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Original poster

How does GCSE remarking work? Calling out to Noble Giraffe, all teachers, exam markers and experienced parents - Love to create definitive guide for all!

42 replies

loveyouradvice · 19/08/2018 18:06

Hi ... I'm feeing mightily confused about remarking GCSEs... it sounds like a minefield, varying from Board to Board - and incredibly complex. Hoping together we can create a definitive guide - especially since some schools spell it out, and with others (like ours!) its all smoke and mirrors.... with late timing, as they don't give them the actual marks per paper unless they ask when they return to school in September. We're a mix of Edexcel, Cambridge, Educas and AQA.

Given Im expecting we'll probably to want to do at least one or two - unless it's really clear and straightforward, this would so help me - especially regarding timing....And I suspect I'm not alone!!

My understanding from reading posts this year and last is ....

1.Edexcel are brilliant as they post copies of students papers online which teachers can easily access and they are also quick in remarking - so approaching them in September still gives us plenty of time. Does this include a mark per question, or do teachers have to request separately?

  1. Others - all others? - only send you copies of papers if you request and it is slow and by post?
  1. There is a range of things you can request - four I think? - marks per question allocated, a copy of the script, a practical check the marks have been properly added up, and remarking of just one paper or more. And bizarrely I read with some boards if you request a copy of the script you can't then request a remark???
  1. Remarking is now a checking that the original marks scheme has been properly applied. Ie looking at marked script, and seeing if marks have been appropriately given to each question, and then adding them up? (Previously it was a full remarking i.e. paper looked at from scratch by new marker)
  1. There is a margin of error - e.g. 4% - where if their remark hasn't varied more than this, they don't change anything (even if it takes them over a grade boundary). Is this "margin" the same for every exam board? And is it a fixed percentage, over the TOTAL of the papers, or for each paper?
  1. There are deadlines for each part of the process (e.g. viewing paper or remarking) - are these the same for each board, or different?
  1. The marks themselves - am I right in thinking the school has these for each paper as soon as they get the GCSE results? And that they have to ask if they want to see marks for each question - and this is possible for each exam board?
  1. I think GCSEs and IGCSEs from the same board are treated in the same way, but am not sure...We're doing a mix.

And then strategies in aiming to get the right mark, without falling down a grade which is always a risk:

  • Only getting papers remarked if 2 or 3 marks from next band up... especially as with 1-9 system means grade boundaries are much closer together than previously
  • Looking at paper first? Then asking?
  • Asking for remarks for "worst" papers - and then only more if it seems likely its a good idea
  • With Edexcel, because they are so quick, worth waiting to see what happens with others from your school being remarked if you aren't sure whether to do it or not

How long does everything take? And how common is both remarking and results changing? Reading posts on these boards it seems that they frequently do, even with the new systems.

Huge thanks to anyone with any knowledge or thoughts ! Looking forward to hearing them.

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xyzandabc · 18/09/2018 18:47

That's great news Martha. Yes looks like something drastic must have gone wrong in the 1st marking.

Does make you wonder though, how many others are wrong, that will never know because they never get reviewed.

Why do we have to go through the whole reviewing and remoderation process, it should be right in the first place

Catblues · 18/09/2018 18:47

We've just gone up 9 marks (and one grade) on one AQA English lit paper (paper 2).

xyzandabc · 18/09/2018 18:44

Sorry, just realised you asked the question some time ago. Did you go ahead ? If so, was there any change in mark?

xyzandabc · 18/09/2018 18:43

Not a teacher but am involved in the administration of reviews of marking. This is only anecdotal, a view of what has happened in 1 school this year so take from it what you will. We are a big centre and put in requests for reviews of marking across a range of boards for different subjects. Including GCSE AQA Eng Lang and Lit.

So far, this year, AQA are just not changing marks at all. Almost every single AQA review has come back unchanged. Now there are a fair few we are still waiting to hear about but in comparison to other years, far fewer are changing, particularly AQA.

At 4 marks off, we would probably advise not to bother unless you think the marks were way under what was expected and there is a possibility of a whole question being missed during marking or similar. Though I believe teachers can access marks per question so would be able to spot if a question had been awarded zero marks.

Deadline for requesting a review is Thursday so you only have a day left to decide.

MarthaDunstable · 18/09/2018 18:32

Belatedly reporting back because I have to tell someone - we got the result of the paper remark where DD was 4 marks below the boundary, and she went up by 13 (thirteen) marks!! I think they must have skipped a question.

noblegiraffe · 06/09/2018 21:25

Sorry neddle, I’m not an English expert, but there was someone on another thread with an AQA English remark that went down 10 marks and dropped a grade. If she got a 4, then that’s raising the possibility of a fail.

You might find that the school would consider a 5 if it was a high 5, so reviewing and going over the boundary might not help anyway.

Maybe some English teachers could advise?

neddle · 04/09/2018 11:07

@noblegiraffe
Is it worth getting aqa English language remarked? Dd got 72 marks which puts her at a 4. Her school require a 6 to do media studies, but would consider a 5.
Is 4 marks possible with a remark or is that too many?
Thanks.

LadyandtheTea · 25/08/2018 07:38

Thanks Noble. Really kind and helpful of you to give up time to post on the GCSE threads.

shoppers · 24/08/2018 14:20

Thanks Noble

PotteringAlong · 24/08/2018 12:51

They will have an exams officer. Someone has to be incharge of exams

ByTheSea · 24/08/2018 12:16

Thanks, the school advised to go to the teacher first and don't seem to have an exams officer.

noblegiraffe · 24/08/2018 12:08

Try emailing the exams officer instead of the teacher, they should be in school.

