Maths GCSE papers being re-marked.....

When my son was at school for a reason unbeknown to us a group of children all got their English papers remarked. He went from a D to a C.

My recollection, and it may be a few years out of date, is that on an individual remark your mark can go down but on a group remark ( when a school ask for the whole cohort to be remarked) an individuals mark can't go down- only the same or an increase is possible. I recall that happening in my sons school when he was GCSE stage.

My experience of remarks - for DC and their friends - is that the most common result is the mark to stay exactly the same - which is comforting to know tbh - most of the time the marking is right in the first place.

However, we had DDs AS chemistry remarked after seeing her paper and the marking and there were two obvious mistakes - one clerical one interpretative and so she did get 2 extra marks. So I'd say a borderline mark is worth a remark. Maybe except when the actual UMS score matters at some AS papers for some unis and its a 'risk'. But if you can see the paper first before you decide to go for a remark you get the chance to assess the likelihood.

My son was 3 marks off a c. School paid for it to be remarked. Came back with 2 extra marks, so he ended up being 1 mark away. He was gutted!

Actually, at my son's independent school he was discouraged from having two IGCSEs at A remarked to see if they could be A*s.

The teachers think you're better just getting on with the next stage.

Can you do this if you are sitting GCSE's as a mature student too? I'm concerned that I might end up a mark away from an A in Maths, or a mark away from an A* in Science.

Ds1's English was sent for remarking. It went from 2 marks off the next grade up to one off!! Slightly frustrating.

It sounds very odd for the school not to want him to do lit. The language mark will only count in league tables if he also gets a grade (any grade) for lit too. Also, only the first grade (the b) counts in league tables so it's not in the school's interests to reenter lang.

My son's school paid for my son's science GCSE to be remarked. He got a B and was mark of an A, it came back as two marks of an A and he was so upset.

"Is this the norm? Surely it's better to have, say, 2 English GCSEs at B grade than one at A."

No, as long as you have at least 8 overall it is better to have Language at A than 2 x Bs in Lang and in Lit.

It is definitely worth getting a remark when you are so close to the A*. I hope the examiners find that extra mark for him.

It seems strange that DS isn't studying for both Eng lang and Eng lit simultaneously. However there is no reason why he can't continue to work on his Eng lit but have a few extra language lessons before the exams (or just re-read his notes) and resit Eng lang to try to get the grade up.

For uni entrance the more A and A* grades you have, the better.

If the grade goes up you should get your money back. My DS's mark increased by 8 marks in Geography (from very high D to a comfortable C).

But it can go down, and examiners may have added too many as two few marks too they don't have much time per paper. DS was at a Comp too.

we did actually know what paper it was (because she'd already done most of the papers which were being used for FM) so it did all hinge on just the one paper. It's well in the past now, she got into her first choice uni and so far has never felt the lack of the * .

That was bad advice LeapingOverTheWall - there is more than one paper to an exam and the final result is only known when the individual marks have been converted to UMS points and aggregated. They don't then go back and remark each paper for every candidate that is borderline overall.

If you are 1 UMS point below a grade overall it is always worth considering remarking one or more papers, but for an A* borderline make sure you don't look for remarking on a paper where you are already getting 100% of the UMS mark as you can only lose marks (e.g. separate sciences students can get 100% UMS marks in module 1 with only 80% raw mark). You need someone that really understands the way the system works to advise you - top performing schools have examination officers who are expert in this.

The fees and timescales are on the web site for the exam board e.g. Edexcel.

DD1s Further Maths A level was one mark off an A - she was advised by the school that it wasn't worth paying for a remark as borderline results like that are always additionally checked before the results are released. We didn't push it at the time, as she didn't need the A, but maybe we should have done?

At GSCE I probably would though as an A* might make the difference between getting onto an A level course or not.

Maths marks could go up or down - my mum and dad mark maths (AS and A2) but the principle is the same as there are sometimes points open to interpretation. Also there is the possibility that an error was made - markers are only human.

If you're one mark off an A* then it is unlikely your grade would go down as it would need quite a few marks to go down. Hopefully it will be successful for your DS :)

Yes the schools may, but I am not sure many of the parents necessarily do, and unless the school has a very vested interest in pushing one or two people's grades up a notch then they are hardly likely to be pushing parents to pay for it.

Really? I did not know that. Although only someone with a borderline grade would bother, and if it isn't going up then I suppose it makes no difference either way - it's hardly likely to go down by enough to change the grade.

Madis - the mark can go down and this warning is made very clear to students/parents.

Oh, and bog standard comps do know about remarking and do make use of it when appropriate

Madis - the mark can go down and this warning is made very clear to students/parents.

Oh, and bog standard comps do know about remarking and do make use of it when appropriate

Madis - the mark can go down and this warning is made very clear to students/parents.

Oh, and bog standard comps do know about remarking and do make use of it when appropriate