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Why do people get bad grades at GCSE/A level?

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Personally, I found exams to just be terrifying and with my luck, the first question would throw me off the rest of the paper. Getting a C at GCSE disappointed me a bit but it was in my least favourite subject (RE :tongue:) and I did make the mistake of using a few quotes from Harry Potter (which some people would see as Pagan) in a paper about Christianity... Not my best moment :tongue: AS level just completely threw me though. Exam anxiety is a scary thing :tongue:
Lack of effort, poor quality teaching and lack of education in pre-GCSE years. It's that simple.
GCSE and A-level exams check that you can perfectly recite a specific syllabus word for word. If you only understand the concepts on the exam by means of an alternate, abstract train of thought which differs from the examiner's checklist, you're guaranteed a C/D as the examiner is overworked and really cba to read and truly understand what you just wrote.

When you get to university, your tutor recognises that an abstract thought often denotes a pure understanding of a concept they have taught, and therefore your efforts are more likely to be rewarded as they usually read and comprehend what you've written.

Bad GCSEs and A-levels do not always mean that you're unintelligent or that you're lazy. It can mean that you're bad at reciting a script.
Need to bare in mind that you get given a grade based on a curve. Some people have to do badly for others to do well. If you had the entire nation at the same level with everyone understanding even the most complex concepts in every single subject you still have to say some people are better than the others. Sad but true unfortunately. I could be an A* student in maths at my college, but if the rest of the nation are all a higher A* than me I could get a D in my exam purely because they have to differentiate it somehow. I think that's the reason a lot of people (this is for second year A level at my college particularly) have now said they'll be happy with a C because you really can't tell what the grade boundaries are going to be like. One year it could be 85% for an A* and the next year it could be 95%, all because of who takes the exams.

So basically exam grade boundaries suck.
Original post by Pro Crastination
x


I agree but politcial correctness stops people from having the right to say what you've just said. I think it's because everyone is mollycoddeled these days by being rewarded for "trying" (if sitting there and not bothering can be called that).

What you've said is possibily harsh, but the truth hurts.
I personally think that if someone is naturally clever they will revise because they see the importance of doing so. Alternatively, not so clever people think revision is 'boring' or just don't care, which means that they achieve lower grades than they are capable of.
Original post by georgetbarber
I personally think that if someone is naturally clever they will revise because they see the importance of doing so. Alternatively, not so clever people think revision is 'boring' or just don't care, which means that they achieve lower grades than they are capable of.


This is a very good point often missed by a lot of people, it tends to be the case that a lot of people want to be what they already are. For example someone who is naturally good socially but bad at maths tends to like social skills, and social jobs and does not like numbers that much. They tend to not put much effort into numbers and more effort into social skills as a result of this. Where as someone who is say Autistic and finds Maths easy may put a lot of effort into maths but not much into social skills.

Many Autistic people say they would never want to be normal and many normal people say they would never want to be autistic.

In terms of study the truth is probably that if the smart people did not Bother they would likely get B grades rather then A grades. and if the not so smart people bothered they would probably get B grades instead of C grades, but ultimately some people will always be more capable then others.

I think at some point it just becomes a rational choice to choose otherwise, I mean if for example I had to really really struggle to get Bs at A levels I would have to ask myself serious questions about whether a degree was worth bothering with. Different people have different Talents try as he might my youngest brother would have great difficulty ever been as good at Math as me. Where as I would struggle to be good at social skills or sales.

Now I have done Sales jobs before and have found with great difficulty and perseverance I can just about hold on. However I was literally just holding on. If your good at social skills and Sales, Sales can be a great career Huge salary opportunity but for me it involves a lot of stress and unhappiness with office politics and huge pressure to hit sales targets to keep my job to edge out a meager living.

Could my youngest brother get A grades in Math if he put the work in? probably but he would struggle a lot more then I would, and when he got to the university degree would be working much much harder then everyone else. When he got into a highly mathematical career he would likely struggle, and be clinging on.

It makes sense to focus where your strengths are, maybe those people that are not good academically are not putting in huge amounts of effort for the right reasons. I mean if your making good money working in sales part time and your finding school hard surely just do what you need to, to get the grades and then focus on sales? I actually knew people like this and some of them are doing really well now.

