Posts Tagged ‘GCSE exams’

School performance 2011 – The truth!

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Last week, the Department for Education published data on more than 3,300 secondary schools’ GCSE and A-Level exam results. Now parents have more information than ever about how their child’s school is performing, this is an increase of data of 400 per cent than in 2010.

Performance tables for 2011 now include:

  • level of performance of disadvantaged children.
  • if pupils with high, middle and low achieving results continue to make progress.
  • how many pupils entered into the core academic subjects that make up the EBacc.

Sadly, the 2011 GCSE results reveal that hundreds of secondary schools are failing to help pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve their full potential. Children on free school meals or in local authority care are approximately half as likely to achieve the national benchmark of five A* -C grade GCSEs including English and maths compared to their peers.

Nationally, only one in 25 disadvantaged pupils managed to secure good grades in a combination of English, maths,  languages, history or geography, and two sciences. This compares to the national average of nearly one in six.

For the first time, the tables highlight how pupils have progressed since they left primary school. This year’s statistics show that thousands of previously high achieving pupils are being failed by their secondary school:

  • 8.600 pupils, 4.9 per cent, who were excelling at the end of primary school, then failed to gain five A* -C grade including English and maths.
  • 45.6 per cent of pupils, some 120,000, who were at Level 4 at Key Stage 2 failed to make the expected amount of progress, to five A*-C grades including English and maths, at secondary school.
  • There are now 107 secondary schools below the national minimum standard.

A secondary school is below the floor standard if:

  • fewer than 35 per cent of pupils achieve the basics standard of five A* to C grade GCSEs including English and maths.
  • fewer pupils make good progress in English between KS2 and KS4 than the national average.
  • fewer pupils make good progress in maths between KS2 and KS4 than the national average.

Find out how your child’s school performs here.

If you feel that your child may need some extra help, consider finding a private tutor. We have hundreds of testimonials that prove that private tuition really does help improve grades.

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UK examination boards under investigation.

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

Fortunately, we don’t often hear about scams within the education sector in the UK although this week an inquiry has been launched in England and Wales due to claims that some examiners gave teachers “tips” on GCSE and A-level questions. Coincidentally in the USA, educators and students are still talking about the Long Island SAT scandal which was first revealed at the end of September 2011, although in this case, students were paying other students to sit SAT exams! Read more on the Long island SAT scandal here.

Back in the UK, The Daily Telegraph claims to have filmed an examiner telling teachers at a seminar which questions to expect. This has prompted the Education Secretary Michael Gove to order an official inquiry into the exam system.

The investigation found that teachers are paying up to £230 a day to attend seminars with chief examiners during which they are advised on exam questions and the exact wording that pupils should use to obtain higher marks. Two examiners have been suspended by the exam board WJEC although it insists the claims were due to a “misunderstanding” of its advice.

The Education Secretary said “Our exams system needs fundamental reform. The revelations confirm that the current system is discredited”.

The findings could add to growing fears over the apparent fall in standards in British schools which has led to grade inflation in exams over the past decade.

At First Tutors we monitor all student requests and if we find that a student is asking a teacher to “do the assignment” for them or “write their essay” we immediately take action and warn the student and the teacher that we do not approve or support such unethical tactics. Appropriately, most teachers are aware of these practises and clearly state that they can help, give advice, revise and correct work but under no circumstances will they provide bespoke essay writing or “ready to present” assignments for a student. If we do detect that a teacher agrees to these practises we suspend the request and delete the tutor’s account. We believe education to be a serious matter.

It seems that the current inquiry has a lot to do with exam boards as “businesses” and the need to maintain exam standards. Many experts believe there should be one regulated system. We welcome your comments.

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Preparing your child for their GCSEs – Part 2

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Following on from Preparing your child for their GCSEs – Part 1, here are three more ways to ensure your child is going into their GCSE years with confidence:

1. Choose a good mix of subjects. For the first time in their academic career, your child actually has a say in which subjects they want to study. However, they will still need your guiding hand to make sure they select subjects that support both their individual strengths and their future university applications. Languages are always a good idea, if your child has an aptitude for them.

2. Identify weaknesses as soon as possible. Every child is stronger in some subjects than others, and it takes a great deal of discipline to focus study time on the more difficult subjects, particularly if they are mandatory and your child does not enjoy them. Using the services of a private tutor for the more challenging subjects can be a good way to boost your child’s confidence, as well as improve their exam scores.

3. Practise makes perfect. Most kids are terrified of exams – even if they won’t admit it to their parents! The more preparation you can give them, therefore, the better. Obtain practise papers and revision guides for each of their GCSE subjects so that your child can get used to the format of each of their exams. For subjects like English, which require essays to be written during the exam, you or your child’s home tutor should set “fake exams” to help them learn to write essays within a restricted timeframe.

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Preparing your child for their GCSEs – Part 1

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

GCSEs are the first set of exams which have an influence on a pupil’s career. Successful results enable pupils to take their pick of A-level subjects, and the top universities like to see a stream of A*s and As when it comes to GCSEs on UCAS forms.

With that in mind, it’s so important to prepare your child well for their GCSE studies. Here are three ways in which you can do this.

1. Stress to your child how important their GCSEs are. This is a chance for them to shine and get their lives off to a great start. Tell them that it’s time to knuckle down – and that you’ll give them all the love and support they need for success.

