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If you’re waking up to news about mocks, this might help you
You can see what govt is trying to do. Replace the arbitrariness of standardisation. But risk is this could be even more arbitrary.
Why? Read on
You can see what govt is trying to do. Replace the arbitrariness of standardisation. But risk is this could be even more arbitrary.
Why? Read on
1) not all schools/students do mocks
2) some schools take mocks more seriously than others
3) some schools do every paper as a mock, some don’t
4) there will be huge grade boundary differentials between schools
2) some schools take mocks more seriously than others
3) some schools do every paper as a mock, some don’t
4) there will be huge grade boundary differentials between schools
On latter points, as a teacher tells me. “Many schools (mine being one) apply stringent grade boundaries for mocks (5-10% higher than actual 2019 boundaries) to (a) caution against unexpected changes in 2020 and (b) avoid us being accused of overestimating student performance...
“In my own Dept, if 2019 grade boundaries had been used, students’ mock results would have been a grade higher on average. So take a hypothetical student called Bill. Got a C in his English Lit mock, but actually got a B...”
“But it will have been recorded on the school’s internal database as a C. In short, mocks vary massively - in content and how they’re graded - from school to school.”
This from another teacher: “It's mind boggling. There are 50 ways to deliver mocks - some don't do them, some do 3, 2 or 1 paper, some know the questions in advance, some don't, some sit in exam conditions in a hall, some don't, some teachers mark harshly to send a message...”
“An especially large problem is grade boundaries.We look at previous yes and add 5 to 10% to push students harder, anticipate potential rises etc. Our 'marks' are supposed to be cautious.Other depts in a school would do it differently, let alone other schools around the country”
the worry about the CAGs was that the standardisation would inject an unfair arbitrariness. But the counter argument about mocks is that they couldn’t be more arbitrary.
As one teacher said: “It's a mess. CAG's were all in the same boat. All teachers and schools did the same thing with the same situation and same knowledge. Mocks are roulette.
Anyway, lots more tomorrow, no doubt...