I understand that bad teachers or people writing you off can significantly affect you, that happened to me, which is why I am working hard to put that right. I will never be great with people, but I know if I put the work in and get a strong mathematics degree I will be able to earn a lot of money. Heck if no one will employ, which could happen but probably isn't to likely if I get a strong 2:1/ First from a prestigious university.
Then I already know I can use Maths to make a decent living on my own anyway.

I think the thing is a lot of people naturally focus on where their core strengths lie.

I don't think it makes much sense if you struggle Academically to get B and C grades to go and do a degree.
Some people are lazy, some people are stupid and some are both.
Getting an A at GCSE doesn't require effort. GCSEs are so easy in comparison to A-levels that I think a lot of people get complacent. Also, because A-levels are so much harder, they kind of expose who the really clever kids are from the more average ones


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When I was at school I achieved good gcse's and went on to study maths, chemistry, physics and modern history. College was a completely different ball game for me I struggled with C1 as my maths teacher decided not to teach us the full gcse syllabus to get the rest of the class to a C so I struggled from the start. I hated college as I didn't catch on quick enough to do exam questions rather than trying to remember the entire syllabus. I wasn't stupid, my main problem was that I didn't know how to revise smart and ended up wasting a lot of time. At the end of college my highest grade was a C in history. I went on to do a foundation degree and now I'm about to graduate with a 1st class degree in mechanical engineering, 15 month work experience and an unconditional offer to study an Msc in advanced mechanical engineering at a top 10 university 👍. At the time of leaving college I didn't feel like I was a proper adult or that going university was a good choice. Waiting a year meant I got to appreciate everything I did, I went from doing terrible in maths to gaining 90%+ in undergraduate maths modules, learned programming, German and got involved with lots of extra curricular. Being a well rounded person works wonders when applying for grad positions, your degree says more about you than a levels, gcse's don't even get mentioned. No matter what you get you have the opportunity to turn it around if you truly believe you're good enough at it.
From my experience, few people genuinely don't care. There are a few, but they usually have little use for GCSEs because they're either completely washed up or have their mind set on a certain path such as sport or fashion.

Some people have learning disabilities and really struggle. I know people who are working really hard but struggle to get Cs. It's not their fault, but at least they try. Others might not be recognised as having a disability but they're not inherently bright. While it's nice to think that hard work is more important than intelligence, it doesn't always work out like that (especially considering I do rather little work and get A*s).

Some people get led down the wrong path and become obsessed with football, gaming, social media or a second half. I've seen this happen to a lot of people, and it easily turns A students into C students. A few do manage to turn it around though.

And some are just plain unlucky. I know people who've missed lots of school because of an illness. One relatively bright kid I know had glandular fever and missed many months of school in Year 11. He only does part days because full days would make the condition worse (I've heard stress is a big factor with that disease). I really hope he gets Special Consideration because he really deserves good grades.
First, the system is setup so that at least some people fail. The reason that people fall into that category? It varies. Some people are so oblivious to the importance of GCSE's that they just don't give a ****.

I don't like to suggest a lack of intelligence, but perhaps not the intelligence that is tested in school. For example, my friend got a 8 in english, but got a 3 in maths. I didn't fail anything, but my results aren't shining, got an A, a couple of B's then C's/5's and a distinction in a first award in engineering. Not too shabby, but not oxbridge standard.

It's also very boring studying for something you have no interest in. I also believe teachers can have an effect. Not to question how qualified they are, but their style/personality can have a huge effect on the atmosphere in class.

Personal reasons; Mental health, Mixing with the wrong people, ie. I had someone in my english who had potential, but he just... idk, didn't think. He had poor behaviour, which got him kicked out for half of year 11 and was permanently suspended towards the end and only came in for exams, but he could of genuinely done quite well if he actually tried.

