both of us feel we wouldn't have a clue about how marking works in a GCSE English Lit paper. So in the event that papers are requested from the school, does someone from the relevant department have a quick scan to see if they think there's a case for review? It seems a big ask of them, especially in the summer holidays.

@GlomOfNit in my school, the papers will be divided out to those of us who mark. Between us, we cover all 4 papers, which helps. Of the three of us, two are away until the start of term - I'll be looking at my papers as and when they come in, and reporting to the HOD whether I think a review is likely to get anywhere.

My colleagues will have a look when term starts - and the three of us usually chat about some of them.

In other places it might be the class teacher or HOD who looks. Someone does need to though, because a lot goes in for review which is a complete waste of money - often because someone assumed that a question which was given zero hadn't been marked, when it actually hadn't been attempted.

I'm broadly happy to do it, as are my colleagues, but I'd prefer to be asked nicely and "let off" other start of term tasks. If they want me to review scripts, I'm simply not available to count exercise books or fiddle about with displays. (Insert range of pointless tasks here)

It's not really "a quick scan" - I'm looking at the mark, the answer, the annotation, and the mark scheme. And doing that for every question is much more time consuming than marking dozens of the same question one after the others.

DD did hers last term (Y10).

They had to spend summer half-term writing a 5 minute speech on a topic of their choice after discussion and prep with teacher in the weeks before.

Then after half term a few did their speech each lesson to the rest of the class and did a mini Q&A.

They were given their mark at the end of term and feedback.