foundation, higher, aqa GCSE

patchwork_cat

Hi
No doubt to those in the know this is going to seem basic, but my son has just taken his KS3 sats and is embarking on GCSE's. I have noticed that there seems to be basic, intermediate and higher and also AQA. Can someone explain these to me and if the GCSE's come in at different levels how does that equate to school league tables and surely it makes a nonsense of the all take one exam idea and we are back to GCE and CSE? TIA confused parent who feels like a mushroom and has tried to communicate with 14 year old, but there is only so many meanings to a grunt!

Rikki

Not sure about the basic, intermediate and higher, but AQA is an exam board.
School exams are set by various exam boards ie: AQA and OCR.

robnye

basically the level of gcse exam taken will depend on your sons level,
using the results of the KS3 sats results he will be put into sets ,
my middle daughter is currently in y9 and will start gcse in sept 07
because her class year is 330+ they will have approx 5 sets per subject, therefore depending on her sats results , she will be in set 1,2,3,4,5
when it comes to taking the gcse exams, the top set gets put in for higher exam paper, set 5 gets basic and the 2,3 will get intermediate (2 might get higher - depending on level of students), 4 will get intermediate or basic again depending on students in the current school year. students do get moved from one set to another up or down depending whether they getting on alright or not.

the possible gradings will all be restricted, higher paper pupils can get A or A*
intermediate top grade will be a B and basic highest grade will be a C
these are not set in stone,

at the end all students will be possible to get a grade A* to C wether they take higher/intermediate or basic paper

as mentioned AQA and OCR are examination boards - with decent websites.... there are others, the examination board is dependant upon the schools selection

Rikki

Thanks robnye.:T I had an idea but didn't know how to explain it.

No1 son is finishing his A levels and No2 son has a year to go before I go through all that again. :eek:

purplepurple

The exam board we use is Edexcel. If pupils are entered for the higher tier it means they can achieve grades from A* to E (if they score less than an E grade it automaticaly becomes a U grade) and those that are entered for foundation can achieve grades from C to G.
So even if they get 100% on foundation, they can only get a C, but pupils with less ability (E or below) can still pass the exam.

AQA is similar (but not identical!) HTH

littlemissmoney

http://www.parentscentre.gov.uk/learnjourn/index_ks4.cfm?ver=graph&subject=a6

knithappens

purplepurple wrote: »

The exam board we use is Edexcel. If pupils are entered for the higher tier it means they can achieve grades from A* to E (if they score less than an E grade it automaticaly becomes a U grade) and those that are entered for foundation can achieve grades from C to G.
So even if they get 100% on foundation, they can only get a C, but pupils with less ability (E or below) can still pass the exam.

AQA is similar (but not identical!) HTH

Yes AQA is very similar to this, it means the exam papers, are differentiated for different ability kids, we enter kids for intermediate, so we are not setting them up to fail really and they can still achieve a decent grade.

knithappens

purplepurple wrote: »

The exam board we use is Edexcel. If pupils are entered for the higher tier it means they can achieve grades from A* to E (if they score less than an E grade it automaticaly becomes a U grade) and those that are entered for foundation can achieve grades from C to G.
So even if they get 100% on foundation, they can only get a C, but pupils with less ability (E or below) can still pass the exam.

AQA is similar (but not identical!) HTH

Yes AQA is very similar to this, it means the exam papers, are differentiated for different ability kids, we enter kids for intermediate, so we are not setting them up to fail really and they can still achieve a decent grade.

The decision as to which paper the teacher decides to enter a child for, is not final until around december/jan in year 11. SO we are constantly assessing what level your child is at.

Plus you will have time to discuss this with teachers before your child is ready to sit exams.

eira

GCSE English has two levels-Higher and Foundation. Foundation is an exam for those junlikely to get above a C .Higher level is C and above.Schools are A to C driven. Schools won't put their cards on the table but they pick carefully who gets to do the Higher level. Teachers are also result driven particularly in middle class schools with pushy parents. This is a total minefield-like a lot of other middle class 'service' areas it can rely on what you know and how pushy you are prepared to be.

kr15snw

I seem to remember at school we used a few different exams boards in our GCSE's. I also remember in one of our exams (I was in higher for all but German) if we got below a C then we automatically got a U. Which scared me senseless at the time. I cannot remember which subject that was though!!

robnye

when i was at school they had CSE exams and O levels...... same as GCSE basic/foundation - intermediate - higher