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Ofqual update: How your A-level and GCSE grades will be decided this year (3rd April)

Poll

Regarding Ofqual's most recent update, do you think you will be given a fair grade this summer?

Hi all,

There has been an update from OFQUAL today, hopefully giving some clarity about the exact processes behind how students will be given their A-level and GCSE grades this year.

You can read the full Ofqual letter to students explaining this process here
Article - Here’s how the grades for your cancelled GCSE, AS-level and A-level exams will be decided

Summary of what we know:

How will my grade be decided?

For this summer’s exams only, your grade will be decided by your teachers. Your teachers will be asked to submit two bits of evidence.

First, they will be asked to estimate the grade you would have received had you taken all the exams and completed any other assessed work.

Secondly, teachers are then being asked to rank each student within each grade. So if 6 students have been given an A in a class, the teacher will then need to rank the 6 students who have been given an A.

They will be issued guidance on the sorts of things to take into account when reaching these judgements. The decision will be holistic and cover many aspects of work including classwork and non-examined assessment (coursework) . Mock exam results can be part of this but they will need to be judged in the context of overall performance and will not be the decisive factor.

Teachers are being urged to be ‘cautious’ about taking to consideration any work completed since the lockdown.

Teachers judgments will also be subject to statistical checks.

What will prevent them being biased?

Heads of department and head teachers will be asked to sign off grades and it’s likely that the exam boards will provide some support for teachers in making decisions.

Once results are received by the exam boards a range of statistical checks will be applied to make sure they are not too generous or too mean. These checks will include looking at the expected grade distributions nationally, the evidence of previous student performance at individual schools and colleges and the prior attainment of the center's cohort in national assessments or at GCSE.

Based on this evidence exam boards will adjust the grades from schools and colleges upwards or downwards, using the rank order, to account for any severity or generosity.

Nationally, it is likely that overall results will be in line with last years.

What if I think my grade is wrong?

There will be an appeals process. The details have not been released yet but it’s worth bearing in mind that the appeal will probably only look at the process the school or college used to determine a grade, not the details of the grading itself.

There will also be an extra set of exams in the autumn term. As yet, there is no detail on what form these will take and what subjects and levels will be offered. But universities may well offer a later start date for students sitting these exams.

Will this year’s grades always be seen as inferior to other years?

They should be seen in exactly the same way as grades achieved in any year. They will be recognised by employers and universities and should allow you to progress normally in education, work or any other field.

What about private candidates?

If a private candidate is attached to a school, college or center where teachers have monitored their progress, they will get a grade in the same way as other students. It will be up to the heads of center to decide if they can accurately provide a grade for an individual student. When this is the case the grading system will work in the same way as other students detailed above.

For private candidates who don’t have these links, Ofqual are still trying to work out a solution and are still in conversations with exam boards about how they can help students who need their grades for progression purposes. It may be that they will ask universities to be flexible with students in this position. But it may end up with some private candidates having to sit the autumn exams.

TL;DR What don’t we know yet?

Results days

There will be a results day but we do not know the exact date. The education minister has stated that the aim is the end of July.

Appeals

We don’t yet know how this process will work including costs and timings. We can say however that their will be an opportunity for schools/colleges to appeal on behalf of a student if they believe there has been a mistake in the process.

Autumn exams

The timings and arrangements have not been decided yet.

How are you guys feeling now this has been announced? Has this calmed anyone's worries, and do you feel more confident that you will receive the right grade?

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(edited 3 years ago)

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Hi all,

Check out the latest update above! Just tagging the posters in the last thread!

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(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Evil Homer

Secondly, teachers are then being asked to rank each student within each grade. So if 6 students have been given an A in a class, the teacher will then need to rank the 6 students who have been given an A.

What is the purpose of this? How will this actually be used?
It’s so gross to think of all my teachers sat debating who gets ranked where in my subjects:sadnod:
Reply 4
Original post by Treetop321
What is the purpose of this? How will this actually be used?

