Coronavirus: Government outlines how GCSE and A-level exam results will be awarded

@SarcAndSpark

I have done GCSEs at one Grammar school and for the Sixth Form at another grammar school.

How it will affect my A Level grades?

Also in a state of confusion, shall I keep on revising or wait for the result and then decide the next plan of action.

I wonder how that'd work for me on the old system who's looking to do a private resit many years later?

If only there wasn't the coronavirus. It would all be much simpler, but sadly there is, so let's give those in charge time to work things out.

Hi

This shouldn't affect you too much- your teachers at your sixth form will give you a grade, and GCSE results (both individual and school) will be used by exam boards to moderate that grade. This is more likely to be at a whole school level, though and shouldn't have too much of an affect on individual cases. I would expect grammar school sixth forms to be quite high performing year on year, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Personally, I would keep revising- firstly to keep yourself ticking over academically, and secondly so if you have to resit you haven't forgotten all the content. The work you do between now and June(ish) might also be useful for your teachers in assessing you, possibly- so I'd do whatever work your teacher are setting and a bit of work outside of lessons, as you would at the start of the year- I wouldn't be in full exam mode all summer
though, that's not sustainable!

I hope this reassures you a bit!

As a student in my fourth year of high school, I fail to see how it is fair we are going to be given predicted grades. Keeping in mind, we all believed they were only mocks. For many of us, we did not put all of our effort and energy into them as we thought they were only practises. I am fully aware this pandemic was unplanned but i believe that us pupils doing our gcses deserve a chance to complete our exams at a later date such as the end of this year or the start of 2021. I also understand our grades will not only be determined by our mocks but other tests and exams throughout the year. While what is happening cannot be helped, I believe that pupils should have had the slightest say in what is happening to OUR OWN education and OUR futures.

Yes your right. The pandemic is certainly devastating and it hurts to see so many people in pain hooked to ventilators describing breathing as "shards of glass in lungs". In the wider view, us students probably were their last concern . In light of this, they should have waited to announce the cancellation of exams when they had a more comprehensive set of info to give us, but as you say, all we can do is wait for them to work it out.

does this mean that higher performing schools would be able to give their students higher grades as it's more in line with their standards?

Possibly- there's one explanation of how this could work here: https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/03/awarding-grades-in-2020/?utm_source=FFT+Education+Datalab&utm_campaign=36ffe42296-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_20_01_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_69bf38d335-36ffe42296-204249157

However, even if you you go to a school which doesn't have a history of great results/great progress 8, they will still look at your individual previous performance as well, so this shouldn't impact on you as an individual too much if at all.

Apparently people are sneaking past security guards during the NHS golden hour to continue shopping. How disgusting and selfish do you have to be to do that?

How much importance do you think they'll give to the Year 6 SATS for the GCSE students?

Possibly- there's one explanation of how this could work here: https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/03/awarding-grades-in-2020/?utm_source=FFT+Education+Datalab&utm_campaign=36ffe42296-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_20_01_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_69bf38d335-36ffe42296-204249157

However, even if you you go to a school which doesn't have a history of great results/great progress 8, they will still look at your individual previous performance as well, so this shouldn't impact on you as an individual too much if at all.

I really don't want them to use the school's previous results to get results for this year. It wouldn't work in a lot of cases. Give people what they deserve based on their work, not based on what previous results the school has got.

Obviously we don't have final details yet, but this would be used as a check/moderation by exam boards, to check a school wasn't going wild and giving everyone grades higher than is reasonable. It wouldn't be used as the main determination of your results.

If you go to a school that regularly gets high progress 8, you're at an advantage over people who go to other schools anyway. It's unfair, but this unfairness is always built into the system.

Is this the only moderation theyd likely be doing and not looking at individual subjects and teachers of each school?

We don't know yet- however, it wouldn't be practicable (in my opinion) for them to look at every individual. They might take samples of evidence like with coursework, or they may only request this where the data shows teacher assessments don't look accurate.

Update 20th March 2020: Ofqual update (Source) : Ofqual will develop and set out a process that will provide a calculated grade to each student which reflects their performances as fairly as possible, and will work with the exam boards to ensure this is consistently applied for all students. The exam boards will be asking teachers, who know their students well, to submit their judgement about the grade that they believe the student would have received if exams had gone ahead.

To produce this, teachers will take into account a range of evidence and data including performance on mock exams and non-exam assessment – clear guidance on how to do this fairly and robustly this will be provided to schools and colleges. The exam boards will then combine this information with other relevant data, including prior attainment, and use this information to produce a calculated grade for each student, which will be a best assessment of the work they have put in. Ofqual will be discussing with teachers'representative before finalising an approach.

The aim is to provide these calculated grades to students before the end of July. In terms of a permanent record, the grades will be indistinguishable from those provided in other years. We will also aim to ensure that the distribution of grades follows a similar pattern to that in other years, so that this year’s students do not face a systematic disadvantage as a consequence of these extraordinary circumstances.

There will also be an option to sit an exam early in the next academic year for students who wish to and University representatives have confirmed that they expect universities to be flexible and do all they can to support students and ensure they can progress to higher education.

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So, what do you make of the news? How are you feeling now a initial plan has been laid out.

Do you think this is the fairest way for students to receive their grades considering whats going on at the moment? Do you trust that you will recieve the grades that you deserve?

I got an A in AS Maths and I can't sit A Level Maths this year. Will AS Levels be used in the grade decision?

AS levels are prior attainment, so will be used.

Have they said anything about part time students? (Resit candidates?)

In their FAQ they talked about private candidates but not the part time ones so what are they meant to do?

I got an A in AS Maths and I can't sit A Level Maths this year. Will AS Levels be used in the grade decision?

AS levels are prior attainment, so will be used.

OMG what if you're a retake..... will what you got last year be used too (IM DEADD)