ByTheSea · 24/08/2018 12:07

Thanks, I emailed her teacher yesterday asking for this but no response. Just would be flabbergasted if he is that far off in his assessment.

noblegiraffe · 24/08/2018 12:05

Were the performance and composition grades brought down on moderation?
I would ask the school for a breakdown of marks for each component (they will have this).

ByTheSea · 24/08/2018 12:00

DD wants to put this behind her but I'm so confused on her AQA music GCSE. Her performance and composition elements, worth 60%, were teacher assessed as 3 9s and and an 8 but she shows a 4 overall for her GCSE grade. There were multiple failures on her 'inadequate' school's part with regard to the course, but the numbers just don't add up to me. This was her lowest GCSE and will be studying music performance where she has an unconditional offer at a specialist college. Any suggestions?

noblegiraffe · 24/08/2018 11:58

No, it’s not overridden, he just bins the lower certificate. BUT he does have to enter all exams on UCAS.

When the new GCSEs were set, the 5 was suppposed to be the pass rate in the future, with required resits, but this all changed in March last year. Justine Greening said that a 4 would be the accepted pass now and forever.

Obviously anything can change in the future and a 5 would be better than a 4.

shoppers · 24/08/2018 11:51

I agree with you, of course it's a C and so is a pass.

The school are saying they want him to resit in case in future a 4 is judged differently and as not a pass. It's all very annoying!

If he gets less than a 4 in the resit does that override the 4 he got in June?

AlexanderHamilton · 24/08/2018 11:15

Dd's French teacher has told us she is 4 points off a Grade 7 (its her only Grade 6) & we should maybe consider a remark of 1 or two papers. I'm not sure whether its worth it. She doesn't need French, has a clutch of other Grade 7-9's but she does feel that she did well on the papers on the day.

noblegiraffe · 24/08/2018 11:11

What do you mean he won’t get into a red brick uni with a 4 at GCSE? It’s a C. Any uni who previously required a C at GCSE should accept a 4.

You’ll need to ask the school about what happens if he doesn’t get a 5 in Y12. If it’s in their published entry requirements for the A-level course then allowing him in but expecting him to resit is some sort of individual arrangement.

shoppers · 24/08/2018 09:48

Thanks very much Noble.

It seems to me a couple of attempts is enough to put him through assuming he maintains level 4. I know they have the requirement of a 5 but surely once he's into the a levels they won't kick him out if we suggest he leaves it at a 4? I realise you can't answer for his school but I'd appreciate your view.

If he decides to go to university in the future I'm assuming he could get on a humanities course with a 4 in maths at gcse. Obviously perhaps not a red brick university but a decent one hopefully.

noblegiraffe · 24/08/2018 09:32

shoppers, if he got a 4, there’s no rule saying he has to resit maths at all, that would be an internal sixth form requirement. Students who don’t get a 4 have to keep at it till they leave school as that’s a government requirement, if the sixth form want a 5 it’s up to them how many times they put him through it.

Really he should go all out to get it out of the way in November (results in January), I’ve taught pupils resitting all through sixth form and it’s pretty depressing.

noblegiraffe · 24/08/2018 09:27

Lady for reviews they would have one person reviewing the whole paper, not different people reviewing questions so missing pages should be picked up. If it’s Edexcel, the school can look at the paper themselves, or (not AQA) you can order the paper by 30th August and get it by 6th September giving you time to ask for a review as well (it’s sent electronically, you don’t get the actual paper).

shoppers · 24/08/2018 09:18

Thanks very much Noble.
Your view of the school encouraging us to go for a re mark is worrying. I did think 8 marks is a lot to find!

He's staying in the sixth form so at least it's not a new environment but in your experience will they insist on him doing retake after retake until he gets the 5, assuming he does eventually achieve that. He has all entry requirements for the A levels he's chosen except the 5 in maths.

It seems to me he would better off having a couple of resit attempts and then leave it at that even if he only gets a 4 again. Not sure if schools generally allow that.

LadyandtheTea · 24/08/2018 02:13

Noble and anyone else who might know - if a student gets a surprisingly lower mark (eg 4 from a predicted 7/8, mocks ok, exam ok from their self-reporting) should they go for a remark AND paper request to try and find out what went wrong? Worried that re-mark won’t necessarily flag up problems with incomplete papers etc (thinking subjects like History or English where qs marked separately so scanned blank pages of questions wouldn’t necessarily be picked up).

noblegiraffe · 23/08/2018 23:59

I would say there’s practically zero chance of going up 8 marks in maths - unless there has been a major error like they didn’t mark a page or something, the markschemes for maths are fairly straightforward and I’ve only know marks to either stay the same or go up by 1, possibly 2.
The school would already have access to his paper, so could check the marking themselves for free without you having to fork out the money for a review - I’m a bit surprised they recommended it.

My school had much more success entering grade 4/5 students for foundation last year than higher. I don’t know what it was like this year though as the foundation grade boundaries went up by quite a lot, but that’s because they deliberately made the paper easier. If he did foundation I don’t think I’d switch to higher for November, it’s not enough time to get his head around how much harder it is.

It’s very tough to go up a grade by November - they haven’t done maths since June and forget a lot over the summer. Also they have to get their head around starting college, all their new courses, new friends and they don’t prioritise their resits over that.

If he needs a 5, then he really needs to get his head down now and start preparing. His school can use ResultsPlus to print out his question by question scores for his papers, what his best topics were, what his worst topics were and use those to focus his revision. He’ll have classes at college, but he needs to do a shedload of independent work because they won’t be nearly enough.