If the grades are being moderated and potentially changed by exam boards they need to know who for example was closest to the higher boundary or lower boundary so change their grade rather than plucking select students with that grade.
Original post by Treetop321
What is the purpose of this? How will this actually be used?

So this will be used in the instances where schools may have been too harsh or too generous with grades. So if the exam boards think a certain center for a certain subject has been harsh with their grades, they may move a few students who are at the top of the rankings up a grade etc.

That is a very simplified version, but I hope you get the idea!
Original post by 8472
If the grades are being moderated and potentially changed by exam boards they need to know who for example was closest to the higher boundary or lower boundary so change their grade rather than plucking select students with that grade.

But what happens if the entirety of the group of students who have a grade are towards the top of the boundary? Will the lowest automatically be put down even though they are better than people in other schools?
Original post by Toastiekid
It’s so gross to think of all my teachers sat debating who gets ranked where in my subjects:sadnod:

It's going to be hard for the teachers but I think as more teachers will be having a say, the results will be slightly less subjective.
Reply 8
Original post by Treetop321
What is the purpose of this? How will this actually be used?

Of course this is based on a bit of guesswork but as a really simple example, let's say the exam board is aiming to award the top 30% of students an A or above in a certain subject, in line with previous year's grades. But based on all the grades received they end up with 40% A or above so they have to make adjustments. If they need to do this then it would be very useful for them to be able to differentiate between students who have been given an A grade by their teacher. Remember that teachers are only submitting grades, not marks so the data is very limited compared to normal years.

The problem is that ranking students is always going to create some bias (not in most schools hopefully).
Original post by Treetop321
It's going to be hard for the teachers but I think as more teachers will be having a say, the results will be slightly less subjective.

Yeah it sounds like they’re standardising the process quite well:smile: (I am so glad they’re not sharing the grades etc with us! Would not want to know that I’m 68th out of 69:nope:)
So if I am resitting a levels at my old school, they will provide a grade for me?
There is no chance of me having to do any internal assessments for them?

What do I do now? Should I be revising in case I have to appeal?

I’m not sure what my teachers think about me :/
Enraged private candidates being told they're getting an update then reading and seeing they're not getting an update in 3... 2... 1...
Wait so class tests will matter????? Oh ****. I felt confident due to A*AB in mocks but my class grades this year were BAC and my year 12 were BAD (grades not word lol)

With class average of a C and a mock of a B (2% off an A) do you think I have any chance of an A in maths? 9 at gcse too. I think I would most likely have got an A in the real exam
Any updates on BTECs?
I was going to sit the Persian GCSE at my normal high school, as an extra community language. We sat mocks for reading and writing, and I achieved 100% in both. Will these mocks be taken into account? It wasn’t as serious as eg: maths mocks
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 15
Original post by Treetop321
But what happens if the entirety of the group of students who have a grade are towards the top of the boundary? Will the lowest automatically be put down even though they are better than people in other schools?

Well officially it isn't in terms of being ranked in a grade boundary score but more so "if someone were to drop a grade".. then they would likely sit at the lowest ranking from that teacher for the grade, so it's theoretical grade boundary subsetting. If in theory if everyone at a school was in the higher area of a grade boundary from previous grades on mocks and work but due to exam boards changing grades to fit in with stats or otherwise then the affected students (ranked lowest by teachers) could appeal or sit autumn exams :smile:
Reply 16
Unfortunately everything is still up in the air for a lot of private candidates. Should they keep working towards an exam or not?
Our school was due to do better this year than previous years but now it seems they’ll have to keep their grades at the same level as last year so a lot will miss out.
Original post by JGoosey2002
Wait so class tests will matter????? Oh ****. I felt confident due to A*AB in mocks but my class grades this year were BAC and my year 12 were BAD (grades not word lol)

With class average of a C and a mock of a B (2% off an A) do you think I have any chance of an A in maths? 9 at gcse too. I think I would most likely have got an A in the real exam

Teachers are being asked to consider absolutely everything, but to consider everything in context as well. They are then being asked to predict the most likely grade a student would of received if they had taken the exam.
So still nothing then

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