Autumn exams

Hi all,

The dfe reckon October will be when we get to take exams and results will be given out at Christmas. From what I read in the official document, they said that only those who intended to take the exams this summer will be eligible for the autumn series but also, that exams are only free for those in education. So I’m a bit confused, call me stupid I guess. Does that mean that only the year 13’s who are going back for year 14 or who are starting uni in September get to take the exams for free, or can someone like me who isn’t going into year 14 and isn’t going to uni either take the exams for free if my college agrees to enter me into them or something?
Just confused

From what I understand (I am happy to be corrected): Students who were due to take their exams this May/June can resit their exams in October if they wish, no matter what they want to do next year. I am guessing that the free bit is in reference to private candidates e.g those who are home schooled.

From what I understand (I am happy to be corrected): Students who were due to take their exams this May/June can resit their exams in October if they wish, no matter what they want to do next year. I am guessing that the free bit is in reference to private candidates e.g those who are home schooled.

We have just had an email from the school saying that all exams taken by year 13s in the Autumn will need to be paid for by the students. They are saying that all their students will be regarded as external candidates because they have left the school. The school have also said that there will be no preparation or additional teaching by the school for these exams...AND they are calling the exams resits - which annoyed me even further. This is all very frustrating, and will only serve to create additional inequality for those families on low incomes. Additionally there has been absolutely NO teaching for year 13 students since lockdown. The government ought to be funding this.

We have just had an email from the school saying that all exams taken by year 13s in the Autumn will need to be paid for by the students. They are saying that all their students will be regarded as external candidates because they have left the school. The school have also said that there will be no preparation or additional teaching by the school for these exams...AND they are calling the exams resits - which annoyed me even further. This is all very frustrating, and will only serve to create additional inequality for those families on low incomes. Additionally there has been absolutely NO teaching for year 13 students since lockdown. The government ought to be funding this.

This information just came directly from the school - I haven't seen anything from the DfE as yet. They have not even informed the parents. It was an email sent to my son. They said

Results of the consultation came out today I believe:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-an-additional-gcse-as-and-a-level-exam-series-in-autumn-2020

Hope I didn't paste the wrong link by accident

Thank god finally, an outcome! Took long enough. Fingers crossed guys that we’ll get an update soon about when the exams will be, how to enter, and whether leavers who aren’t going into higher education (like college or uni) can take them for free or pay. Guess I should start revising now that I know for sure they plan on making all exams available (edexcel maths...here I come...)

When did you start revising for maths? How much of the content have you finished?

I’m a year 13 student and my sixth form finished in early May. I’ve done all of the edexcel maths course and did plenty of revision and practice papers during our online learning. I just stopped because I wasn’t sure if these exams would be happening or not. The thing is I didn’t start taking maths seriously until this March so my teacher actually predicted me a U, but said if I put in the work it could go up. I don’t think I managed to go from a U to the A that I need, so I’m going to start revising again so I can get it in the October exam.

Edexcel Maths gang. I got a U in the mock and have been getting Es all year, so I need these exams badly to get a B. Lucky you finished the course. We didn't do integration or vectors and teachers abandoned us, they just attached powerpoint slides. Don't know if I have enough time for autumn exams, so might do them in summer instead.

Ha yeah edexcel gang, woo (not). Honestly, I had a really bad teacher in year 12. She also taught drama and she would literally miss classes to help her drama class with course work or whatever. Honestly, everyone just gave up on her and we wouldn’t even go to class. We had no idea what we were doing. Thank god I got a really good teacher in year 13 (the other one left) and he basically taught my class all the as stuff AND the a level stuff in one year, even during a pandemic using zoom, he was still super helpful. I’m sorry to hear about your situation but I hope all goes well. I’m not the best person to teach anyone but I am thinking about staring revision soon. If you want, we could make a thread for edexcel maths people who want to take the October exams, and I could try and teach you what I know (I’m pretty good at integration except for a few things) but vectors is my nightmare. Anyway, other people will comment and join and we could turn into a revision group or something. That way, you might be better prepared for the October exams than you think. Just an idea

Yeah same, some teachers are properly incompetent, he would write some stuff on the board and expect us to know how projectiles work. But yeah sure let's create a thread, I don't know which forum to put it on. Hope all goes well for you too.

That was my science teacher at gcse. Literally would just write stuff on the board and go ‘you’re top set, you should know this!’ But like how? That’s not teaching. But yeah, I guess we can start a thread and just put in the a levels forum and see if anyone replies. I feel like starting from the beginning and spending time on each chapter but most of the a level stuff is just more in depth as stuff, so idk. I guess we’ll figure out. I’m not sure how helpful it will be in remote revision/learning, but maybe it could help

Yeah I think it would be a miracle to move up 3/4 grades by autumn tbh by watching videos and remote learning. I might need a tutor tbh. I am so out of touch with education and its so annoying that the schools have abandoned us. I need at least a C, preferably a B. I hadn't really done the homework set because I was so unmotivated by the teaching, (the teachers never even checked the hw once), so have consistently getting E's and occasional D's all through Year 12, so I have a lot to cover. How much time are you going to do per day?