GCSE Latin Grades 9-1
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GCSE Latin Grades 9-1
DS is considering taking the Latin GCSE and I notice that the majority of OCR Latin candidates get an A*. This may not be that surprising given that most candidates are likely to be from highly selective schools and this could be in line with expected progress. Am I right to be slightly worried that, with the new 9-1 grading system (where grade boundaries seem, in part, to be determined by percentage of candidates), it may suddenly become a lot tougher than other GCSEs? My rational being that most GCSEs are taken by children from a wide spectrum of academic ability so the more able and industrious can still expect to achieve a high grade. For Latin, very able candidates are competing against each other for grade boundaries in part determined by percentage of candidates. Any opinions on this?
nyr
nyr
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Daogroupie
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Re: GCSE Latin Grades 9-1
Agreed. Economics is another such subject, mostly taken by very able candidates and hard to get an A* in. So the results next year in these subjects will be very interesting.
QE only recently brought back Latin so there can't be that many years of data to go on. DG
QE only recently brought back Latin so there can't be that many years of data to go on. DG
Re: GCSE Latin Grades 9-1
No, this is a falacy - the exam boards have stated that the criteria for a 7 are the same as a grade A and the proportion getting that will remain the same.
Fewer 9s will be awarded than A* but that is true for every subject.
Fewer 9s will be awarded than A* but that is true for every subject.
Last edited by Guest55 on Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: GCSE Latin Grades 9-1
'Mum and Dad are worried I won't get a 9 / A* in it' is a very poor reason for a student not to take a subject that they are interested in and good at, IMHO.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Re: GCSE Latin Grades 9-1
Thanks for the feedback. I guess it will be interesting to see the distribution of grades in August 2018 for subjects such as Latin and Economics which tend to be taken by a small but able group of students.
DG, in 2016 QE had 100% A* but that could have easily been 100% D or lower. There was only one candidate so the data is rather meaningless. However, in the same year, the OCR Latin A* rate is ~53% and I looked at the data for some other North London schools with a reasonable number of candidates and it was interesting that one of the fully selectives came out at around ~83% A*, the other fully-selective was 45% A* (so below the national average), the partially selective came out at ~11% A* (in 2015) and it seemed there were few candidates from non-selectives. It is this very wide variation in the national and local averages and the distribution of candidates across school types that raised my concerns.
Toadmum, being mindful of comments by respected forumites about avoiding an excessive number of GCSEs and faced with a child who has a very wide range of interests and would keenly do GCSEs in most subjects on the curriculum and beyond, it does no harm to consider factors other than immediate interest.
nyr
DG, in 2016 QE had 100% A* but that could have easily been 100% D or lower. There was only one candidate so the data is rather meaningless. However, in the same year, the OCR Latin A* rate is ~53% and I looked at the data for some other North London schools with a reasonable number of candidates and it was interesting that one of the fully selectives came out at around ~83% A*, the other fully-selective was 45% A* (so below the national average), the partially selective came out at ~11% A* (in 2015) and it seemed there were few candidates from non-selectives. It is this very wide variation in the national and local averages and the distribution of candidates across school types that raised my concerns.
Toadmum, being mindful of comments by respected forumites about avoiding an excessive number of GCSEs and faced with a child who has a very wide range of interests and would keenly do GCSEs in most subjects on the curriculum and beyond, it does no harm to consider factors other than immediate interest.
nyr
