GCSE English Lit and Language review of marking

@agoodfriendofthethree did you request the script as well? Our reviews came back with the remarked script and there's marks on it indicating which bit of the answers are what level. For eg for the lit papers that didn't go up, there's annotations everywhere saying. LL2 answer, basic level, basic vocab, correct level, some have level 1 or UL2 written. It may help you understand what's happened.

I wondered that as I really struggled to read any of my DC's handwriting but @MrsHamlet confirmed that teachers are so used to it they have a kinda superpower. My DS has never been told to improve his handwriting but I really struggle to read it.

I agree with @MrsHamlet re fountain pens. I was taught calligraphy as a teen with a fountain pen and my handwriting improved immensely. None of my DC would use a fountain pen though. They thought it was prehistoric.

Oh @Foxesandsquirrels we used the AI at home. We used it for revision and found it reliable when asking it to mark in line with an uploaded mark scheme. I'm sure it's not perfect but it helped DD and from what I could see seemed fairly accurate.

@TheyNotLikeUs AI isn't used in marking yet if that's what you mean.

I wonder if handwriting is a factor for our 4-markers. I and AI could read them but DH had to ask about a couple of words.

@MrsHamlet Yes, I suspect you're right. They are a wonderful school and very supportive, but apparently he is the first pupil they've had use a laptop for exams (!) so it wouldn't surprise me if they'd packed it in the wrong order, especially as that exam was the first one. For another exam, when he was signing the printed pages at the end, he realised they'd printed an old auto saved version from about two thirds of the way through the exam! It took IT ages to sort it and find the finished version, which was a bit scary for him! Thank goodness he noticed!

@agoodfriendofthethree I've seen some - I suspect the centre put the sheets in the wrong order and then they just went through the scanner that way.

@MrsHamlet Thanks. We're still waiting on his school to get back to us - I don't think they've come across this problem before.

@agoodfriendofthethree I honestly don't know what you can do - reviews don't come with a reason. If you're unhappy with the outcome of a review you can go to appeal. That requires a reason.

You can call the centre and ask them to seek advice.

@MrsHamlet Yes, I'm not saying you wouldn't be able to read it - just that it has undoubtedly made it harder for the examiner to read coherently than if it was scanned correctly, and therefore potentially put him at a disadvantage through no fault of his own. You have to go to the very bottom, read a page, then scroll up two pages, then read that page, then scroll up two pages etc. His essays for English lit were several pages long and for an examiner pushed for time when marking a huge amount of papers it will not have been ideal in a subject where the mark schemes carry an element of subjectivity. If it was eg maths then it wouldn't be an issue of course. He doesn't want special treatment - he just wants his work presented to an examiner correctly, which I don't think is unreasonable.

@agoodfriendofthethree its in the system like that. But we are perfectly able to read it backwards - you'd just start at the beginning and scroll it in the right order.

@Slimtoddy most teachers can read most things! It's our superpower. That said, I'd suggest trying different pens - I've had a lot of success with giving students fountain pens to use as that seems to help their writing (unless left handed)

Thanks to those with experience of marking helping us navigate this. You know who you are. I have a general question - how difficult does handwriting make things for examiners. My eldest could use a laptop/computer for exams and I think it helped enormously. I struggle to read my other two DC's writing although teachers never seem to and one of DC scores very highly in exams but I can't help wondering if the quality of penmanship can impact things. Just curious really.

@MrsHamlet Thanks so much for confirming. Are you aware of any way we can get his script scanned correctly in the right order and therefore presented as it was actually written? Or is my son just stuck with the incorrectly scanned version?

No. Reviews are just a second pair of eyes on the paper. It's only if it goes to appeal that anyone writes anything to the board.

You need to look at a mark scheme, though, not get AI to tell you what marks it should get. And that's why you need someone who knows the paper to look through it first.

That’s what I assumed, we are still waiting to hear from DCs school. Some schools are definitely more geared up for the review process than others it appears.

We are still waiting for English lit. Told the school on results day we wanted a review but they’ve only sent request for payment today. £43 per paper. Only getting paper 1 reviewed. We are with that other weird exam board WJAC if I’ve got the letters correct. Paper 1 had about half the marks that paper 2 got which is why it’s the one currently getting reviewed. Teacher was the one who suggested it. Said if we don’t get an older from that then to submit paper 2. We are one of those with 1 mark off a level 4. Language they got a 6. So a big difference. Lit is harder as daughter is autistic but did feel paper had gone better than their score.

Hi @MrsHamlet , with regards to reviews not being submitted with a reason, we have now had sight of a STEM paper, requested as DD felt the grade awarded didn't feel correct.

DD has identified a few questions where she got awarded 0 marks but she, DH and AI software mark it as having full marks. If the AI was being generous, we'd still expect a few marks, not zero.

We're waiting to hear if her teacher agrees and recommends a review and if so, are you saying we don't have to pinpoint which questions we think have been marked harshly? They are all towards the end of the paper and all the zeros/low marks jump out compared to the full/higher marks earlier on.

Thank you @gwilt @MrsHamlet @lazysummer for the quick responses - that makes sense. The mark that has been put next to B27 have not been added to the total. I will get back to the school, and ask for it to be looked at.

Agreed. If what you describe is correct, at review, the mark for that paper-as long as no other marks are changed- would go up by the number of marks your child got for C28.1 because of the reasons others have outlined.

Best of luck 🍀

Yes - it's taken the best of the two poetry comparisons hasn't it.

Hello, I mark for this paper. The examiner has put the marks for 28.1 in the wrong box. As the system will only accept one answer for B26 or B27, the marks for 28.1 won't be counted. You definitely need to request a review of this paper, which also covers admin errors.

A2 is question 2. Mark out of 30
A2 (ao4) is the spag mark for that question. It's out of 4.
B26 and 27 are both comparison poetry marked out of 30. They should only have done one of those.
They should've done both C questions.

In total they do 4 questions.

It may well be a keying error. You have to enter the marks next to the question number they've attempted and then make the others "not attempted". It looks like they might have mistyped the first c number into the 27 box.

When you say that it doesn't add up to the same, how do you mean?

Would someone be able to explain the front page of the Script Marks Report for me please - we got aqa English literature paper 2 back today and it has marks for A2, A2 (A04), B26, B27 and C28.2, along with not attempted for everything else. The total mark doesn't add up to the same totals as the individual marks.
Then, on the exam paper my child answered A2, B26, C28.1 and C28.2, but the mark sheet has given marks to B27 and says not attempted next to C28.1. Does this look like something has gone a bit wrong before I go back to the school? Thanks!

You can't go to the board. It has to be done through the centre.

Reviews don't come with a reason.