Exam Results.

[Wolfie]

1 hour ago, EtoileSportiveDeDerby said:

FTFY

 

Jeez man, give us a clue ?

[DarkFruitsRam7]

7 minutes ago, Van Wolfie said:

My hypothesis is that this is caused by students being predicted the higher of two grades if they are borderline, so an A/A* pupil might be given an A* and likewise a B/C pupil might be given a B.....etc etc. this would account for the grade inflation.

So what would your solution be? I would suggest that standardised grade inflation when it comes to borderline cases is fairer and, in a way, more accurate than an arbitrary algorithm.

[djfred84]

42 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

So what would your solution be? I would suggest that standardised grade inflation when it comes to borderline cases is fairer and, in a way, more accurate than an arbitrary algorithm.

Apparently the inflation is something that happens every year as the teachers predict on what the student is capable so always go on a best case senario.

[Gone]

1 hour ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

So what would your solution be?

Sit an exam ??‍♂️

[DarkFruitsRam7]

24 minutes ago, TexasRam said:

Sit an exam ??‍♂️

That might have been an option a few months back, particularly if they did online exams, but the time has passed now. Unis start next month.

[Gone]

4 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

That might have been an option a few months back, particularly if they did online exams, but the time has passed now. Unis start next month.

Stop finding problems to all the solutions ? it’d end the debate if they just sat an exam

[Wolfie]

1 hour ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

So what would your solution be? I would suggest that standardised grade inflation when it comes to borderline cases is fairer and, in a way, more accurate than an arbitrary algorithm.

Yes but 12%+ grade inflation just devalues the results & isn't good for anyone - which is why exam results are always moderated and grade inflation kept to around 2%.

I don't know what the solution should have been for this year. More intelligent people than me have failed to solve it so far. I would have said moderation of predicted grades but that's been tried and ended up being unfair to some. Mock exams are not standardised, so that wouldn't have worked either.

As you say, too late for this year now but we've moved the problem to next year & what to do then. I just hope that exams can go ahead as normal by then.

[Bob Mash]

I don't teach A-Level so can't comment on what has happened there. I can only comment on my experience of GCSE. I have always gone with caution on grading and as such I haven't been graded up or down for years, since I was a rookie teacher. I have moderated other schools and have been part of working groups to determine grades. Whatever happens with this fiasco I can guarantee that the teacher predictions, generous or not will be more accurate than the government algorithm. 

[djfred84]

This is what i have heard through interviews on the radio their have even been teachers that have been very conservative with predicted grades as they do not want students to lose focus.

1 hour ago, Bearwood Ram said:

I don't teach A-Level so can't comment on what has happened there. I can only comment on my experience of GCSE. I have always gone with caution on grading and as such I haven't been graded up or down for years, since I was a rookie teacher. I have moderated other schools and have been part of working groups to determine grades. Whatever happens with this fiasco I can guarantee that the teacher predictions, generous or not will be more accurate than the government algorithm. 

 

[EtoileSportiveDeDerby]

8 hours ago, Van Wolfie said:

Jeez man, give us a clue ?

The most likely schools to inflate grades would be the independent fee paying schools as it is generally accepted that the kids there are sometimes smarter.

 

 

[sage]

If you thought the A Level results were a fiasco, the handling of the BTEC results knocks it into a cocked hat.

 

[rammieib]

6 hours ago, Van Wolfie said:

Yes but 12%+ grade inflation just devalues the results & isn't good for anyone - which is why exam results are always moderated and grade inflation kept to around 2%.

I don't know what the solution should have been for this year. More intelligent people than me have failed to solve it so far. I would have said moderation of predicted grades but that's been tried and ended up being unfair to some. Mock exams are not standardised, so that wouldn't have worked either.

As you say, too late for this year now but we've moved the problem to next year & what to do then. I just hope that exams can go ahead as normal by then.

I dare say the people involved in this fiasco are not more intelligent than you.

 

Anyway my next prediction - the 2% of grades which were actually increased from the predicted grades, I bet they were mainly private schools!!!

