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Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Secondary education

Need to cancel a remark urgently

53 replies

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 18:06

My son got 1 mark away from an A* in his English literature GCSE and an English teacher I spoke to on results day said he would put in for remarks. He has since told me he put both of his papers in. I've now found out by looking at raw to ums converter, that he got full ums in 1 of the exams so need to have the remark cancelled for that 1 paper. The exam officer won't reply to any of my emails, so I'm very concerned. I rang a AQA but they said it has to go through exam officer. I'm not sure what else I can do.

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DoctorDonnaNoble · 26/08/2015 18:09

If the teacher put them in for remark does that mean the school are paying?
You may need to give your exams officer a couple of days to reply, I know ours is like me and checks email daily but not all schools do that .

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 18:27

Yes the school are paying as it is 1 mark away. They won't for ones that are 2 marks away from the next grade boundary though and I think it depends on the teacher. I'm worried that she won't contact AQA before it gets remarked and then it will be too late. I've been emailing her since Friday. I also want some others remarked, but she hasn't let me know if she's put them in. I've now sent her a message saying if she doesn't respond, I will be contacting the headmaster! I'm not sure what else to do.

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Abraid2 · 26/08/2015 18:34

An exams officer who doesn't check email daily in the second half of August!!?

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 18:44

I know! We are going to make an appointment with the head when term starts to tell him about all this, also because he have issues with computing controlled assessments that have been moderated down significantly. We have raised concerns about the poor teaching in computing, but they said there wasn't a problem when obviously there was. Not that anything can be done about that now. AQA said if the literature exam does lose marks in a remark, we will have to appeal.

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GloriaHotcakes · 26/08/2015 18:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 19:02

I don't think she would have checked, the English teacher didn't check. I have found that the teachers are not very 'switched on' when it comes to the marks. I've said in the last email to her that I will be contacting the head if she doesn't respond, but still haven't heard from her. I won't be surprised if the head doesn't respond either.

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trinity0097 · 26/08/2015 19:03

The deadline for asking for remarks is 20th September so chill out!

Many exams officers work term time only, plus the results day and the day before only. I am one and know for a fact that there are exams officers from around the uk abroad at the moment having their holidays! Not to say that some aren't at work, but they equally have so many requests and the process is complex.

GloriaHotcakes · 26/08/2015 19:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 19:20

The problem is that she has requested for those exams to be remarked now and if that one gets remarked before it gets cancelled, then he could potentially lose marks on it and go down a grade. If I wait until term starts, that exam could well have been remarked and it will be too late. To be honest, I was surprised he did that well on the poetry exam as it was the one we were most worried about out of the 2.

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Laura7010 · 26/08/2015 19:27

If the 100% exam goes down its VERY unlikely it will go down enough to go down a grade. The result may just end up staying at an A if it goes down a little and the other perhaps up. As someone pointed out the exams officer probably isn't actually in work so won't reply to your email till term starts I'm afraid.

DoctorDonnaNoble · 26/08/2015 19:28

Teachers in our school
ALWAYS check scores.

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 19:37

This teacher definitely didn't. He isn't my son's English teacher, just a teacher that was around on results day. I sent an email to my son's teacher on results day, but he hasn't responded. It is a worry, because some parents don't know how raw marks to ums work. It's obviously not a very good school my children go to it seems.

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Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 20:01

I've just had an email from the Exam Officer saying that she has put in for the remarks on both papers and cannot cancel it once it's been out in. I've gone back to her and said it can be cancelled because I have rang AQA today and they said it can be. I can't believe this!

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nephrofox · 26/08/2015 20:08

Does the difference between an A and A* really matter? Maybe the exams officer is tied up with the C/D boundary cases

GloriaHotcakes · 26/08/2015 20:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 20:37

I've now emailed the headmaster and AQA, but am not very hopeful. I feel extremely upset and worried about this and wish I had just left it at the A grade. I would hate for him to go down to a B grade because of this.

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GloriaHotcakes · 26/08/2015 20:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 20:51

Yes knowing our luck, that would happen. I just hope by emailing AQA and doing as much as I can to get it cancelled, I would win the appeal if it came to that. Surely the person I spoke to at AQA today hasn't got it wrong saying it can be cancelled have they?

AQA have said though they can only cancel it if Exam Officers request it and it doesn't seem that she's prepared to try. As she said, she's on holiday now and won't be back until term starts.

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DoctorDonnaNoble · 26/08/2015 21:38

Wouldn't stop our exams officer from dropping off a quick email to AQA! This all sounds very strange and I would definitely be drafting a complaint. A random teacher who just happens to be in on results day shouldn't be deciding what goes in for a school remark! Our head of department has to make a damn good case for it to the head. Our exams officer wouldn't have sent the full marks one off. If nothing else it's a complete waste of money!

GloriaHotcakes · 26/08/2015 21:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 21:45

No. An English teacher teacher put in for the remarks. I had a GCSE remarked for my eldest a few years ago and didn't sign for that, but when he had an A level remarked he did have to sign because he was 18 I think.

Is the Exam Officer wrong in saying it can't be cancelled?

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DoctorDonnaNoble · 26/08/2015 21:49

I'm not sure, but then I wouldn't trust an exams officer who submitted a remark for a module that had been awarded full UMS!

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GloriaHotcakes · 26/08/2015 21:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lifesalongsong · 26/08/2015 21:55

Which board is it, I've been getting to grips with the grade boundaries for a possible remark for me child, It's not English but as far as I can see for most subjects the grade boundaries are so large that it would be almost impossible to go down a grade if you are only 1 or 2 marks away from the next one.

For example in AQA science papers my reading of the boundaries is that each grade covers 40 UMS so if you are 2 UMS away from the next one you'd need to go down by 39 to drop a grade.

Surely that would never happen. If that's wrong I'd be very happy to be corrected.

Would you mind posting your UMS data and maybe we can put your mind at rest

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 21:59

She said she put in for the remark because I had asked for it, even though it was a teacher, so didn't even check the marks, I don't think she ever does that.

Have you had 3 remarks go up for this year's GCSEs? I also want some others remarked - 2 Bs are each 2 marks off an A. Will have to wait until September to ask for those.

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