GCSE PE remark question

[longingforsomesleep]

Wonder if anyone with experience of remarks can offer me some advice. DS did very well in his GCSEs - 2 A*, 9 As and 2 Bs. He got an A for PE which is fine. However, when I looked at the breakdown of results, he got almost full marks on the practical/assessment part (which counted for 60% of the GCSE) and a C for the exam, which counted for 40%).

Now ds is normally very good at judging how he has performed in exams. He came home from the PE exam and said it was really easy and he couldn't see where he could have dropped any marks. In his breakdown of exam and assessment results it was the only C and the only thing that stood out as 'odd' and out of kilter with what he was expecting.

So, we thought we would ask for a remark on the exam and I gave him a cheque to take into school. The whole course is marked out of 300 and I think the exam counts for 120 marks. He told me this evening that the exams officer had told him it wasn't worth his while as he wasn't likely to get an extra 18 marks on the exam which he would need to increase his grade to an A*. She's also told DS that there's a risk his mark could go down and he could end up with a B (he'd need to drop 12 marks for that to happen) so now he just wants to leave it, which is fine by me.

I'm just curious though. I know people ask for remarks where they're one or two marks off the next grade but I assumed there must be cases where the marking is off quite significantly - or does that not happen?

[RedVW]

My DS has just started GCSE PE and I looked at the breakdown of A, A, B etc of last year's Year 11 noticing that only 7% got A, 38% A/A, and 80% A-B. This doesn't answer your question but it does suggest that few candidates are awarded A*. Or it might be just poor teaching at my son's GS (super selective)! I have told my son that an A in PE would be very good because of these results.

[TeenAndTween]

I may be wrong here, but I thought it was possible to ask to see a copy of the marked script? So that way you could see if there was anything really obvious wrong.

[longingforsomesleep]

That's just for A level unfortunately.

[Dancingdreamer]

As a student, I used to check exam questions for one of the major exam boards. A selection of papers were always randomly rechecked for standardisation before marks were published. I was amazed at how many arts based papers (i.e. where there is a certain amount of judgement from the examiner rather than maths or science with clearly right or wrong answer) were regraded, sometimes by 2 grades.

I don't think you can compare the practical in PE, which is clearly measuring a different skill set, to the written paper. However, depending on the type of the questions he answered and what he was predicted if you really feel the marks are wrong, I would apply for regrading.

[basildonbond]

Well ds was in a v similar position, predicted A, got almost 100% on the practical, was getting high 90s on practice papers, came out of the exam saying it was relatively easy - and got an A. He was only 1 UMS off an A so we asked for it to be remarked - and the grade has stayed the same. No idea what went wrong and as he's not taking the subject at sixth form not going to take it further. He got an A* in biology which makes the A in PE even more bizarre

[longingforsomesleep]

Basildon- oh well, that makes me feel more comfortable about not pursuing a remark!

DS was predicted an A in Biology too though ended up with a high A. He also plays a couple of sports to a high level so understands a great deal about the subject anyway and is very good at writing (A/A Eng/Eng Lit). I've never known his assessment of his own performance in an exam to be so off!

I think as he would need 18 marks (not sure if that's the same as UMS - find it all very confusing!) to get a high B in the exam it's unlikely to happen unless something drastic has gone wrong - like a page missed by ds or the examiner. I also don't want ds to think I'm not happy with his grades and he wants to leave it (it was me who raised the issue of a remark in the first place, not him)

With hindsight DS shouldn't have taken PE - he dithered for a long time between that and history which he was really good at. PE has proved the most troublesome of the subjects he has taken. There was a behaviour issue with some of his class in year 10 and I'm not altogether sure the teaching has been up to scratch.

But like you, not something we need to worry about in the sixth form!

[RiversideMum]

Resurrecting this as I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone this year as well as my DS? He got As for his sciences but the written exam in PE was graded E. The lowest for any other paper in all his exams was C.

[TheWave]

Had the same last year and the written was an unexpected C with 100% or nearly I think in the practical and overall a A. We had the written remarked as it was her only C amongst the A/A. It went up by 1 or 2 UMS I think but not enough to change the A to an A.

I think the teachers in PE maybe just are not "as good" at getting the syllabus taught and the marks out of the students at the top end compared with say the History or Biology faculties.

[TeaAndALemonTart]

I think PE is a hard one to get an A* in tbh.

[RiversideMum]

I'm not bothered about A* but the gap between practical (A) and written (E) seems a lot when the lowest grade otherwise was C. Is PE fiendishly difficult or are the teachers rubbish? Or did the kids do no work?

[Kez100]

I once interviewed a PE teacher (as a Governor) and when asked a question about GCSE PE (can't remember the exact question now) their reply was that they would ensure the theory was given adequate time and treated with equal respect to the practical because PE GCSE can be a problem with many (of all abilities) sub-consciously treating the practical as the main element and the candidate added that they (students and also some teachers) get caught out by the theory - not taking it seriously enough, given the weighting and quantity.

Maybe some truth in this?