[CocuBarmyArmy]

Honestly I’ll never get why they just didn’t hold the exams, I remember the reaction in my school when it was announced, honestly the weirdest day of my life. Remember saying to one of my teachers that I was imperative we’d sit the exams as they’re was no way they could grade us with out them, she agreed, boy was I wrong!

There are still some huge errors that need to be sorted but the lack of media pressure now means they won’t be. Centre Assessed Grades are unstandardised to a point where it is actually ridiculous. It’s not that I think teachers are untrustworthy, it’s more that they are all individuals, and schools will have different ways of assessing pupils. For me personally it’s been a disaster, I’ve quite literally been downgraded by my school from my last mocks because they were so terrified of the downgrades. One of my mates schools have basically sent the entire cohort to Top 10 unis, the whole things school specific and skewed so badly.  I think it’s gonna really show up tomorrow morning with the GCSEs, when kids open their results packets to see a 3, parents will be straight up the school on the teachers back. I really do think we should have a right to appeal our Centre grades if we have data that proves otherwise, but only if you have mock grades higher, or everyone will try it. I think it will save teachers a bit of stick aswell, as obviously they don’t deserve abuse for their decisions, and if there’s no right to appeal, I fear some excess frustration may be taken out on them.

[sage]

My lad was taken GCSE English for the fourth time, once at school and 3 times alongside his college sports course. Each of the 3 times he has been an upper 3, a few percentage points off the 4 he wants (the old C grade). 

He is a real trier and a model student in class and has just received his predicted grade. 3.

Its no surprise as he seems to me at the same level but it shows his teacher was being honest and professional. I feel for students and teachers as they have both been placed in an awful position.

 

 

[Wolfie]

11 hours ago, sage said:

If you thought the A Level results were a fiasco, the handling of the BTEC results knocks it into a cocked hat.

 

Not sure. I caught part of an interview on 5Live this morning & the bloke (missed who he was) was saying that because the A level and GCSE grades were inflating so much this year (just seen 9% up for GCSE's), it made the moderated BTEC results look harsh in comparison and would disadvantage those students.

I can understand if you're going to be more generous for some, then you have to apply it for all.

[sage]

22 minutes ago, Van Wolfie said:

Not sure. I caught part of an interview on 5Live this morning & the bloke (missed who he was) was saying that because the A level and GCSE grades were inflating so much this year (just seen 9% up for GCSE's), it made the moderated BTEC results look harsh in comparison and would disadvantage those students.

I can understand if you're going to be more generous for some, then you have to apply it for all.

The BTEC ones are going to be by the teachers assessment rather than the algorithim. The rooster up is as soon as they went with teachers assessment for A levels they had to do the same with BTEC results but...forgot...then realised at the last minute.  

It's no surprise that the GCSE's teacher assessments have been the most 'flattering' because that is where teachers and schools are under most pressure with league tables. Amusingly if my lad had been assessed at his old school rather than his college he would probably have been given a 4 not a 3. 

[Ken Tram]

On 20/08/2020 at 11:09, sage said:

... he would probably have been given a 4 not a 3. 

What do all these numbers mean, again? Is 9 a high-grade?

If so, I am guessing the comparison between the GCSE scores and O-levels grades is probably something like:

9 (A, B, C), 8 (D), 7 (D), 6 (E), 5 (F), 4 (F), 3 (U), 2 (U), 1 (U)

Only teasing! (Or am I?)

[sage]

8 hours ago, Ken Tram said:

What do all these numbers mean, again? Is 9 a high-grade?

If so, I am guessing the comparison between the GCSE scores and O-levels grades is probably something like:

9 (A, B, C), 8 (D), 7 (D), 6 (E), 5 (F), 4 (F), 3 (U), 2 (U), 1 (U)

Only teasing! (Or am I?)

1 F   2 E   3 D   4 C  5 C/B  6 B   7 B/A  8 A   9 A*

That is roughly it.

 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

1 hour ago, sage said:

That is roughly it.

Is a 9 not harder to achieve than the old A*? I left the year before it all changed so I’m not sure.

[sage]

5 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

Is a 9 not harder to achieve than the old A*? I left the year before it all changed so I’m not sure.

Quite possibly. It was just a rough explanation. I'm Primary these days.