A level results day looming

[123]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

My daughter's latest mock results were all Ds. Her predicted grades were Bs.

So I hope they don't go with mock results!

The last mocks they did were in the final week before the schools closed when everything was in a bit of chaos. Some of the students didn't even bother to turn up to some of the mocks because either they were too stressed about everything or they thought it didn't matter. So I'm not sure what they will do about them.

Plus, the mocks are based on teacher's assessment of where the grade boundaries will be. My daughter's school has always set these grade boundaries much higher than they actually turn out to be (she has always got lower grades in her mocks or internal tests than in the actual exams themselves). And I'm sure some schools set the boundaries lower than they should be.

So, yeah, hearing that the grades will be no lower than the mock results is no comfort here. We were hoping they wouldn't use mock results at all.

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If the assigned grades by computer are higher than the mock grades they still won't be involved in the award of the grade. It's only if the assigned grade is less than the mock score that they will be looked at

So whilst it doesn't help you DD it doesn't impact her either.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear some more tinkering happening today as it looks like they've picked a solution that is just as flawed as the thing they are trying to fix

[Flossiemay]

Originally Posted by WhereIBelong

our kids were told not to burn out during mocks - to see them as an introduction to the exam, to see how they are doing and what needs most work. Told exactly that "mocks don't matter".

So DD is fuming - she tried, but did not "push it" like she would have.

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Exactly this. Dd and Ds’s school didn’t take mocks seriously either, in fact they scheduled the exams for the day after the sixth form very hectic five days in New York so that the students were exhausted and jet lagged. Some came out crying because they just couldn’t think straight. When I queried the reason for this with the school I was told that mocks are not really important and it’s ok because not all the students went on the trip! I was angry at the time, I’m now beyond furious!

[Ds4ljs]

DDs mocks were A* A* A and C for history. History teacher said they made it hard to give the cohort a push. Sad that they will use this when her coursework was As and Bs. She got a 7 in her GCSE mock and a 9 in the real exam so lord knows what she will get tomorrow. Hurry up 8am let’s get it over with!

[tinytots]

Also, my DD has just said that her Teacher told them afterwards that they mark a bit harsher in Mocks so that they work harder !

In GCSEs mocks DD got 6s and 7s but on results day she got mostly 9s and a few 8s. Huge difference! Tomorrow can’t come quick enough to find out.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by 123

If the assigned grades by computer are higher than the mock grades they still won't be involved in the award of the grade. It's only if the assigned grade is less than the mock score that they will be looked at

So whilst it doesn't help you DD it doesn't impact her either.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear some more tinkering happening today as it looks like they've picked a solution that is just as flawed as the thing they are trying to fix

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Yes, but it seems the process was this:

1. Teachers provide an assessed grade based on mock exam results
2. The grades then get normalised resulting in the grade either increasing or decreasing
3. This new grade is the student's actual grade they receive

It seems now they are going to ignore the "decreasing" part of step 2. So either the student gets the assessed grade based on the mocks or a higher grade after normalisation.

My problem was that I hoped the teachers assessment wasn't based on mocks at all, but was instead based on (say) the predicted grades. My DD's mock results had no real bearing on her predicted grades. Similarly, my DD's mock GCSE results had no bearing on her actual GCSE results.

And given that some students in DD's year didn't even sit the mock exams, I'm not sure how they will make sure that the grade they get is no lower than their mock result (unless they automatically assumed the mock result was 0 - Failed)?

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by tinytots

Also, my DD has just said that her Teacher told them afterwards that they mark a bit harsher in Mocks so that they work harder !

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Yes, I believe it's the same at DD's school.

I can only hope the teachers assessment was based more on DD's general ability over the first 18 months of A-levels plus how well she did in her GCSEs. She got 7s (low A grade) at GCSE in all the A-level subjects she took and therefore the teachers thought she'd get Bs at A-level or maybe C in one or two if she was unlucky.

[123]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

1. Teachers provide an assessed grade based on mock exam results

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Speaking to one of our daughter's teachers (they are neighbours so just saw them in the street).

The assessed grade would naturally have included some relevance to the mock result but it was by no means the only consideration.

1) Interim tests
2) Coursework/Essays
3) Mock
4) General opinion of ability

So no teacher assessment should have just been mock grades (as he said we had 5 weeks to do this, if it had just been send in the mock grade the office staff could have done that in an afternoon)

[Florida Liz]

I’m feeling so anxious for my son. He’s so laid back and says there’s no point stressing just wait to see what happens 😩 Not got a plan B.
He one that excels in the final exam. He aced all his GCSEs and did way better than his predicted grades.
His mocks were okay ish but his predicted grades gets him his choice of uni.
I cried yesterday I was so upset about the whole situation. Not like me at all. Feel sick to my stomach but there’s nothing we can do but wait.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow or next week if GCSEs.

[mrsdjh]

This whole situation is a disgrace. They’ve had 4.5 months to decide on the fairest way to award grades in the circumstances, and 36 hours before results day they drop partial information late at night to the press 😡

If they have now decided that their standardised system may not be quite right after all, they should just use the centre assessed grades they asked schools to supply based on a number of measures as they originally said they would.

I also can’t understand the reasoning for now offering to use mocks when they are completed so differently across schools - there’s no consistency in when, where and how these are taken and marked.

I really hope that tomorrow our children all get what they need to progress, and don’t need to use the appeal route (once they’ve decided how this will now run!)

[Lisa123wm]

Sounds so unfair to me - what a mess.
With my daughter’s GCSEs and A levels, her mocks and predicted grades were at least a grade lower than she achieved in the exams.
Students know that when they take their final exams, that’s what counts and will be putting in their best efforts. So unfair as some are really going to lose out.