The Student Room Group

I think I may have flopped biology. What do I do?

[Sorry for the insensitive title! I don't know how to change it, it's not letting me on the computer. x(]

Hi, yesterday I sat the OCR Gateway GCSE B1, B2, B3 B exam and, using the unofficial mark scheme on The Student Room, I think I got 42-48/75, depending on how harshly I mark it. Is this enough for an A? I think it won't realistically be enough for an A* but I need an A at least because I'm planning to do it next year for sixth form. I'm so worried about it and how I may have screwed up my future. Please help! Thank you.
(edited 7 years ago)

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You won't be able to know until grade boundaries are published. Also, estimations of grade using unofficial mark schemes are quite inaccurate (in my experience). Your grade also depends on how well you've done on the other exams, coursework etc. So my best advice would be to not worry and just focus on the rest of your exams :smile:
Hey first of all calm down. I do OCR but double science (B1 C1 P1) but I do have friends who do triple and they all found it super hard and time pressured and apparently the eye was killer.
So this is an exam with every one in the country so as you are doing it for A level (same ✋🏽) you must have revised a lot right??!? Therefore if you found it hard the rest of the country did too just check Twitter it was trending. Therefore if everyone found it hard this the grade boundaries would drop. Even if they haven't you still got an A so its cool child you are doing a level!!
Reply 3
Revise for your next exam. :smile:
In all honesty, there is 0 point worrying now-what can you do? What's done is done, plus you don't know exactly what you've got, so deal with it on results day if something does happen!
It's GCSE, shouldn't matter as much. Just focus more on your remaining Science Units & you should be okay :smile:
Everyone's right, look when i did triple, i got an A*in physics, A in bio and a C in Chem. They still let me take Bio and Chem at A level because i used my physics grade as a "I'm a capable science student". Concentrate on the rest of your exams, I know it sucks right now, trust me after i mucked up my resit yesterday i wanted to look up unofficial markschemes, but I'll tell you now ignore them. Another fun story, last year i cried after my stats exam thinking it had been awful. Checked the unofficial ms on here and I got 37% (solid U). On results day I got 87% (strong A). Ignore them please, they are not accurate! Also people on here will say "omg what a good exam only dropped 2 marks lol what grade is that?" And in reality they're the ones who fail. Good luck!
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 7
'flopped'
I know it is difficult, but try to take a deep breath and look forwards to the next exams you are facing. You have done the best you can, so all you can do now is hope for the best.

Most importantly...... good luck!

David Mills (Enquires, Wrexham Glyndwr University)
Even if you don't get an A you can still take it at A-level. Maybe your school only allows you to take it if you get an A at GCSE but there are other schools and colleges who happily accept a B or even a C.
Reply 10
Original post by Lularose83
You won't be able to know until grade boundaries are published. Also, estimations of grade using unofficial mark schemes are quite inaccurate (in my experience). Your grade also depends on how well you've done on the other exams, coursework etc. So my best advice would be to not worry and just focus on the rest of your exams :smile:


Yeah, those are true points as well. My controlled assessment is a high A (although it may be pushed up to an A* as my biology teacher said they were harsh marks), so now with hindsight I'm feeling a lot more optimistic about everything, and am just channeling as much of my energy as possible into revision now.

Thank you for the help! :smile:
Reply 11
Original post by TakingMyTimeOnMy
Hey first of all calm down. I do OCR but double science (B1 C1 P1) but I do have friends who do triple and they all found it super hard and time pressured and apparently the eye was killer.
So this is an exam with every one in the country so as you are doing it for A level (same ✋🏽) you must have revised a lot right??!? Therefore if you found it hard the rest of the country did too just check Twitter it was trending. Therefore if everyone found it hard this the grade boundaries would drop. Even if they haven't you still got an A so its cool child you are doing a level!!


I didn't find the exam itself too hard, it's just that the unofficial mark scheme scared me, but I've had some reassurance about how they are inaccurate a lot of the time. Everyone else in my school said the exam was okay too, just as I originally did when I walked out of that exam, so I'm just now trying to put it behind me and continue with revision for the rest of my exams.

Thank you for the help! :smile:
Reply 12
Original post by Dinaa
Revise for your next exam. :smile:


Yeah, that's the plan! I'm going to put so much into my next biology exam so I don't risk it in the slightest whatsoever. Thank you for the help!
Reply 13
Original post by mughushed
In all honesty, there is 0 point worrying now-what can you do? What's done is done, plus you don't know exactly what you've got, so deal with it on results day if something does happen!


That's true. I just have to keep going forward, no looking back now. I know that I will be worried about results day (to be honest, I am already, and the exams aren't even over), but that's just me and I'm going to try to revise as much as I can during the exam period, and unwind as much as I possibly can afterwards in the summer. Thank you for the help!
Reply 14
Original post by Oblivion99
It's GCSE, shouldn't matter as much. Just focus more on your remaining Science Units & you should be okay :smile:


Yeah, that's the plan. Thank you for the help! :smile:
Reply 15
Original post by nobodycarescarla
Everyone's right, look when i did triple, i got an A*in physics, A in bio and a C in Chem. They still let me take Bio and Chem at A level because i used my physics grade as a "I'm a capable science student". Concentrate on the rest of your exams, I know it sucks right now, trust me after i mucked up my resit yesterday i wanted to look up unofficial markschemes, but I'll tell you now ignore them. Another fun story, last year i cried after my stats exam thinking it had been awful. Checked the unofficial ms on here and I got 37% (solid U). On results day I got 87% (strong A). Ignore them please, they are not accurate! Also people on here will say "omg what a good exam only dropped 2 marks lol what grade is that?" And in reality they're the ones who fail. Good luck!


Oh, okay, I see, that's good! They must've known you were a good science student anyway before the exams. And yeah, I've begun to see how inaccurate many unofficial mark schemes truly are, so I'm putting this exam behind me and concentrating on the rest. Thank you so much for the reassurance! This has really helped. Good luck to you too! :smile:
Reply 16
Original post by BhavyaB
'flopped'


Sorry... I realise how insensitive the title is now. I'm gonna try and change it
Reply 17
Original post by Glyndŵr University
I know it is difficult, but try to take a deep breath and look forwards to the next exams you are facing. You have done the best you can, so all you can do now is hope for the best.

Most importantly...... good luck!

David Mills (Enquires, Wrexham Glyndwr University)


Yes, I'm going to try and do that. I'm focusing on the rest of my exams now and I'm trying not to look back. Thank you! :smile:
Reply 18
Original post by KatieBlogger
Even if you don't get an A you can still take it at A-level. Maybe your school only allows you to take it if you get an A at GCSE but there are other schools and colleges who happily accept a B or even a C.


I guess so, but I don't think I would particularly be able to rely on that because I haven't applied to any other schools other than the one I was attending during years 7 - 11. I like it a lot so I'm trying to stay here.

Thank you for the help!
Original post by Kireimirai
Yeah, those are true points as well. My controlled assessment is a high A (although it may be pushed up to an A* as my biology teacher said they were harsh marks), so now with hindsight I'm feeling a lot more optimistic about everything, and am just channeling as much of my energy as possible into revision now.

Thank you for the help! :smile:


Honestly you'll be fine! Your coursework grade is really good so that will hopefully make up for any mistakes you've made. Also remember that the official mark scheme will have alternative marking points, so even if it looks like you've got questions wrong from the tsr one, that's not definitely the case.

Best of luck in the rest of your exams and sending positive revision vibes your way (sorry, cringe) :smile:

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