Some people might suggest social class as a factor. I disagree with this as a direct statement; just because someone is not as rich as another does not mean they can't achieve stellar results and be intelligent. However, i'd suggest more working class families are more likely to be unstable along with other issues being more likely among a "lower" class.(reading this part back it sounds like i'm some rich snob; I assure you, i'm not. Far from it. But let's not have political commentary)

There isn't a single answer. I could keep listing issues all day
(edited 6 years ago)
yUP everyone is telling me to settle with my B in Biology after getting 8 9 9 6A* and an A, but fricxk that i want all As and A*s :frown: really bumming me out and i want a remark for that A...ur right u know i dont want to settle for something less than good.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by TheMystery


It's also very boring studying for something you have no interest in. I also believe teachers can have an effect. Not to question how qualified they are, but their style/personality can have a huge effect on the atmosphere in class.


This is true. I really didn't enjoy GCSE Religious Studies. We had to take it though. We had a teacher who would just tell us to read a few pages and answer the questions. Urgh. And then he wondered why he couldn't control the class.

On the flip side, our history teacher actually engaged with the class. We read the pages together and discussed stuff together; as well as doing the work.
I got like 11-12 C's and a B but that was because I didn't revise at all. We weren't informed about revising early and I got little support in it. I didn't know how to revise effectively and the idea of revising overwhelmed me so it's no surprise I just winged it! I got a D in Maths because I was sick on the second exam, so they added my score overall over the two exams and I got a D, meaning I could've got a C or even a B if I did the second exam, with no revision. I was put in the lowest Maths class afterwards but my teacher was like "why are you in this class?" because I could complete an entire work sheet in less than 10 minutes. I was only told then, when it was too late, that I could've had it remarked but based on the one exam. It was annoying that my capability in Maths was only measured by my score in an exam, but not how well I performed in classes and picked up things, which is something I really dislike about the academic world.

I resat my Maths GCSE in college, I took it more seriously and was revising more efficiently (plus I had that one exam to focus on, rather than several others so I didn't feel overwhelmed) and really taking it in but I was frustratingly limited to doing a lower paper because everyone else was doing one and it was too late for my teacher to teach me the higher level stuff. I got a C but I was aiming for an A as I grew confident. My teacher even said to me in the middle of the year that I could possibly go in for higher as he was impressed!

I am quite shocked at the amount of students here who are so intent on studying and revising hard for their GCSEs because I never saw them as that important (and they're not actually important in my life). I honestly think GCSEs should be taken when people are a little older, more mature and take their studies more seriously. I know some already do but in my experience, the majority didn't take it seriously, but it could've just been from being in a poor school.

Sixth form was terrible as well (in the same school so no surprise). With borderline bullies for teachers that made you feel like you were thick and incapable, rather than encouraging and supporting you. At one point, I felt like just breaking down crying at the terrible treatment from one teacher in particular. Then being forced to write personal statements and being told you will go to university whether you like it or not. I got out of there after my exams which I did poorly in. I went to college after though and left with a diploma at merit level and they were some of the best years of my life because the tutors were like our friends, approachable, chatty funny and supportive, bar one who liked to throw chairs and books at students, dated a previous student and had serious anger issues.

But these experiences have taught me what kind of learner I am and for one, I need some level of support and a very encouraging and kind teacher, but it felt like I got next to none of that in school. They would only help the very intelligent students or the incredibly naughty failing students, not the ones in between. I did well in college because we had a smaller class, slightly more mature students who wanted to do well and the teacher was sooo nice and encouraging. He would make sure we were all on the same page before we went onto the next topic, but that's something that would never happen in high school.

The whole system is very linear and pushy to go to university. I never wanted to go to university but I told myself I was capable and if I changed my mind, I would do a degree. Then I realised that the idea of travelling far from home and living with complete strangers was really not my thing at all. I knew that that environment would negatively affect my studies which is why I chose to study for my degree at home. I knew that I would do better and appreciate the opportunity more doing it when I was a little older which is what I'm doing. Sometimes the school system is not the best environment for everyone to learn and flourish in.

TL;DR: My reasons for getting average GCSEs were lack of support, little knowledge on how to revise effectively, poor teachers, not revising and even being told that I would fail by teachers (though I got a B in that subject).


Original post by Pro Crastination
Here's a controversial thread concept that just popped into my head. I'm not sure I agree with it myself, but, admittedly, the thought has arisen in my mind on a couple of occasions in the past. I hope the TSR community will be split on this.

