Re-marks, worth it?

Teachers and heads of dept will read and reflect on the specific scripts they want to anyway without speaking to pupils of their parents, as part of their own results analysis.

Not any more: JCQ regs require us to have the permission of the candidate to see the script.

GCSEs are the only actual grades you have in the bag when doing UCAS (as opposed to projected A level grades). So I would do the ones likely to be pertinent to his future study perhaps.

Sometimes school pays if it's their suggestion, as they think a positive change likely (especially if this helps their measures eg. 9-7 inc E and M, as many results in most subjects won't change much for anyone if kids are already accepted to courses).

Teachers and heads of dept will read and reflect on the specific scripts they want to anyway without speaking to pupils of their parents, as part of their own results analysis.

But it's interesting that so many think the obvious answer is to pay nothing for a script and 'get' someone qualified to give their opinion for free and I wonder if those are the same people who think teachers don't have extra expectations upon their unpaid time than other professions.

My son was 2 marks off of the next grade up in two of his A levels last year. I paid for a review of marking of four papers but nothing changed.

DD was one mark off a 6 in English GCSE last year - I was just so happy she had passed I didn't want to risk a review in case it went down to a 3!

Her friend was also one mark off a 6 and she did get the grade up to a 7 on review but for her it was the difference between staying on at 6th form at her grammar or moving to a comp.

That's poor of them. I'm sorry.

I think that's likely the reason as this is a very high achieving school and lots of people are paying for reviews hoping to get grade 8s or 9s. We just want a pass and DD is on FSM so this is not money we have laying around

They are entitled to charge an admin fee - but I think it's unreasonable of them to do so. I bet the teacher who'll be doing the work won't see it!
My school is a state school too.

I suspect it's an attempt to try to mitigate against huge demand and added workload for teachers. Which is fair in some respects.

Your students are very lucky. We have to pay £10 for the teacher to look at any papers. My DDs English teacher called me to say DDs scores look strange but she can't look at the paper unless I go through the process which is £10. This is a state school. They also charge £10 admin fee on top of the exam board review fee.

I don't think my colleagues are unusual in that we will - by the end of the first week back - have looked at the data and picked up any anomalies. I've emailed all of the students whose papers I want to look at.

And I've also dealt with a couple of other queries - if parents or pupils have concerns, they should ask for support.

That's really helpful to know. Thank you!

She's just correcting something someone said earlier.

Sure. If the student has a skilled enough parent or (strong preference) a teacher prepared to look at the paper, AND a parent or school prepared to risk £45 on the remark, AND your grade is enough of an anomaly that anyone checks it in the first place. Plenty of kids won't have all the stars align like that. Their wrong marks will just stay wrong.

Yes, that’s right.If someone at school has reviewed the script and thinks there’s a good chance of a remark getting the extra mark and changing the grade I would go for it.

GCSEs are looked at for some courses at some universities.

Maths at Bristol for example - your best 8 GCSEs count 20% towards the overall score that they give to each application. I can’t quite remember how the rest is made up, but I remember that it part as it was different to some other maths courses that DS had looked at.

Mismarked questions can be changed at review even if they are small mark changes

I find this vindicating. Thank you.

Having seen my child's mismarked maths paper this all sits very uncomfortably alongside the hard cut-offs sixth forms have for A level entry.

Yes, and across A-level and GCSE. A more detailed breakdown of the stats is here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reviews-of-marking-and-moderation-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2024-exam-series/reviews-of-marking-and-moderation-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2024-exam-series

@WombatChocolate I do find it interesting how the results are presented look different in all schools. I think for the vast majority though, the number of marks they got is next to the grade so most do know their marks. I don't think people checked grade boundaries until that blew up on sites like tiktok etc.

No. DD is on FSM and I've had to pay.

Yes - but I wouldn't ask for a review until someone who knows what they're doing has looked at the papers. Some people are always going to be on the cusp of a grade.

Noble, was this across all subjects?

I’d just add it isn’t 20% of papers that go up. It’s around 20% of those reviewed that go up.
A v small % go to review.

Clearly other errors exist in papers which don’t go to review and it’s impossible to say how many. Probably a number of those v likrly to be wrong go to review - some just seem hugely anomalous with expectation. I suppose these have higher likelihood of being wrong. But at the same time vast numbers of candidates never know their exact marks, paper breakdown or where the grade boundaries are and have zero or v little sense of centre process and just accept what they get.

Tye system itself can only cope with a certain amount of reviews. The process of grades being released when schools are on hol and staff off work make looking over marks and giving advice v difficult. Additionally many 16 year olds taking GCSEs are leaving school for college and won’t return to school or ever speak to their teachers again.

On one level, people always say they don’t understand the fuss. As long as grades open the door to the next level of study that’s all that counts. Bit actually there’s more to it than that. The difference beteeen a 6 and a 6 or 6 and 7 might be the difference between accessing a particular subject at A level or being pushed towards Btec or A Level. The 7 rather than 6 in Maths might open more degree paths that involve numeracy and stats. The higher grades might prevent screening out in early sifts of job or as summer scheme application processes. The higher grades might grt someone an offer or interview for a degree programme.

It’s a system of inequality. There’s already big inequality in the system of education. Each year the regional disparities in results are shown. And I suspect the areas which already have the highest grades access the highest proportions of reviews and those with the low grades a low amount. So the disparity grows.

Those on MN tend to be more knowledgeable, but even here lots are unaware of options for review of marking and those who get interested find their schools and colleges not v available for A level help at the crucial moment when uni places are on the line. And yes, it is teacher holiday and yes, talking to students and the admin and time needed can be considerable. But you can bet some students are able to access significant support which helps them challenge potentially iffy grades and get a positive outcome.

My school pays for pupil premium kids if they need/want a review - is that not the norm?