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Original poster

100% in A level humanities paper

35 replies

LaurelGrove · 19/08/2023 11:27

Just wondering how common this is, or even how it is actually achievable. Seems so unlikely to me based on what i recall from doing humanities subjects many years ago - how can an answer be perfect? DD tells me two of her friends got perfect scores on different papers (one in History, one in Classical Civilisation) and I'm intrigued. These are very smart kids so if anyone could, they could, but even so, it's quite a feat!

OP posts:
SuperSue77 · 19/08/2023 23:40

Do you mean mock papers? I didn’t think anyone got to know the percentages of their A levels - or have things changed since my day?

SwedishEdith · 19/08/2023 15:42

I got 100% once for an OU essay (different marking scheme used by OU). My tutor's comments were that he couldn't see what I could have done to improve it so he was giving me full marks 😊

lurchersforlife · 19/08/2023 15:36

I marked A level English lit papers up until a few years ago and we were instructed to use the full range of marks available, so it was absolutely possible to get full marks. A PP mentions exceeding the requirements, but that isn't necessary to gain full marks. To do that you just need to meet all the requirements of the top band of the mark scheme. My team leader said there are some responses you would want to give 40/25 to if you could, and others that you decide have merited 25/25. Both will obviously get 25, but there would be a vast difference between them.

Gettinagoldtoof · 19/08/2023 13:54

I did - in an AS level paper I think for English. Meant that by A level for one unit I didn’t even read the book as I knew I’d get an a* just because of grades. Which sounds a bit nuts if I think about it now, still have a bit of an ‘efficient’ work ethic now…

InglouriousBasterd · 19/08/2023 12:00

I did in a history A level paper and an English literature, so it is possible (I was very surprised - knew they’d gone well but never that well!)

Natty83 · 19/08/2023 11:57

This is 20 years ago so I don't know if papers have changed but after an Eng Lit exam (unseen poetry) a friend and I were panicked that one of us had aced it and the other had failed because we had interpreted this poem completely differently! We both got 100% for that paper. Uni, different story, nobody ever got above 85%! The mark scheme at A Level was very "tick box".

ZacharinaQuack · 19/08/2023 11:56

I did in French many years ago, and a friend did in English lit. I think for more subjective papers it just means you are working well above the level of the qualification you're taking, so there is nothing to mark you down on as you've exceeded requirements.

Mumofteenandtween · 19/08/2023 11:52

I did for one of my maths papers (in the 90s!) but that feels much easier than humanities. To get 100% in humanities feels almost impossible!

Original poster
LaurelGrove · 19/08/2023 11:50

DD did get 100% for her NEA in one subject but i figured that made sense as she had plenty of time to review and check and edit. Still a great achievement, of course. But my mind boggles at doing it in an exam setting which (I assume) is the case here.

OP posts:
KnittedCardi · 19/08/2023 11:47

Not sure how common but DD got 100% on NEA's for History and Eng Lit and very high scores on some of her papers too. She got high HAT score for Oxbridge, but interviewed badly so didn't get a place. She is comfortably in first territory at Uni too, so some kids obvs just write well and as required.

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