GCSE review of marking (re-mark) - your experiences.

Anyone still waiting on aqa English remarks? Ds is off one mark for a 9 in eng Lang and lit. School automatically submitted a remark ( we didn't want to bother). We still haven't heard back. Ds also had rs submitted as he was 1 off a 9 and he went up by 3 marks.

Daughter just got 3 extra marks on her English Lang paper - moved from a 7 to an 8

Ours came back - needed 2 marks on English Lang. - no change
Needed 1 mark on Physics - gained 2 marks on paper 1 (no change on paper 2)
So feel it was worth it overall - as science based career is likely.

I would recommend getting papers remarked, 2 years ago my daughter had her maths and r.e. papers remarked rp both resulting in higher grades and this year my son's English paper was 2 marks below a grade 4, the teachers were surprised by this mark and recommended it be reviewed, they found 8 extra marks on one paper and 3 on the other, so a big difference and obviously well worth remarking, the first marker must have been having a very bad day

Just got the remarks back.

Physics paper 2 needed 1 mark to get a 9 was awarded 1 mark
Chemistry paper 2 needed 2 marks to get a 8 was awarded 3 marks
English Lang Paper 1 needed 2 marks to get a 7 no change in marks

Spoke to the school examiner and he mentioned that Maths and English remarks are coming back mainly with no changes.

Like pistachioicecream we can now move on and fully agree every mark counts.

Finally got Biology back today. No change there either.

DS was one mark away from the next grade up in both English Language and Biology but neither changed at all!

Shame, and frustrating to be so so close to that next grade but at least we can move on from it now. My going on and on before the exams about how every single mark can make a difference was certainly true! Never mind.

AQA English Lang GCSE. My son is 2 marks away from a grade 7 but nine marks drop to grade 5. We asked for a remark for paper 1 thinking a remark would surely not drop by nine marks and nervously waiting for the outcome. But reading some comments big variations can happen in English. I am seriously nervous, have we done the right thing? has anyone experienced such a large drop in one paper?

DS remark for IGCSE Edexcel Biology back. He was one mark off a “9” and they found an extra 4 marks between the two papers! So now he has the clean sweep of ten grade “9s” - definitely worth it! The remark took 7 working days.

Turnaround can be quick - I have a three day window in which to review the papers I am allocated. If they come in on a Wednesday or a Friday, I will have them done within 24 hours. All electronic so click of a button.

In our school, parents sign as they pay for remark. Also because if it goes down and only child agreed then there can be all kinds of complaints and issues To be fair - we paid using parent pay - so the parent would have consented through payment - but I do think it's essential that the pupil consents - its their mark.

We got a remark on OCR Computer Science. Took a week.

Grade went up from an 8 to a 9.

My daughter said her English dept contacted all those within a few marks of the next grade at the beginning of the week. When she took her form in the day before the deadline she said there was a queue of people doing the same! Haven't heard anything yet.

But in Nursies case, neither child nor parent agreed to a specific remark, nor knew how close they were to any boundaries. A generic form signed before doesn't mean an informed choice has been made.

In our school, parents sign as they pay for remark. Also because if it goes down and only child agreed then there can be all kinds of complaints and issues.

but so fast It's always been within a few days for dd, and both times it's gone up.
At this point there won't be so many people putting in for remarks because most people put in fairly quickly, so I'd expect it to be quick.

In the end, it is parental choice whether to listen to advice or not In the end it was not parental choice, it was the choice of the pupil - they had to sign the form - not the parent.

Schools should not be putting in for mearks without express permission from students and parents for individual papers AFTER marks are seen and discussed.

It is only ever possible to decide if to have a remark when you've seen the breakdown of marks for different papers. You need to know how close the boundaries above and below the marks are and where performance was stronger and weaker. Only with that knowledge can the school tell parents how likely an increase of grade or how big the risk of goi g down a grade is. Parents need to decide and make the final decision in full receipt of that information and bear the risk that always existsof grades dropping. If a school puts in for re marks,neven if they have had some kind of generic agreement, without parents agreeing to a specific remark, they face the risk of rightfully furious parents if their child is downgraded over an action they didn't authorise.

Most schools only advise remarks if a grade is surprising and if the child is close to the next grade up. If they are close to the one below, most schools won't advise the risk is taken. In the end, it is parental choice whether to listen to advice or not, but. Schools shouldn't be deciding to go for remarks without express permission for that specific paper.

Dd signed something before she sat all the exams, so we had no idea which papers were sent for re-mark. She didn't collect her results, maybe students were told about it then.

we submitted 30 students and 8 have gone up a grade. That's quite depressing that so many are being marked incorrectly - I have no faith in the marking at all.

My dd got a letter today informing her that her rs result had gone up from a grade 5 to a grade 6. She's happy but shocked as we didn't even know it was being re-marked!

Schools have to have the signed consent of the student for a review of marking to be requested, because there is no grade protection if a lower mark means that a grade would be dropped (as was the previous system) She must have signed something.

As a department we submitted and paid for anyone who was within 2 marks of a grade boundary (really need the progress 8 as well as the obvious benefits for students) we submitted 30 students and 8 have gone up a grade.
It was my favourite part of the year so far, calling the parents to tell them .

Can I ask how long a remark usually takes? I submitted two for my DD she was a mark off a B for Biology and 2 marks off an A for music. I submitted both on Weds and we’ve had the results already. Both stay the same which is bad enough, but so fast?

DS got 5's for both English language and literature (AQA) which we were quite shocked. He was one mark off a 6 in literature so off it went for a remark. Got paper back and it was a 7. I wish we had insisted on getting his language paper rechecked too.

AQA what a joke!!

These grades often do matter when students apply to uni. They might be oversubscribed so filter applicants based on X amount of GCSEs at 7 or above, for example.

O and C might say majority at 7 or above but the reality is statistically the vast majority getting offers have a profile of mostly 9s and 8s. Having the very best grades you can (and obviously if it goes up, you are totally entitled to that higher grade) is always a good thing. Deciding that a 6 is good enough because it got you onto the next stage is a bit short sighted and not taking account of how these things can matter later and build annoverall academic (or less academic) profile. If your DC isn't interested in competitive courses or places for uni it might not matter so much, but it is naieve (sp?) to think that all grades above a 5 count equally into the future.

I'm nit saying to randomly out in for remarks, but if grades are disappointing in terms of what the school thought and you can afford the expense, then go for it. All irrelevant now anyway as the deadline for remarks has passed.

School paid for DD to have English language remarked as she was a mark off the grade boundary. We heard yesterday that she has gained four extra marks (four!!!) so has moved up a grade. Great relief all round and part of me feeling cross that all the upset in August might have been avoided with more accurate marking ...

My dd got a letter today informing her that her rs result had gone up from a grade 5 to a grade 6. She's happy but shocked as we didn't even know it was being re-marked!