The importance of the November exams

You have to decide in the first few weeks of the academic year if you wish to register for the November GCSE English resit.

Your decision should always be yes.

Traditionally and to form, the grade boundary will rise. We learnt yesterday that it increased by 1 mark to 81/160. Therefore, the November exams are important because it offers us a target mark for classes and for your own self-assessments. Traditionally also, it comes down in August. In June 2018 it was 76/160. If we are setting our targets in class (and you are setting your own targets) at 81/160 now then we know we should be within reach in June.

Aside from new grade boundaries, we will always be able to get your marks back per question and can therefore set targets on reflection on how you have achieved on each of the 10 questions across the 2 papers. Sometimes it's very easy to see the standout question that lost you marks and then we can work hard on improving that area for improvement going forwards.

The most important reason to take the November exam is passing halfway through an academic year. That will give you more time to focus on your other exams going into the summer term. That's the incentive - a successful completion of the course.

Remember that you always have that second opportunity to pass in June. Rather than attempting the paper once in an academic year why not register for the opportunity to achieve it once out of 2 attempts in the year? For those who didn't achieve in January we have more information on you and we can work forwards alongside your mock exam results into the final third of the course. Keep your head up, keep revising, keep attending lessons; take comfort in your strengths and face your weaknesses head on rather than running away from them.

Remember that your lecturers DO care about you and seeing you opening an envelope that opens up your future. We wish the best for you. There are different levels to success. On results day we see those who pass, but we also see those students who are really happy to know that they are closer to passing than they were the previous time they picked up their results.

Sometimes it just takes a little longer. But passing is possible and we're here to support you along the way.