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Original poster

Could someone please explain about remarking English GCSE papers?

79 replies

icouldjusteatacroissant · 20/08/2015 21:07

She failed English Language, and her teacher said she would send the paper away to see if they could claw back a few extra marks. her projected grade was higher.

Is this common practice? and realistically what percentage of papers are upgraded?

any info at all on this would be appreciated, this is new and strange territory for our family.

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Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 23/08/2015 13:47

thanks for more replies. wow that is a massive discrepancy! you must have been so delighted.

have told dd to expect a resit. it appears that even though the language exam was more accessible than the lit, nationwide the lit scores were generally higher due to a tougher lang exam as someone up thread mentioned. they have tightened up the rules on punctuation, spelling etc. although schools in my area are sending back all language papers for the whole year.

I'm already looking for a tutor for a November resit Confused

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PUGaLUGS · 23/08/2015 06:06

I work in a school and they are not happy with the English grades - remarks are being asked for.

needmorespace · 23/08/2015 00:58

Last year my son got a B in Maths but was a predicted A*.
We were told by loads of people that it was not worth a re-mark as he was so far from the grade boundary but the result made no sense whatsoever so I insisted that his school request a re-mark.
Unbelievably 12 marks, yes reader 12 marks, were found pushing it to an A grade.
Mistakes do happen - not sure what it was in our case (missing page or something I guess) but definitely worth a punt particularly if there is big discrepancy in what was predicted and achieved.

GasLIghtShining · 22/08/2015 22:39

If the teacher is sending it back the school will pay.

Last year my DS missed a C in german by one mark and the school send it for a remark. They managed to find an extra mark

English Lit I had to pay for - 3 or 4 marks off but it came back unchanged.

It is definitely worth trying

JanetBlyton · 22/08/2015 09:31

I believe English lang was made harder this year. My two who are in the top set in English in an academic private school and pretty good at English got A* in literature but only A in language which for them is quite surprising although we are not bothering with a remark. It costs £37 at their school which the parent pays for a remark.

beetrootface74 · 22/08/2015 09:23

I believe for the school. Apparently they send off so many papers , 20 or so to be remarked and if they come back with different marks they can send all of the papers back. I would definitely ask for a remark if I were you.

Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 21/08/2015 16:57

school have said that because she got C in maths and was borderline on the English they are asking for a remark.

I think it will not be upgraded as we had a maths tutor at home to get the C, so it almost seems like a false C IYSWIM Hmm

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Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 21/08/2015 11:22

thanks. she got a d in Eng language, so sounds like it might be worth it. probably irrelevant but she thought she'd done OK in it. she got a c in eng lit and said it was much harderHmm

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Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 21/08/2015 11:02

that s very interesting beet, was that the anomalous results for your school or nationally?

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beetrootface74 · 21/08/2015 10:45

Not sure if this is relevant to you but we got a letter with results yesterday that our school is seeking to have English Language papers remarked as they are unhappy with the anomalous results.

JeanSeberg · 21/08/2015 10:45

Yes you can request a remark, they will send you the paperwork and payment details. It's a fast and simple process.

Good luck - my son went up a grade in German after a remark but stayed the same twice in English Language.

ImperialBlether · 21/08/2015 10:43

It's unlikely there's an error in terms of adding up marks but you still might find the paper gets a different mark when re-marked by someone senior.

Speak to the school about it. If it's a grade D then there's no reason why the school can't agree to a re-mark. If it was a C that you hoped would be a B, it could go down as well as up, so I could see why the school would recommend just hanging on to the C.

Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 21/08/2015 10:39

many thanks. do I have a right as a parent to request a remark, and can I be refused it?

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IHeartKingThistle · 21/08/2015 09:16

I mark English Lit for WJEC (manually!). All our adding up and transferring of marks is checked by admin staff. Quite a few of our papers are also moderated but of course we're marking hundreds at a time so many papers are not. English marking is subjective even with a rigorous mark scheme. I'd ask for a remark.

Fourarmsv2 · 21/08/2015 09:06

I don't mark English, but I do mark Biology online and mistakes can be made online too.

Less room for interpretation in Biology luckily.

Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 20/08/2015 23:02

I think I've just read on another thread that WJEC are the only board not to mark online. does that mean WJEC are marked manually, so therefore a mistake would be possible?

do I sound like I'm clutching at straws Grin

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Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 20/08/2015 22:02

many thanks Thanks

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EvilTwins · 20/08/2015 21:49

Yes to requesting more- it will be at the school and easy enough to access.

Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 20/08/2015 21:47

thanks, no we got nothing except the grades. can I request more? I think I will offer to pay as it would be worth it and the school is strapped for cash.

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EvilTwins · 20/08/2015 21:36

Do you have the scores she got? At my school they were all given printouts with all the marks on. Easiest way is to contact the teacher and ask. Schools often pay if they want/suggest the remark but sometimes parents want the remark when the school doesn't think it will make a difference the parents are asked to pay. That's my experience anyway.

noblegiraffe · 20/08/2015 21:34

It's about £25 per paper, but that's refunded if the grade changes (not if the mark changes). The school will probably pay for you as its a C/D borderline appeal, but if they think it's not worth it you could pay (but it has to be done through the school). Grades can, however, go down as well as up.

Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 20/08/2015 21:29

God noble that's shockingShock

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Original poster
icouldjusteatacroissant · 20/08/2015 21:28

do the school always have to pay for remarks? how do I find out how close she was? can I pay for a remark?

her projected grade was a B.

thanks all so far Thanks

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EvilTwins · 20/08/2015 21:24

It would depend on how close to the boundary she was. If the teacher thinks it's worth a remark and the school is going to pay for it, then it's probably worthwhile.

It can take a while though.

noblegiraffe · 20/08/2015 21:23

I think there were a load of complaints about English marking last year, some schools sent off whole class loads for remarks. My school's headline figure improved significantly when remarked results came in, so it's worth a punt if the result looks close or unusual.

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