AQA GCSE English reviews

And he would only have been predicted a 6 anyway so not a massive fall. It’s just AQA marking sounds like it’s been a bit rubbish.

Thank you. I’m not sure whether to ask for papers back. He got a 5, 6 marks of a 6. Is going down the maths computing route for a levels (where he got 8’s for everything bar english). Is it worth asking for the papers back just to see if the marking looked rubbish? I don’t want to upset him or make him think the 5 wasn’t good enough. Especially as I’ve checked uni’s and i don’t think it will make a difference for things he’s interested in.

Yes, for AQA certainly

Can i ask- presumably if you ask for the exam papers back you see them with marks on?

Adding my DD's AQA's grades just for data - 7 for Lang and 8 for Lit (2 marks off a 9). Some of her friends who had lower grades were in a class with a teacher who, albeit lovely, did mark very generously...

I hope any reviews have a good outcome for people.

What's also really frustrating over Eng Lang being such a weird, counterintuitive exam is that it's a key subject to pass at a decent level for A-levels, especially essay subjects.

With the panic when DC's March mock paper got remarked so low, we were looking at a potential situation where they getting at least an 8 for History clearly demonstrating they can write an excellent essay, but potentially not getting a good enough Eng Lang mark to take History as an A-level! Which is bonkers.

Luckily that didn't come to pass and, as I stated earlier, I think the mocks re-mark was nonsense.

DD was one mark of a higher grade in 2 subjects. She got a 6 in both having been predicted 8.

My concern is that she'll have lost faith in predicted grades and mock results which influence her a level studies.

This is interesting. My son was predicted around 6/7 ( but school never predict higher). It's his weakest subject and he has a high 7 English Lang and high 8 for literature ( got 98% one paper).
We are a little surprised and obviously delighted.

Yes. Speak to school and get copies of papers question by question data before making the decision.

I'd suggest you need more information than that - was there a question which went wrong? Schools have that level of data.

For my ds the odd thing was the difference in marks between the 2 papers in both English lang and Lit. So a strong 8 in one and just scraping a 5 in the other. Is that the type of thing that looks a bit odd? I just thought that he had messed up on the 2nd papers

Please all, don't send both papers back unless someone who knows has looked at them and you are sure they have not been too generously marked before you do. Check if one paper has done much worse - not by the numbers as they are not always evenly weighted, but by looking at the notional component boundaries for each paper not the overall boundaries. Your schools should do this, though of course most teachers are not back yet - it's far too much for parents to understand unless you work in the field I think. Marks can go down and do. And without looking at papers first and checking through, you may have a nasty shock by sending off for reviews of marking even if you are well above the previous grade boundary. There is not a big queue of people wanting to do English marking around the country and there can be examples of errors that are far too generous as well as those that are too mean so being near to the boundary is not necessarily the right trigger for a review! Our poor DC - this is an important qualification and it's just not fair on them.

@PeeringOvertheparapet just checking you have not sent back the paper he did extraordinarily well in - just the lower one? If you weren't expecting such high marks at all, sending it back really might not be the right thing to do even if you can see the possibility of the next high grade up from the numbers.

Ds was predicted 7 in Language.

Was consistently getting 6 in mocks.

Got a 5 in the real thing.

Weirdly though, he got a 6 in English Lit, was on mark off a 7. But we'd expected him to do worse in English Lit.

Nothing particular extreme, but it was a surprise.

Quite a few of his classmates failed English Language or got much lower than they'd expected, they all seemed to do better in English Lit.

My dc was asked to sign a consent form when he collected results, as teachers had already decided they were going to review some of his exam papers. This includes subjects one mark below grade boundary. If his teachers recommend a review with the exam boards, we will be guided by them. One has recommended a review so far ( thank you to that teacher for checking so promptly -and in her own time). None affect his A level choices though.

Nothing can be reviewed without the permission of the candidate.

The first step should be to look at the Question level marks. Centres have those. I've asked to recall the papers of anyone with zero for any question - in case they've not been marked (although almost inevitably they'll be candidates who missed out a question)

Then get the marked scripts to look at in centre.

Review doesn't look for marks, so - in my opinion - centres which put in anything just below a grade boundary are mad! Grades and grade boundaries have nothing to do with review - it's simply another look at the marking.

On the point above about 1/3 of students not passing maths (and leaving aside that grades 1-3 are a pass but that people don't seem to know that), that's the way the system is designed. Grades are distributed on a curve - some people have to get those grades.

Gosh this is reassuring
my dd was predicted 8s in English lang, English lit and business (Also AQA) and got 8s and a 9 in the mocks
she worked incredibly hard and came out with a 6 in all three..it makes no sense at all and she is devastated, it’s a great mark but so far from what she was predicted and has really knocked her confidence.
we’ve requested all the papers from AQA

its also worth mentioning how many students didn’t pass maths…1 in 3 I have read! Something very wrong with our education system (not the teachers as they do an amazing job) and it’s our kids who suffer!

Interested to have spotted this thread. Ds and many of his year at school did much worse than predicted in English language and literature.

Reassuring to read so many similar stories! We have requested a review of Eng Lit which was 1 mark off a 6. I have seen the script (which was typed) and a couple of the pages have been muddled on the lowest scoring paper- not sure if that made a difference or not? We shall see.
Not sure what to do about Eng Lang yet: that one might be a resit.

It is worth putting in for a review if you're prepared to lose money. Every year we have people who go up as part of the process. I have never had a year where no one I sent for review has gone up.

Maybe not helpful, but my dd was the opposite. She was predicted 6 in AQA lit and language and got 8's.

Last year my daughter got a 6 for English Lit AQA despite 9 predictions and mocks. We got her paper reclaimed and a teacher at her school who had marked that year for AQA said she would have marked the paper an 8. But she said they had already appealed 20 grades but the examining board just wouldn't shift despite many grades seeming way out. She concluded that as AQA had hit their govt grade % targets that they didn't want to make changes. The same people were remarking anyway and that was that. We had to put it behind us however frustrating it was unfortunately. It made me lose a lot of trust in the allocated grades as a result.

Interesting thread. DD was predicted 8 for Lit and 7 for Lang (both AQA) and ended up with a 6 in both. Like PPs we don't have the mark for Lang, but for Lit he was actually on the grade boundary and so was bloody lucky to get the 6.

He's not the most diligent student, so I wouldn't have been surprised if it wasn't for the fact that he was really pleased with how all the English papers went.

Given he was on the low end of the boundary it hadn't occurred to me to ask to see the papers, but that was before reading the posts here about whole questions being missed. Something to ponder.