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GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 9:02 am
by supertrex
Hello,

GCSE English Language got D, while GCSE English Literature got C.
Shall be re-take?

1.Does the syllabus all new and I have to learn everything from the beginning?
2. When would be the best time to take? Nov 2013?

Any clue or suggestion? Thanks.

Re: GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 9:37 am
by Kingfisher
Hello supertrex. If you obtained a D in English Language, you should certainly be trying to retake this. There is an opportunity to resit the Language exam in November but not the Literature.

Are you still at school? If you are at the same establishment you should speak to the Exams officer and the Head of English and ensure that you are entered for this. If you are in a new place - a 6th form college, say - they may wish you to repeat the year and redo your controlled assessment pieces as well because the exam board may be a different one.For the November retake your marks for these are likely to be carried forward. This is fine if you have done well but not so good if you know your marks could improve in this area. If this is the case I should advise you to redo the whole year and resit in June.

Be aware that your Speaking and Listening marks will not count towards your grade if you resit in June whereas they will for November.

Get some advice from your school.

Re: GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 10:27 am
by Guest55
A pass in English Language is needed; resits are in November and I would take the exam asap.

Re: GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 10:32 am
by supertrex
Hi Kingfisher, that's actually for my son, who is now in 6th form. I know that he is 8 marks away from the boundary. Would there be lots of work-load if he re-sits in November, which is only two months away from now? There are 3 components in Eng Lang: Controlled assessment (30%), speaking and listening (30%), written exam (40%) -- if re-taking, does he need to re-take all these components?

As you said speaking and listening does not count, could you plse explain it further? Thanks.

Re: GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 10:39 am
by moved
Resit English language; it is essential.

The government are making it compulsory for maths and English language to be taken until a C is achieved.

Many jobs have English/maths as a basic requirement. Literature doesn't matter.

Look at the marks for the three units: controlled assessment may be a problem for resitting; the exam can be easily retaken and he is more mature now, but that is only a small part. If his controlled assessment is below a C, I would suggest a resit in June and he should have allocated time in his timetable for these lessons.

Re: GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 11:04 am
by SteveDH
supertrex wrote:Hello,
GCSE English Language got D, while GCSE English Literature got C.
Shall be re-take?
Guest55 wrote:Kingfisher - the OP has got a C in Language!
It's probably better to use the time on your AS studies.
I think OP said English Language was a D.
assuming that is the case, then I'd go for a retake as having less that a C in English Language closes a lot of doors.
Also if its possible try and get a copy of the script to see where things went wrong.

Steve

Re: GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 11:41 am
by supertrex
yeah, will either re-take, will check from school for all the marks of the component, or alternatively to take the IELTS, which would also consider by most UK universities, and open the doors for universities outside UK.

Re: GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 12:54 pm
by Amber
supertrex wrote:yeah, will either re-take, will check from school for all the marks of the component, or alternatively to take the IELTS, which would also consider by most UK universities, and open the doors for universities outside UK.
With respect, I would caution against seeing this as a comparable qualification for UK university entrance, especially as the D will be visible to admissions authorities; and would endorse the view of others that re-sitting the GCSE with a view to gaining at least a C grade is your best course of action.

Re: GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 2:17 pm
by moved
If he's been educated in the UK for the last few years he shouldn't take IELTS. IELTS is designed for those who wish to migrate to an English speaking country.

If you have been here for under two years then he can take the exam with a bilingual dictionary and have 25% extra time.

As a boy who has English GCSEs on his CV, he should retake until he gets a C or better. I would speak to his sixth form urgently as no English language gcse will close a great many doors in the future.

Re: GCSE English Language failed

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 3:35 pm
by Kingfisher
supertrex wrote:Hi Kingfisher, that's actually for my son, who is now in 6th form. I know that he is 8 marks away from the boundary. Would there be lots of work-load if he re-sits in November, which is only two months away from now? There are 3 components in Eng Lang: Controlled assessment (30%), speaking and listening (30%), written exam (40%) -- if re-taking, does he need to re-take all these components?

As you said speaking and listening does not count, could you plse explain it further? Thanks.
Hello Supertrex. My apologies - i assumed that you were writing about yourself in the first post.

There are 3 options:
1) your son retakes in November. His marks for Controlled Assessment and Speaking and Listening will be carried forward and he will simply resit the papers in the hope of improving the grade. I should advise this option if he has good controlled assessment marks and his S&L is likely to raise him above the boundary.

2) he decides to sit the exam again in June as a new candidate. He will be able to retake the controlled assessment on the same texts - but answer different questions. The Speaking and Listening will still be assessed and this grade will appear on his certificate but the marks will not count towards the final grade. This is a new arrangement and the first group of people to be assessed in the way is the current Year 11. English departments only received confirmation of this last week although we were aware of its proposal midway through last year.

3) he does a, continues on the GCSE retake course until the results are published in January, then follows option b if he is unsuccessful.

From this you can see that the percentage of the grade based on the actual written papers will be higher with the second option. With the exam board I use, this will be increased to 60%. I haven't explored them all but I think this is similar to all the others out there although there may be slight variations. He will have more time to prepare this way and his writing style will have improved even though the weighting will have increased for the papers. It is possible to make huge improvements - I used to run this course at my school and I had several students go from E grade to A in nine months. It is possible but your son needs to be committed.

He should certainly have a second attempt because, as others have posted, many doors will be closed to him if he does not take this course of action.