GCSEs 2019

[Surferfish]

Just out of interest, what is the thinking behind having multiple exam boards that schools can choose between?

Surely it would make more sense to have a single national examining board so that all pupils in the country took the same exams to avoid all this complication?

[hwood]

DD found today's AQA 'German Reading' very hard and tells its the toughest paper of all of the subjects she faced, what's the verdict from others?

[Hebden]

DD found today's AQA 'German Reading' very hard and tells its the toughest paper of all of the subjects she faced, what's the verdict from others?

Yes my DS and the other students I drove home after the exam were unanimous that the AQA German Higher reading paper this afternoon was the most difficult exam they had had so far, lots of tricky vocabulary and hard to complete in the time I understand x

[nyr]

DD found today's AQA 'German Reading' very hard and tells its the toughest paper of all of the subjects she faced, what's the verdict from others?

Yes my DS and the other students I drove home after the exam were unanimous that the AQA German Higher reading paper this afternoon was the most difficult exam they had had so far, lots of tricky vocabulary and hard to complete in the time I understand x

Yes, DS found it tough. It's the first time that he has mentioned the possibility of missing a targeted grade.

[Eccentric]

My Dd has actually been coping quite well but some of friends less so and this set me thinking that forcing 15/16 year olds to sit 25 exams some of which are 3 hours long so some days have involved 5 hours of exams is basically emotional abuse. What on Earth are we doing to our children when GCSEs are. It necessary at all?

[kenyancowgirl]

My Dd has actually been coping quite well but some of friends less so and this set me thinking that forcing 15/16 year olds to sit 25 exams some of which are 3 hours long so some days have involved 5 hours of exams is basically emotional abuse. What on Earth are we doing to our children when GCSEs are. It necessary at all?

I am not aware of any GCSEs that are 3 hours? The longest GCSE I have invigilated was 2 hours 15 minutes (barring art/practical exams which tend to be run over a few days). If a candidate has extra time it might be slightly longer but that is usually allowing for the fact that they need extra thinking time or physically need extra time to hold a pen etc. But yes - bar two days, every day has been a doubler, in this household - and the last day is a doubler at the same time!

Of course, generally though, it is too much - which is what most if us have been saying all along, way before exam season started! I'm surprised it has only just occurred to you! We are the most examined nation in the world, from one of the earliest ages - it is utterly ridiculous. However, this year the exam season has been significantly shorter - 4/5 weeks rather than 6-8 weeks - and I promise you, that is much much better...!

[salsa]

DD found today's AQA 'German Reading' very hard and tells its the toughest paper of all of the subjects she faced, what's the verdict from others?

Yes my DS and the other students I drove home after the exam were unanimous that the AQA German Higher reading paper this afternoon was the most difficult exam they had had so far, lots of tricky vocabulary and hard to complete in the time I understand x

Yes, DS found it tough. It's the first time that he has mentioned the possibility of missing a targeted grade.

Same reports from DGS, so the boundaries are bound to be low.
Salsa

[rebellian]

If papers are particularly hard, this is reflected in grade boundaries and vice versa, if papers are relatively easy. JCQ oversees all the exam boards and a) ensures all the papers of a subject are of a similar level generally across boards and b) that grade boundaries mean that a similar profile of high, middle and low grades are seen, regardless of the board.

In other words, it is not a perfect system but it is not imperfect!

Thanks for your explanation, Kenyancowgirl. I like your final conclusion : '' It is not a perfect system but it is not imperfect!''
Allow me to add one more comment after that: Since GCSEs/ A LEVEL are a kind of qualifications, then the score/grading system shouldn't be the main concern/subject at all. However when it comes to the exams, it is not the case anymore, isn't it?

Just out of interest, what is the thinking behind having multiple exam boards that schools can choose between?

Surely it would make more sense to have a single national examining board so that all pupils in the country took the same exams to avoid all this complication?

I'm not sure why and when this situation happened, yet I believe it might be linked to ''free market''. Can you image how many people would lose their jobs once exam boards sizes are shrunk/combined? Open the exam board/textbook publication markets might sound as a smart solution for fighting monopoly system, at least multiple choices for better teaching resources. Yet, when it comes down to exams or should we say ''competition'' itself, score system would always draw everyone's attention whether it's fair or not.

[scary mum]

I may be wrong, but I think it grew out of regional boards. When I did my O & A levels back in the dark ages there were many boards but the were all fairly regional. I did all London, DH did JMB which stood for Joint Matriculation Board (& so presumably an early merger). As they became bigger businesses they merged & then started to market their wares. Even within boards there is variation within their various syllabuses, for example the OCR Physics A level DS is doing is considered much harder than another OCR syllabus (do the universities take any notice of this? No idea). So there are fewer now than originally. I agree, btw that there should be one board.

[salsa]

I was talking to an Uber driver yesterday who spent a lot of money for his son to privately take maths, English and the 3 sciences last year. His son got okay grades, but not brilliant. He didn't tell the school.

My question is, would UCAS know? My understanding is that they would? He's not planning on telling anyone.

Salsa