Opening argument:

I can understand when people can't quite make the A/A* grade because of a silly mistake or two during an exam, and slip to a B/A because of it. However, what I can't understand is how people can be content with, or even proclaim they "aspire to reach" a C grade, as if that's some sort of huge achievement.

What I have found with my A levels and GCSEs is that to score an A or above requires a decent amount of effort (more so in some subjects than others), but it is not anything harder than would be expected on a regular basis during one's working life. Why, then, do a good proportion of people simply excuse themselves by claiming they're "just not that clever" and settle for mediocre grades by putting minimal amounts of effort in?

"But some people want to have a life!" I suppose this would be the immediate counter. I'm not arguing that everyone should be aiming for 95+ UMS and practicing to ace their Oxbridge interview as soon as they hit secondary school. All I'm saying is that the vast majority of people are capable of scoring in range of AAA-ABB at A level (one can easily lead a healthy social life with these aspirations) the willingness is simply not there, however. That is what I find so alien.

So yeah, who would agree with that? Who would disagree?
Original post by bertstare
Blaming teachers for poor GCSE performance is the saddest cop out argument you'll ever hear. A CGP textbook which is about 50 pages long is more than enough to get an A or A*, and I'm sure you don't need a teacher to read and memorise a CGP book


Depends on your course pal. Some don't even have a student book (I know that my Geography course didn't have one!)
Original post by Pro Crastination
Here's a controversial thread concept that just popped into my head. I'm not sure I agree with it myself, but, admittedly, the thought has arisen in my mind on a couple of occasions in the past. I hope the TSR community will be split on this.

Opening argument:

I can understand when people can't quite make the A/A* grade because of a silly mistake or two during an exam, and slip to a B/A because of it. However, what I can't understand is how people can be content with, or even proclaim they "aspire to reach" a C grade, as if that's some sort of huge achievement.

What I have found with my A levels and GCSEs is that to score an A or above requires a decent amount of effort (more so in some subjects than others), but it is not anything harder than would be expected on a regular basis during one's working life. Why, then, do a good proportion of people simply excuse themselves by claiming they're "just not that clever" and settle for mediocre grades by putting minimal amounts of effort in?

"But some people want to have a life!" I suppose this would be the immediate counter. I'm not arguing that everyone should be aiming for 95+ UMS and practicing to ace their Oxbridge interview as soon as they hit secondary school. All I'm saying is that the vast majority of people are capable of scoring in range of AAA-ABB at A level (one can easily lead a healthy social life with these aspirations) the willingness is simply not there, however. That is what I find so alien.

So yeah, who would agree with that? Who would disagree?


I know this thread is like, 3 years old but as soon as I scrolled and saw the title, I felt the need to comment my opinions on the issue. I agree with you on the most part, but I'll express my views anyway:

1) Firstly, I have to admit that I'm one of those people who settles for 'mediocre' grades. Well, I don't settle for a C but I'm happy with like, a B or above because my average predicted GCSE grade was a C. I'm actually more capable than my teachers think but I've been prone to laziness and procrastination since Year 7. Therefore, my 'global grade' (predicted average) was a C. I had an A*, A, 5 B's, 2 C's and a D in my GCSEs which is mostly above my global grade (I didn't revise though so even these results don't reflect my true ability) but as most of them were above the C I was predicted, I settled for them. I mean, I'm in sixth form and I'm studying the subjects I need for my ideal uni course (Criminology) so I've decided it's best to accept my GCSE grades. After all, I can't exactly change them now and I have two years to improve and smash my A-Levels.

2) Based on what I've just said, some people settle for a C because it's the lowest pass grade. At my school, the people who settle for C's just seem to aim for that because it's their global grade (like mine was)...and also, if it's a pass then why should they aim for higher? However, some people may dismiss their grades by an excuse (such as "I'm not clever enough") when they actually don't feel clever.

