Do GCSE Results Translate to A Level?
Maybe you’ve wondered what T wonders:
Hello
I hope you are well.
I had a question regarding the percentage of viewers who watch your videos and gain a 9, 8, 7 etc at GCSE in English Language/Literature.
Also, I had another question. Say someone has a 9 in English Literature. Someone else has a 6 in English Literature. The person who gets a 6 takes it for A Level and ends up with a C. The person with a 9 doesn’t take it for A Level.
Who is better at the subject?
Then again, official data shows that people who get 6’s and below do end up with C/D’s at A Level anyway in English Literature. Does the grade C correspond to a 9 at GCSE? So therefore the person with a C resit their GCSE and then effortlessly gain a 9 just because they have done the A Level (although not very well)
There are elements though of Grade 9 responses which do overlap with A Level? Such as anagnorisis.
So therefore someone with a C could very easily resit their GCSE and gain a 9, as a 9 at GCSE equates to a C at A Level?
Or is this deeply flawed? Generally speaking, do people just work with the knowledge base they already have, using that (and what they’ve picked up along the way) to gain the A Level grade? So not necessarily making huge advances.
Many thanks
T.
Hi T,
Think about your GCSE grade this way:
Does it reflect how well I write English essays, linking evidence in an argument about the author's ideas?
Does it reflect how well I understand the text, and the author?
Does it reflect how many quotes I know and how much of the texts I remember?
Does it reflect how fast I can think and write?
Does it reflect how much I know about the life and times of the author?
Does it reflect how hard I have studied, my work ethic?
Looked at this way, grades 4 -7 don't really tell you very much. A hard working, average student can gain grade 7, but a really clever, lazy student can also get grade 7.
Grades 8 and 9 can be scored by students who have done very well at all of 1 - 6, no matter how average they are in ability.
But, a high ability student can get a grade 9 by only being great at 1, 2 and 4.
To do well at A level, and in life, you need to be good at all 6.
What Does This Mean For You?
If you are reading this, there is a 99.9% chance you are going to get at least a grade 6.
This will enable you to take A level. Your A level result will determine what you do at university, or which university, or what sort of apprenticeship.
In other words, as a thing, all on its own, your GCSE grade is not going to matter. If you get a grade 7, 8 or 9, instead of a 6, it will make no difference to your future.
But this is the value of the GCSE grade:
If you have developed those 6 habits, you will fly at A level, and you will fly at university, and soar in whatever career you end up in.
You can think of a parallel set of 6 habits for the subjects you are most interested in.
(I was a very smart student with limited interest in education and teachers who had no interest or understanding in how to make the subject come to life.
I got by on number 4 alone, so my grades were poor. I hadn’t applied to university, because what was the point?
I then had to get a job.
I found out the hard way what an education is worth).
Mr Salles