2. Organisation is key and comes in two main forms: time management and information organisation. In terms of time, make sure that your child is spending equal amounts of time on each subject when it comes to their homework and coursework.

As for storing their work, make sure they have folders for each subject and that they know how to organise each folder. There are a lot of handouts and notes to collate, and organising them from the start makes the inevitable exam revision much easier to handle.

3. A challenge you will face as a parent is the fact that GCSEs happen at the same time that your child’s interest in their social life will start to rise. They’ll want to go out all the time – or spend all their time on Facebook. Set boundaries for their social lives. Friends are important, but their schoolwork has to take priority.

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Exam revision audits

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Whether you’re doing GCSE’s, A-levels, Key Stage exams or degree exams, the finishing line is in sight. Even though you’re nearly there, there is still some revision work that you can undertake to help boost your chances of success.

Around this time in the exam and revision process, it is really useful to do a kind of audit of your brain to check what’s gone in and what hasn’t. If you identify something that really hasn’t gone in then you have time to work on it, especially if you know what you do understand as you can reasonably stop working on this topic.

For example: you find that you know your English set texts extremely well, but you’re unsure on French verbs. An audit allows you to scale down on your English set text revision (because you’re comfortable with it) in order to make more room for French verbs.

So, how to audit? A good way is to get together with a friend and test each other on the key points in teach topic. Write questions for each other based on past exam papers and any pointers that your teacher or tutor has given you.

As you and your friend test each other, make a note of what you’re getting right and wrong. Looking at the results once you’ve finished the exercise should help you to identify where the gaps are.

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Debate of the week: Cheating in exams

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Cheating in GCSE and A-level exams has increased by six per cent in the last year. A report from Ofqual, the UK qualifications regulator, says that more than 4,400 people were caught cheating in their exams last year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is likely that further candidates cheated but were not caught.

It seems as though today’s technology is partly to blame. The main way pupils cheat is by using their mobile phones or other technology. With the Internet just a button away on most young people’s mobile phone, it might be easy to Google an answer whilst the invigilator is looking in the other direction.

Worryingly, “exam cheat equipment” is sold openly online. This equipment includes concealed ear-pieces which would allow candidates to receive information in an exam hall.

However, technology is only partly to blame. The candidates bear the ultimate responsibility for their actions. Just because we rely on technology to help us with our daily chores does not mean that we should use it to replace our brains.

If exam candidates are unable to tell the difference between right and wrong then it is up to parents and teachers to instil the following value in them: cheating can never, ever be right. What use is an A if you know that, unaided, you only deserved a D?

There can be no substitute for diligence, preparation and study. At First Tutors we believe in equipping pupils with what’s required for real, tangible success in exams and beyond.

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Helping students prepare for GCSE and A-level coursework

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Students in their final year of GCSEs or A-levels will now be looking to begin the coursework component of their exams. While the UK system weighs heavily in favour of structured exams, coursework entries can make up to 25% of the final grade, and a strong performance here can make all the difference to final marks. How can you as a home tutor help your students create their best work?

Although necessary boundaries are in place, coursework offers the opportunity for students to explore and specialise in the areas which interest them most. At the outset discuss with your pupil what they believe these areas to be, and identify a topic that plays to both strengths and interests. Make sure the scope of the selected title is appropriate and realistic given the timeframe and word limits of the project. The best topics tend to be those with a relatively narrow focus, allowing the student to delve deep into a subject and acquire specialist knowledge in one area, rather than spreading themselves too thinly.

Private tutors should work through the criteria with students to make sure that they fully understand what is required of them. A strong appreciation of what an examiner will be looking for early on can help prevent wasted effort and needless research. You should help your pupils draw together a reading list, dividing possible sources into essential reading and those which will help provide background and context to the main thrust of the research.

GCSE and A-level coursework are golden opportunities to help your students develop their own study interests and show off their talents. A well thought out study plan will help them achieve their maximum potential and mitigate pressure when it comes to final exams.

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5 of the best ways to choose a school for your child

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

The school you choose for your child is one of the most important decisions about their future you will ever make – particularly if you’re choosing the school that will be guiding them through their GCSE exams.

Selecting the right school isn’t as easy as it sounds, and if you pick the wrong one it can hinder your child’s education. Here are a few tips that you may like to consider when it comes to decision time:

1. Learn from your own experiences. Think back to when you were at school. What was it like? Do you want your child to go to a similar school or would you like a different experience for them?

2. Write down what your expectations from a school are then turn them into a checklist, ordered by priority. Then when you visit local schools, measure up the facilities they offer against your checklist.

3. Draw up a shortlist of two or three different schools. Consider all of their pros and cons separately, and discuss which ones will be most important to your child. For example, if there’s a great school in East Sussex but your family lives in Greater London you may decide it’s in your child’s best interests to attend a local school even if its academic record isn’t so impressive.

4.  First impressions can be misleading, so try and visit your shortlisted schools more than once. Make friends with parents whose children already attend and find out as much as you can about each school.

5. Finally, ask your child which school he or she prefers. If they have come to the same decision as you, that’s great. If not, consider their reasons and discus with your child which school will be best for them to attend.

Always remember, the choice of school may ultimately be yours, but your child is the one who has to walk through the gates every day. Make sure they’re happy with your choice.

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