3) I think some people are less academically able; these arte the people who will never hit that A*-B, or even a C, no matter how much they try. So some people may work their absolute socks off and only manage to get a D at best. If that's the case, it's fine to settle for that because it's genuinely their best effort. I mean, I was in Sets 1 and 2 for GCSE but I had friends from all sets, a few in the less able category I'm referring to. I think it's unfair for one's value/intelligence to be determined on grades alone because like I said, some people will never get those top grades no matter how hard they work. So settling for a C/D would be acceptable for them.

4) I remember a kid in my year group getting the stick for this. We were entered for our Unit 1 English Literature module this year (only sets 1 and 2 because sets 3-5 were only entered for Language). So we had the results for this unit back in March and I remember the A/A* kids in my class getting B's (literally a few marks off an A). I can understand why they'd be gutted because after working so hard for their exams, the last thing anyone wants is to find out they're only a few marks/UMS from the next grade boundary. But two of them were literally crying, which is what I don't understand. So a kid basically puts a status on Facebook expressing his confusion as to why the girls were crying. Like I said, I can see why one would be gutted because it's happened to me a few times (4 marks off an A for my Unit 1 Welsh, 3 marks off an A for my Unit 1 Literature)...however, the fact that some people cried about it is pathetic in my opinion. You have a right to be gutted, sure, but the minute you start crying about your grades is when I lose respect for you. Sorry if I offend anyone here but that's my honest opinion. Just accept the fact you've passed.

So, as you can see I have a few different views. I basically think the reason people get bad grades depends on the type of person and the scenario. Apologies for the long post!
I personally believe that due to the internet and its wide range of resources, ANYONE can pass. Maybe not get straight A's, but at least a C. If I found some of the resources I found for my exams earlier I genuinely believe I could have done even better. However, teachers do play a big part. When you get told that you aren't good enough or will only achieve X grades, you start to believe it, subconciously at the least. Furthermore, surrounding yourself with the wrong people can seriously damage your grades and your IQ in general, if people around you don't care and you rely on them to think for you then its going to be hard in an exam when you're required to think for yourself. That and along with @aspirinpharmacist's reasons too.

Passing is easy. Doing well? Not so much when you can't think for yourself.
Haha, amazing, this thread is still going! Like I said back then, not sure if I agreed with the viewpoint I outlined then and am even less sure now. Think I was overlooking students from troubled backgrounds, those with unsupportive parents etc.
Original post by Pro Crastination
Here's a controversial thread concept that just popped into my head. I'm not sure I agree with it myself, but, admittedly, the thought has arisen in my mind on a couple of occasions in the past. I hope the TSR community will be split on this.

Opening argument:

I can understand when people can't quite make the A/A* grade because of a silly mistake or two during an exam, and slip to a B/A because of it. However, what I can't understand is how people can be content with, or even proclaim they "aspire to reach" a C grade, as if that's some sort of huge achievement.

What I have found with my A levels and GCSEs is that to score an A or above requires a decent amount of effort (more so in some subjects than others), but it is not anything harder than would be expected on a regular basis during one's working life. Why, then, do a good proportion of people simply excuse themselves by claiming they're "just not that clever" and settle for mediocre grades by putting minimal amounts of effort in?

"But some people want to have a life!" I suppose this would be the immediate counter. I'm not arguing that everyone should be aiming for 95+ UMS and practicing to ace their Oxbridge interview as soon as they hit secondary school. All I'm saying is that the vast majority of people are capable of scoring in range of AAA-ABB at A level (one can easily lead a healthy social life with these aspirations) the willingness is simply not there, however. That is what I find so alien.

So yeah, who would agree with that? Who would disagree?

I would disagree many people struggle with many different subjects for instance I was aiming for 3 D's in GCSE for the course i wanted to do in collage it didn't Help that the best I could get the absolute best was a C in most papers (D in maths thank you very much OCR)so for people one the foundation papers id fine for them to aim for a C or get a D I often feel that bad grades are indicative of someone missing something fundamental be it in maths or english or whatever also people aren't taught how to revise effectively and that's a real shame . but no people want different grades for many different reasons the willingness might be there but it may just not be possible. also some people can have undiagnosed difficulties like discalcula which will also drop grades bit.

Also some neurological muscular conditions like muscular dystrophy can muddy the thought process a bit which again can drop grades.
(edited 6 years ago)

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