The Student Room Group

GCSE results - possible problem!

Okay so what if something really big happens during your gcse exams? Like someone close to you dies, or maybe you are battlimg depression, you've been ill, or things are really difficult at home?
Say you're an A* student, but then your results come and you've got Bs and Cs in the exams because of those circumstances. Is there anything can be done?
Reply 1
Original post by hannahly
Okay so what if something really big happens during your gcse exams? Like someone close to you dies, or maybe you are battlimg depression, you've been ill, or things are really difficult at home?
Say you're an A* student, but then your results come and you've got Bs and Cs in the exams because of those circumstances. Is there anything can be done?


Um? What are you trying to ask? Whatever you get is whatever you get. If you're unhappy with your results, then you'll have to retake the subject. Not like an examiner is going to give you an A just because you're going through hard times.
Reply 2
Original post by Vyres
Um? What are you trying to ask? Whatever you get is whatever you get. If you're unhappy with your results, then you'll have to retake the subject. Not like an examiner is going to give you an A just because you're going through hard times.

well obviously not, but if you can prove what you have been getting through the courses, and there is evidence to suggest that there is a reason why you did badly, is there no special consideration or anything?
Reply 3
Original post by hannahly
well obviously not, but if you can prove what you have been getting through the courses, and there is evidence to suggest that there is a reason why you did badly, is there no special consideration or anything?


Well what exact outcome do you want from this special consideration?
Original post by hannahly
Okay so what if something really big happens during your gcse exams? Like someone close to you dies, or maybe you are battlimg depression, you've been ill, or things are really difficult at home?
Say you're an A* student, but then your results come and you've got Bs and Cs in the exams because of those circumstances. Is there anything can be done?


If you had these circumstances at the time, why didn't you notify your teachers? It might be too late now to have anything done about them. If these circumstances were deemed legitimate, you would have had a grade enhancement, but I'm not sure if it's too late or not.
Original post by hannahly
well obviously not, but if you can prove what you have been getting through the courses, and there is evidence to suggest that there is a reason why you did badly, is there no special consideration or anything?


More often than not, the exam officer at your school should be aware of it before your exams are sent off, so that an ECF can be filled out. This might not actually change your grade though.
In the most extreme situations, your school can apply for you to have "special consideration" in which you could be allowed to work alone in an isolated area away from the other students, or they could give you extra minutes. With regards to marking, I don't think they change that dependent on how hard your life is going
That would count as an extenuating circumstance, and for example if you were going to apply to university then it would be included on your application as basically an explanation as to why your grades don't reflect your true ability
Reply 8
Original post by GradeA*UnderA
If you had these circumstances at the time, why didn't you notify your teachers? It might be too late now to have anything done about them. If these circumstances were deemed legitimate, you would have had a grade enhancement, but I'm not sure if it's too late or not.

It's an incredibly difficult thing for me to talk about, although my year head did know, but I never thought about the effect on my grades until after
Reply 9
Original post by jordanshelley97
That would count as an extenuating circumstance, and for example if you were going to apply to university then it would be included on your application as basically an explanation as to why your grades don't reflect your true ability

Okay thanks
Original post by hannahly
It's an incredibly difficult thing for me to talk about, although my year head did know, but I never thought about the effect on my grades until after


Obtain a Doctor's letter as soon as possible and try and get in contact with your head of year and exams officer. This'll let you get in a request into the relevant exam boards as soon as possible (assuming it's not too late).
Reply 11
Original post by GradeA*UnderA
Obtain a Doctor's letter as soon as possible and try and get in contact with your head of year and exams officer. This'll let you get in a request into the relevant exam boards as soon as possible (assuming it's not too late).

Okay thanks.
You should have explained the the exams officer and/or your HOY during/before exams so they could apply for special consideration for you however for uni applications it could count as extenuating circumstances.

At my school if you have extenuating circumstances whoever does your uni reference explains the circumstances in the reference apparently. I think some others explain it in their personal statement. It would be worth talking to careers/uni advice at your 6th form or college.
You can get special consideration- on the AQA website somewhere it tells you the exact % bonus you get for certain circumstances e.g. death of an immediate or distant family member, death of a pet, even hayfever was 1% bonus if I remember (however I don't know how they would prove this). I'm not sure if it would be possible after you got your results, though- as many people who got below expectations would try this.

Quick Reply

Latest