GCSE Results Day 2020 is finally upon us! We thought it might be helpful to share some top tips to help you to navigate the day.
General Preparation:
- Keep Calm! Results day tends to instil a certain sense of anxiety. Find a quiet spot to take a few minutes, calm down and put your pragmatic thinking cap back on!
- Be Prepared: Confirm what time and how you will receive your results (e.g. email, in person, over the phone). Some people would rather receive results on their own, whilst others benefit from having others around them – consider what you would prefer in advance and plan accordingly.
- Focus on yourself: Emotions often run high on results day; you may wish to be surrounded by friends and it can be tempting to compare results. Don’t(!), make sure you focus on your results.
- Familiarise yourself with the grading system: As part of GCSE reforms the GCSE grading system has changed from A*-G to a numerical system from 9 (the highest) to 1. A grade 7 is equivalent to an A grade. You may receive a combination of letters and numbers depending on the exam boards your school used.
- Read your results carefully! Make sure you take in the key detail. Keep in mind any grade requirements you are working towards, i.e. in order to study a subject at a higher level (i.e. A Level or IB) or for entrance into another school or college. If you are planning to move school or college make sure you have the contact details to hand so you can get in touch to confirm whether or not you met your offer.
- Speak to someone: If you have any doubts or questions about your results do ask your teachers or your parents.
What grade will you receive?
Ofqual’s announcement on the 17th August means pupils will receive either their Centre Assessed Grade (CAG) - the grade their school provided to exam boards – or the moderated (by exam boards) grade, whichever is higher. Due to the last minute nature of this decision there might be a delay in receiving the official GCSE certificates from the exam boards.
What if you received an unexpected grade?
If you are unhappy with both your exam board moderated and CAG grades you might want to consider the following options:
- Appeal … Given the government’s U-turn on using exam board moderated grades, if you want to appeal you would be appealing the CAG your school supplied to the exam board. However, it is unclear whether students will be able to appeal:
- if they feel their CAG doesn't reflect their capability?
- If they achieved higher mock grades than their CAGs?
Please Note: Schools were required to use a range of evidence, including mocks, non-exam assessment, to generate your CAG and as such it should be pretty robust and accurate. However, this is not to say you cannot question how the grade was generated to better understand the process your school went through.
- Re-sit …
- Can I re-sit? Yes, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) announced that there will be a full series of GCSE in all subjects available in autumn.
- When can I re-sit? The exam timetable will run from Monday 2nd and finish on Monday 23rd November. The registration deadline is the 18th September. You will also be able to re-sit in the Summer 2021 exam series.
- Which grade stands, my CAG or the re-sit? The higher of the two grades will stand.
- What should I re-sit? We would recommend you speak to your school about which GCSEs you intend to re-sit. Given the important and significant step up to A-Level/IB study we would not recommend retaking more than 4 or 5 GCSEs alongside your A Level/IB studies as the workload will be considerable, especially if they are subjects you haven’t studied since March. If you do not achieve at least a 4 (formerly a C) in your maths and English GCSEs, you’ll have to re-sit these to proceed to A-level study.
- How will universities view 2020 GCSE grades and re-sits? Given the unprecedented nature the 2020 academic year it is likely that universities will be more flexible when reviewing candidates GCSE grades. That said, most university courses have minimum GCSE requirements, so it would be worth checking these if you already have a course/university in mind as this may help to inform your re-sit decisions.
- What next? If you decide to re-sit we would recomend you begin to revise, as the 2nd November is only 10 weeks away! We have a number of excellent, experienced GCSE level tutors who can help with your preparation. For more details, please call the office for a chat with one of our client managers, or contact us via enquiries@keystonetutors.com.
If you are still bemused and befuddled after discussing your results and options with your school you might like to seek independent advice. Keystone’s Consultancy Team have a wealth of experience in offering educational advice, so do give us a call if needs be. We are very happy to help!