Predicted grades and end of Year One assessments
As a level 3 first year, when do lessons finish for us?
Term for Level 3 Year 1 students will finish on Thursday 2nd July. Staff will continue to set work, assess and support you up to that date.
How will the teachers calculate my end of year 1 assessment?
Teachers will use professional judgement based on knowledge of students and their performance up to 20th March.
How are the teachers predicting grades?
Teachers will make these based on knowledge of students and their performance in the first year of the course, any increase to these predicted grades will be based on assessments taken in the early part of the Autumn Term.
When will I know my predicted grades?
These will go on to ProPortal by Friday 19th June.
If I am applying for early UCAS will I be assessed at the beginning of next term if I am not happy with my end of year predicted grade?
Any increase to predicted grades will be based on assessments taken in the early part of the Autumn Term.
Will there be a general opportunity to take an assessment in the Autumn Term if a student isn’t happy with their predicted grade for UCAS?
Teachers will set assessments in the Autumn Term as a normal part of the course, these will be used to inform any changes to predicted grades. The deadline for changes to predicted grades is Friday 30th October.
Will there be a mock exam session in September?
No there will not be a large-scale internal exam session in September; the priority will be to keep teaching course content. Subject assessments will happen as part of the normal pattern of teaching. The plan for any mock exam session in the Spring Term will be reviewed during the Autumn Term.
Changing Courses
Can I change subjects in Year 2 – What are the choices?
When you sign up for Level 3 courses you sign up for a two year course. It is only in a very limited number of cases that any change is possible. There are two main situations where changes may occur:
1) If a student has a sustained record of severe risk of failing a course the College may recommend a change to reduce this risk and help to improve the student’s progression opportunities.
2) If a student has a long and well documented desire to change an element of their courses due to a change in progression aim or career goal the College may agree to a change. It is only in exceptional circumstances that this will result in the student spending more than two years studying Level 3 courses at the College.
If I am failing in a subject can I change it?
In the vast majority of cases the College’s advice is to carry on with the courses you are studying and seek to make improvements in your performance during the second year of study. If there is a sustained record of severe risk of failing a course the College may recommend a change to reduce this risk and help to improve your progression opportunities. This will not mean that you are able to take longer over your Level 3 studies at the College and so the overall size of the qualifications you gain will be smaller.
If I am failing all of my subjects can I restart year 1 due to the coronavirus?
In the vast majority of cases the College’s advice is to carry on with the courses you are studying and seek to make improvements in your performance during the second year of study. Due to funding restrictions the College is not able to agree to students restarting their Level 3 courses again due to underperformance in the first year of study at this level. If you have a sustained record of severe risk of failing all your courses the College will work with you to give advice on the best way forward. The coronavirus only started to have an effect on the way you study in mid-March and so the College does not consider that the impact of this is sufficient to be taken in to account.
Do I have to be failing in a subject to change it or can I change if I just don’t like it?
When you sign up for Level 3 courses you sign up for a two year course. It is only in a very limited number of cases that any change is possible. If you have expressed a long and well documented desire to change an element of your courses due to a change in progression aim or career goal the College may agree to a change. It is only in exceptional circumstances that this will result in you spending more than two years studying Level 3 courses at the College.
Others
How do I apply to UCAS?
The application process for UCAS is similar to previous years, the College will give you information and support with this in the second half of the Summer Term.
Will my timetable change?
The timings of your lessons will change to help with movement around the College. The College will try where possible to keep groups of students together in the same class for their second year, but cannot guarantee that for every group. Any change of teacher will also be kept to a minimum in order to help continuity, though changes outside of our control sometimes necessitate changes, such as a staff retirement for example.
Will exam certificates for current students be posted to out?
Where students are waiting for exam certificates these will be held at college for the moment. If any student needs a certificate for a particular reason they should contact the exams office by email to exams@wqe.ac.uk.
Will students on a BTEC course be able to resit exams at any point?
The exam boards are due to give some updated guidance on the arrangements for Vocational Courses. The key thing at the moment is to keep on working on the tasks that teachers are setting. You should be mindful that our Level 3 BTEC courses usually operate over two years and are assessed over that time, rather than being assessed finally this year. Once the College has further information from awarding bodies we will update students.
How do I sit exams in September if I was planning to go to university this year – how will this work?
Ofqual and the exam boards are due to give further details on the Autumn exam series, once the College has further information we will update students. We will also publish any updates to the College website in due course.
What’s the point of completing work now if my grades have been assessed for work done up until 20th March ?
It is important for you to finish covering the course content so that you have a full picture of the subjects you have been studying for two years. It is important to be as prepared as possible for further study at University or employment. You may also want to take an Autumn exam instead of accepting the grade awarded and will want to have covered the full course content to be in a position to decide on this and to help you to do as well as you can at that point.
If I’ve only recently handed in work electronically, as I had computer issues and a replacement laptop was delayed, does this mean my estimated grades will be affected?
This will not affect your estimated grade as only work carried out before the lockdown on March 20th will be taken in to account. This is a national decision taken to avoid any unfairness to students.
Will the results for A-levels be the same date in August or is this delayed now due to the coronavirus?
Yes results for A-Levels and Level 3 Vocational courses will be available as planned on Thursday 13th August.
Will the results day for GCSE’s be the same date in August as originally planned prior to the pandemic?
Yes results for GCSEs and Level 2 Vocational courses will be available as planned on Thursday 20th August.
I have extenuating circumstances to be considered which may have resulted in me achieving a lower-than-expected score on the mocks, what can I do about this?
The College will take in to account any extenuating circumstances to which we were alerted at the time of the mock exams. OfQual guidance does not allow us to adjust for such matters retrospectively. However, you should also be aware that centre assessed grades will not be based only on one point of assessment such as a single mock examination and you performance across the whole course, through a range of evidence, will be used in making judgements.
I was planning on studying for an exam myself privately without tuition at the College and sitting it in the summer, how will my grade be calculated?
The College will only be able to estimate grades for students where we have direct knowledge of the standard of work that has been produced by that student during their current study. This means that we will not be able to estimate grades for subjects that are not being studied at the College
