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(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 1

billybob234

14

The main issue is that delays to results would prevent people move into further education/employment at the usual time. Also it takes away from the long and deserved summer which exam pupils would usually receive. My view is that everyone has been disadvantaged by the situation and the best thing would be to sit the exams at a normal time but have lowered grade boundaries to keep the percentage of pupils receiving each grade roughly in line with previous year. After all it would work out fairer than this years exam season.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 2

Becca216

22

I would prefer it if exams next year weren’t delayed as it would just take away from the the ‘long summer’ and it could make applying for uni accommodation or applying through clearing if results day was pushed back (even just a couple weeks).

If it is the only option, I wouldn’t say no to exams being moved, but I (like many others) would prefer if they reduced the content for all subjects- i.e. by making some questions optional.

Reply 3

username5375402

15

'Enormous Benefit' for whom? I know they're advertising this as good for students, and it may well be for a lot of them, however, for those who want to get started on their A-Levels at the usual time (start of year 12) this could be an extremely annoying inconvenience. The majority of pupils will go on to specialise more in A-Levels and pick subjects relevant to their future career, so they're basically choosing to hold students back in order to make them learn subjects they won't need.

Furthermore, this doesn't take into account all of us who have been studying throughout this pandemic. If they were to hold GCSE and IGCSE in the summer and next January you'd have the best of both worlds; those who feel they need more time to learn or want to take more GCSEs can do it later, and those who have been studying through lock-down and want to move on to A-Levels can sit them sooner.

Reply 4

username5375402

15

Original post by Becca216

I would prefer it if exams next year weren’t delayed as it would just take away from the the ‘long summer’ and it could make applying for uni accommodation or applying through clearing if results day was pushed back (even just a couple weeks).

If it is the only option, I wouldn’t say no to exams being moved, but I (like many others) would prefer if they reduced the content for all subjects- i.e. by making some questions optional.

The problem with that solution is that it makes this year's GCSE and A-Level results an anomaly like 2020's. The results couldn't be compared with the previous years of GCSE and A-Level results because they'd be held to a different standard. This would make it very difficult to assess how much a pupil actually knows and whether they're ready to move onto A-Level or University or whether they're even qualified for employment.

Reply 5

billybob234

14

Original post by Maulrus

The problem with that solution is that it makes this year's GCSE and A-Level results an anomaly like 2020's. The results couldn't be compared with the previous years of GCSE and A-Level results because they'd be held to a different standard. This would make it very difficult to assess how much a pupil actually knows and whether they're ready to move onto A-Level or University or whether they're even qualified for employment.

Theoretically they could still have the same proportion of results for each grade in line with previous years by having a lowered grade boundary.

Yes this would mean the attainment wasn't as good as with previous years but its better than this years (2020) cohort who received increased grades from teachers after not doing work for the last 2/3 months of the course.

Reply 6

username5375402

15

Original post by billybob234

Theoretically they could still have the same proportion of results for each grade in line with previous years by having a lowered grade boundary.

Yes this would mean the attainment wasn't as good as with previous years but its better than this years (2020) cohort who received increased grades from teachers after not doing work for the last 2/3 months of the course.

Lowering the 'grade boundary' would make 2021's results even more incomparable to previous years. Thus making it an anomaly like I said before. It may be better than 2020's solution, but we shouldn't lower our standards to make 2020 the new benchmark for exam results.

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