G grade - how can this be?

[muffinmonster]

I was tempted to change my identity in order to post this, but here goes anyway:

My DD (Y10, age 14) sat a clutch of mock GCSE exams just after the Easter holidays. Among them was an RE exam, for which she was given a G grade.

I realise that as her parent I'm biased, but I fail to see how someone who can spell, writes English well, did some revision for the test (granted I'll never know how much) and answered all but one of the questions could come out with such a low grade. I didn't know grade G even existed. DD had to explain to me that it comes between F and U (for 'unmarkable', apparently).

Anyone else here got any experiences of Gs? (Unlikely, I know.) Just how bad do you have to be?

[hermanmunster]

Bit of brutal "mock" marking to try to encourage them to work a bit harder ???.. Seem to remember the same thing happening at O level time


Actually I think some kids claim to be able to spell FUDGE with their results...

[marigold]

Do not be ashamed, I can admit to a daughter who got a U for one of her AS levels !

Perhaps your daughter made the classic mistake of writing eloquently and extensively on the subject but not answering the actual question. I know that in other GCSEs, particularly the science ISAs, if you do not include the exact phrases and information the marking schemes are looking for you can be boarderline Nobel laureate level and still not get a decent mark.
It is a hard lesson to learn but thankfully it is only a mock and hopefully her teachers will show her where she went wrong.
(I got 17% for my maths o 'level mock and managed a B in the actual thing )

[Belinda]

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[Belinda]

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[hermanmunster]

Anyone else here got any experiences of Gs? (Unlikely, I know.) Just how bad do you have to be?

Maybe look at how DD answers the questions. RE / RS exams tend to need answering in a particular way so look on the specification and get DD to know exam technique.

agreed can be very much related to technique ..

Last year in History AS exams - 2 papers - one lot were graded A/B's; the other D, E and U's! Never did find out why such an anomaly.

Was that the "sources" paper? - think there were quite a lot of glitchy results - not clear why..

[hermanmunster]

My DD (Y10, age 14) sat a clutch of mock GCSE exams just after the Easter holidays.

Early entry this summer?
I can't say what I think of it without getting banned!

Probably pretty similar to my comments

[Belinda]

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[Thingsbehindthesun]

Actually I think some kids claim to be able to spell FUDGE with their results...

I think with mocks the teachers just try to shock the kids into working harder. Will your daughter be able to view her test paper? I think that would help identify where she may have gone wrong.

[Looking for help]

I agree....mine all had terrible, terrible mock results, and made us a little bit hysterical in advance of the actual exams - helpful ? Not sure to be honest.
My youngest is doing the RE GCSE in year 10 (he's year 9 just now), and I think it's a bit of a worry, as with RE there has to be a certain level of maturity to answer the questions properly. He has exams this week, and wanted me to help him revise. The questions are various types eg a type b question needed a certain kind of answer, different from a type c or d (can't remember which type was which), but some wanted 2 reasons supporting a statement, and 2 against it, another wanted four examples etc, so I guess it's about technique as well as knowledge, if that helps.