By Gavin Mackintosh-
The fact that results from mock exams or the calculated grades awarded by teachers has been used in determining student’s final grades coming out on Thursday has left some cheated,
Some pupils could have outperformed their mock exam grades or their calculated teacher grades, by simply preparing at the last minute, like in the last month. Late preparations for important exams don’t speak well of a student, but their teacher is expected to know their capability before the final year.
Researchers have been assessing just how much students can really reverse their past year in the final 2 months of the final exam. There is no perfect way to confirm a reliable answer except my interviewing people who may not even have an accurate memory of how they prepared for their big exams.
The other way is to go through the copious amount of content students are expected to master before their exam and speculate on how likely it is for various types of students to successfully improve on their predicted mark in the final couple of months.
Most pupils who do well in the final exam would be expected to have shown similar signs in the many months leading up to it.
Many university undergraduates, graduates and professionals, have concluded that many former secondary school pupils could have pulled off the performance of their life in the last month of preparation for G.C.S.E’s and A levels, but a lot would depend on their academic strength before they started their intensive catch up
The news that GCSE and A-level students in England will be able to use grades in mock exams to progress to university and college courses and employment has been greeted with mixed feelings. Those with good mock exam results will be thrilled, but not those who were working towards improving the grade.
Some of those pupils who did badly in their mocks may believe they may have done better if they had more time to prepare. Many of them already know their limitations in terms of academic ability and dedication, and accept whatever grade they are awarded.
Mock tests held before schools were forced to close amid the Covid-19 crisis will now carry the same weight as the calculated results to be awarded this month.
Critics of this year’s grade awarding system, say predicted grades gathered from mock exam results are not reliable enough to decide the future grade a pupil will attain.
They say many pupils can make remarkable progress between the time of their mocks and their final exam. However, the general consensus is that the assessment framework established by the examining board is the fairest students can get in the circumstances.
Standardised Process
Ofqual recently announced a standardised process schools have used in awarding grades to their students.
An Ofqual insider described the standardised process as ”the best alternative they have in the current situation”, which also offers the opportunity for an autumn resit to discontent pupils.
Margaret Thomas, a first year psychology student at North London University said: ” I can only feel bad for those pupils this year who feel they could have done much better if they actually sat the exam because people can improve between their mocks and the exam.
When I sat by A levels, I improved on the predicted grade for two of my subjects by one grade, and got the predicted grade for the other two. Not everybody will get a result close enough to what they may have actually got, but I guess the chance of autumn exams for unhappy pupils is fair”.
Another psychology student, Natalie Smith from Leicester University said: ”these were very unusual circumstances for everybody, so pupils have to accept the efforts made to give them fair outcomes. Yes, it is quite possible for people to improve on their grades in the last couple of months of preparation, but teachers are expected to roughly predict from their past experience, how much progress is likely from a student within a certain time frame”.
Steady
G.C.S.E and A level exams are best prepared for over a steady period of time, rather than trying to cram lots of contents in a short space of time. Last minute preparation for G.C.S.E and A level exams don’t often end well and the mock exams are usually an opportunity for students to get a taste of what the final exam will feel like and measure their ability at the time.
The period between the mocks and the final exams can be important for students who may have learnt from the mistakes of their mock exams or
Chaotic
The sudden decision to slightly modify the determination process of final grades was described by one union leader as “panicked and chaotic.” It comes after unions called on the UK Government to follow Scotland’s lead in scrapping moderated grades as the downgrading of more than 124,000 results was reversed.
Scotland’s Education Secretary John Swinney did a U turn today , when he revealed that downgraded results would return to the grades estimated by pupils’ teachers.
It comes after this year’s summer exams were cancelled amid Covid-19. Teachers were told to submit the grades they thought each student would have received if they had sat the papers.
Exam boards have moderated these grades to ensure this year’s results – for students in England, Northern Ireland and Wales – are not significantly higher than previous years.
The Department for Education has said all three grades will hold the same value with universities, colleges and employers.
Mr Williamson also announced an additional £30 million in funding to help schools and colleges carry out the autumn exam series for students wishing to sit GCSE and A-level exams.
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the plan created potential for “massive inconsistency” as mock exams were not standardised and some students may not have taken them before schools closed in March.
He said: “The idea of introducing at the eleventh hour a system in which mock exam results trump calculated grades beggars belief. The government doesn’t appear to understand how mock exams work. They aren’t a set of exams which all conform to the same standards. The clue is in the name ‘mock’.
“Schools and colleges have spent months diligently following detailed guidance to produce centre-assessed grades only to find they might as well not have bothered.
“If the government wanted to change the system it should have spent at least a few days discussing the options rather than rushing out a panicked and chaotic response.”