GCSE English Lit and Language review of marking

We were iGCSE with a coursework component so only had one paper to review in each case. But for the other subjects we had reviewed we did have this choice and we were advised by the school to do one at a time - they said that they had been previous cases where the student got the extra marks needed on one paper but then had them taken away on the other, so go with the one you think you're most likely to gain marks from first.

@mojobrojo apologies you may well have stated this upthread but for Lit and Language did you put in both papers or just one per subject?
DCs teacher has recommended we definitely put in one Language as the marking is particularly low on one question. The marking on the other paper and on Lit papers seems ungenerous to me but not entirely unjustifiable. It would require an examiner to made a different judgment call on the quality of DCs work and it seems they normally go with the status quo!
Such a stressful system.

For anyone following Mr Salles Teaches English on YouTube (the teacher who sat the Eng Lang AQA exam this year to see if he could prove his theory, which is that the AQA exam is flawed) - he finally posted his result yesterday.
He got an 8 - and had it remarked and it's gone up to a 9. He quotes some interesting stats about the % of English remarking grade changes (not sure if they are accurate). He's a fan of Edexcel which he sat last year.
(1186) Mr Salles Teaches English - YouTube

We did because DC’s 6th form entry required a 6 in English Lit. DC was 3 marks off the grade. We weighed the risk, and took a chance because they would have to reduce marks by 13 to drop to a grade below. It worked in our favour and DC got the place in 6th form.

@trampoline I guess a teacher's recommendation would give me the confidence to proceed but I'd still feel jittery.

The statistics provided enough info for us make that calculated risk.

In 2023 only 0.1% of grades went down - that was 180 out of about 94,000 reviews. So that risk is really very very small - compared with the 21% that went up. Then when you look closer at the data you can see that about 8000 reviews led to a loss of more than 5 marks (about 2%). So, this told me that the risk of losing that many marks is a bit higher than the risk of the grade going down, but it is still pretty low; therefore, you need to be strategic - if you are far enough above the lower grade boundary then you could cushion a loss of 5+ marks then you are keeping the risk of a lowered grade as close to that 0.1% as possible.

Then we added in knowledge about our child - was the grade expected in that subject or did he do particularly well/poorly - and some teacher advice - did they think the grade was out of kilter or which paper might get an extra mark or two etc.

This led us to put in 5 reviews, including both English language and literature. In both cases for English he was 1-3 marks off the higher grade and around 8-10 marks above the lower boundary. The teachers didn’t review the papers but he said the exams had gone well and the teachers knew his level of work. So, we felt we had minimised the risk of falling into that 0.1% as much as possible. We got a 10 mark increase for literature and a 5 mark increase for language, going up to a 9 and 7 respectively. We also had success with another review (comp sci) and no change in the two others.

But we decided against a review for the other subject that was a possibility - history - he was a bit too far from the higher grade boundary and a bit too close to the lower grade boundary to take what was still a small risk. Also, we all knew that an 8 was really good for him for history as he had struggled with the amount of content and so it was just best to sit tight with that one!

Hi everyone! I've been lurking on this thread since the exam results came out- DD missed a grade 4 in her AQA English Language by three marks and I found it a comfort that people were in a similar position- although obviously sorry that they were at the same time!
We put in for review as we felt she had nothing to lose, having already been declined for her choice of course at college. We got her review result back yesterday and she gained the three marks, although she still can't understand what went wrong as she was predicted a 6! But anyway, no dreaded re-sits!
Good luck to everyone waiting for their review outcomes and thanks for your company!

Teacher has reviewed DS’s Literature paper and says there was one question he didn’t answer properly. Could risk a review as she says he was marked fairly harshly but decided not worth it and more important that he accepts that sometimes it doesn’t go your way. I would have only gone for review if there had been genuine admin error.

on his language, he’s only one mark off so she thinks it might be worth a try but we are still undecided.

Even if a teacher reviews first and recommends you go ahead?

I am amazed by how many people proceed with reviews and risk the grade going down.

We must be very risk averse it has made us pause even though we think something is amiss.

We did, for geography- 1 mark off and English Language- 2 marks off. DD 6th form place depended on a higher grade.

She went up in geography but not English.

Our school required payment upfront - even to request the papers it was a tenner!

Thanks @MrsHamlet that's sort of what I thought.

Our school put the exam re-mark fees for the different exam boards on ParentPay. You had to order what you wanted and fill in the consent form before they would submit. Perhaps our school doesn’t want to chase parents (specifically leavers) for money due.

Thamks @ThatsCute @MrsHamlet
Sorry it didn't change @Chilliandbanana but at least you know it was checked over and you did what you could.

Thats interesting, we didn't pay upfront but school told us we could get an invoice if there was no grade change

Yes we got English Language reviewed. 2 marks off the next grade boundary. Found out today that there was no change to grade and no extra marks.

@Poisoningpigeons only the candidate can ask for a review. They have to give consent. But only the centre at which they sat it can do it.

The review can see the original annotations and marks are looking to see if the original marks were reasonable. If they were, they stick.

We are in scenario 1, and the school emailed to let us know that our AQA refund has been processed. It hasn’t hit our bank account yet, and I was wondering the same. I will let you know.

Hi, anyone know what happens in the following scenarios with AQA English:

1. If you put both papers in for review and the grade changes do you then not have to pay for the review of both papers? (even if one paper doesn't alter?)

2. Or sequentially, if you put in one paper and the grade changes can you then put in the other paper for 'free' for review as the grade has changed or do you have to pay again?

I think we are running out of time to put papers in sequentially anyway as only just got the scripts so have to decide whether to go the whole hog with both papers or just one. DCs teacher has identified which they would put in due to marking but has cautioned they haven't had much success changing grades previously.

Well I guess you have to ask her then. One last check in? She has a great grade and no need to do anything, but deadline approaching so does she want you to pursue this on her behalf? That seems to be the only option.

@Poisoningpigeons you will still be able to contact the exams officer. When my DC requested papers originally, it was from their personal email account as they knew they wouldn't be staying at the sixth form and their email would be closed at some point. My DC emailed saying 'Hi Mr A, it's Jimmy James from 11Z. I'm using my personal email because my school one will be closed down soon. Please would you let me know how to request the papers for Geography and French.' The exams office email was something along the lines of [email protected] I expect you could call the school and ask for the email address.

@Eccle80 All very good points! That was why I felt we needed the opinion of DD's teachers if we were going to submit any of the papers for review. She [says she] doesn't think there was any specific problem with any of the papers. I don't know if we can/should even contact the exams officer now that DD is no longer a pupil there?

@Bufftailed Agree about DC consent. I feel DD has been all over the place about reviewing her grade. She was very upset on results day and was really prickly and reluctant to tell us anything. It took a lot of careful inquiry for her to divulge that (after prompting from school) she had requested her scripts the day after, then more inquiring after another couple of days to inform us that she had received them, and the same all over again that her teachers were supposed to be looking at them. DH kept saying not to push too hard lest DD felt we were unhappy with her grades (we're not, we're very happy). But we lost days/weeks of momentum, then suddenly she admitted her school email address was closed before she had been able to request any reviews.

I thought the DC had to consent to the review? My DC consented…I wouldn’t want to go ahead without DC understanding risks personally