Y11 2023/24 thread 5 - results!

I am relieved that I read on here about the process, I’m not sure I would have even considered to ask for a remark if I hadn’t read it on here. Although school shared information on the process, I just assumed there wouldn’t be any need. Dd has always got an 8 or 9 in one of her subjects so was surprised to scrape a 7. School have looked at it and thinks that her additional 5 pages weren’t marked so it’s gone for a remark

Yes there is definitely an inequality there. I guess being able to access the paper for free to see if there was an obvious admin error does help but even then you have to find the money for the review no matter how likely you think it will be returned if the grade goes up. Also those of us chancing our arm for one or two marks - we wouldn’t be doing that unless we could afford to and a proportion will be rewarded with a better grade.

@MrsHamlet i understand the focus changed. But the outcome is still the same: you can buy a review of marking and in a significant proportion of cases that review will change the grade. Around one in four grades change?

“In the majority of cases (76.5% of all GCSE grades challenged), grades were not changed following review. When grades were changed at GCSE, they were most commonly changed by 1 grade (97.8% of grades changed)”

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reviews-of-marking-and-moderation-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2022-exam-series/reviews-of-marking-and-moderation-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2022-exam-series#number-of-reviews-qualification-grades-challenged-and-changed-by-service-type

I do wonder if there has been any equality impact assessment on reviews of marking.

The reason it's a review and not a remark is to address the inequality which existed when grade protection and remarks meant that schools with money were able to buy increased grades.

I do wonder if there has been any equality impact assessment on reviews of marking. For my son with asd, 2 years ago, we paid over £100 to get his literature papers reviewed (I knew he had answered questions on texts he had not studied and he was a few marks off a pass) One paper did come back with 13 extra marks giving him that 4, which for him also gave him the 5 9-4 passes which matters for life. But what if we hadn’t had that cash to spare? This time around although my second son is a few marks off the higher grades in a couple of subjects, it hasn’t affected his pathway so it doesn’t seem worth the bother and he has no interest in it whatsoever.

I totally agree with this, so many college places are on the line and its one thing if the child didn't work hard enough revising or if they knew they did badly on the day but it is awful that there has been so many mistakes with it.

There are a lot of predicted grades that were much higher than the actual mark, many kids I know were predicted 6/7s or higher and ended up with 3/4/5s.

The colleges are struggling to fit in the maths and english resits, our DSs GF lives with us and we are trying to help her sort her course and college have now said she can't do the one they said she could as it now clashes with the maths class (she is 2nd year but only starting her L1 this year). The college said they have over 40 people on the waiting list for the foundation learning courses due to so many not having the grades for the higher courses.

It's obvious that the marking this year has been chaotic and it's getting me a bit angry. Its simply unfair for teen to experience stress and anxiety only for their grade to be wrong - and some will never know!

We have been fairly lucky in that school haven't asked us to pay, they will cover it but they are also fairly confident that the marking is very wrong - DS has 8/9s in everything except English Language which he was predicted an 8 in and got a 9 in his mock, he felt he did well in his exam and didn't miss anything so to get a 4 was a bit of a surprise
If it was any other subject I'm not sure we'd bother but English Lang is a key subject that will get asked about.
He's also doing 4 a-levels (all subjects he got a 9 in) and college technically require a 5 in English language in order to do this, you can have a 4 if only doing 3 a levels - they only accepted him because it's gone to remark and school stated they thought it an anomaly.
I just wish it hadn't been so stressful for DS

My DS1 was the same, all his papers were 1-3 marks from the grade above but they were 6s and 7s so he said there was absolutely no point, he had one significantly below predicted but we when we checked the marks he got for each section it was the school that had messed up the practical (marking him as a low 3 even though he played regional/County level sport for the PE practical) he got as predicted/slightly higher in the exam but the rest dragged his grade down.

DS flat out "forbade" me for asking for scripts or reviews. He said he was pleased with his results and "it is in the past and we are not wasting money".

I think the deadline they quoted to us was 26th September.

School have told Dd they have tons of science papers to go through.

Is it next Weds that a review request has to be submitted? I guess if they’ve not looked at it early next week I need to make a decision on whether to pay for the papers to be reviewed anyway, in the hope of finding 2 marks.

Our school are being helpful to a point but no one seems willing to review the papers and advise us. So we are just sending in the papers from the subjects close to the grade boundaries and crossing our fingers. It’s not cheap but when it is one mark and a bit unexpected we have decided it is worth it.

Some people just don't have a spare £150 to gamble with unfortunately, AQA papers are free to request aren't they? I guess that is the way forward for those who feel their grade is not what they expected so then the school can review first, although that's not really something that is feasible if loads of people are asking for them.

We were 1 mark away. we gambled and paid the £150 or so. Came back with 3-4 marks in one of the papers. So got a grade boost and also will get all of our money back. So it's a gamble but one i think will pay off.

Thanks @Newlittlerescue that's really helpful. I'm happy to risk the money for just the one paper. DS was down from his predicted grade for this one and if it goes up (which I know it may not) I think this might help his confidence generally going forward.

Across the examination boards it's only 0.1% of re-marked papers that go down a grade, and in a subject like biology it would be near impossible to lose that many marks (given so many of the marks are awarded for mention of a specific word/term, which he must have included to get the marks in the first place!).

I think the only gamble for you will be the cost involved.

New here and trying to decide whether to send my DS's AQA Biology Paper 2 for a review. He's 3 marks off a 7. The Head of Science has seen the paper and says that 2 questions are 'under marked' and there are possibly 3 more marks he could get. I'm pretty sure I'll do it, but just worried in case marks go down. Having said that they'd have to go down by 20 marks to change from a 6 to a 5, so doesn't feel too risky.

Annoyed I didn't ask them to look at both papers now. Have asked the exams officer if it's possible to get Paper 1 checked, but not sure if it's too late.

That's shit. I'm sorry to hear that

To be honest the school really don't care about non academic students - well it's not even non academic pupils the high achievers are the main priority and focus, and as it's in a wealthy area with only 8% of pupils eligible for pupil premium I think most parents would probably just make the payment and see what happens. I kind of wish they hadn't mentioned it.

@Johaanah looking at the fees, it looks like they're proposing to put all of the papers in which is insanity

It's Edexcel.

Yes this is what I was thinking and if I'm honest I really don't want to gamble £147 on it. School haven't really given any indication either. I guess I'll just leave it and move on, she's started a new school and is taking a resit in November anyway.

Hi yes they asked for his permission the day he got his results. Was waiting for email to ask me to pay but never happened.

Excellent news @Tebheag

Had he given permission? They must have seen problems with the marking to put it in without you paying.

Completely confused finally got DS to check old school emails and he had email 3rd of September to say he was regarded for computer science from 4 to a 5. They never got me to pay anything.