GCSE Controlled assessment cock up

[GCSEquery]

Can anyone tell me a GCSE controlled assessment will still be marked if a student inadvertently completed it in blue ink?

My son has apparently done this in his history assessment, and the teacher has left me a message that he wants to talk to me. DS thinks he will receive no marks and that the paper wont be put forward.

Is this likely? He was expecting an A or A*.

I'd like to be prepared for the conversation. I know DS should have read the instructions more thoroughly, and i reaslise that the papers scan less well in blue ink, but surely it isnt the end of the world?

WIBU to think that it is too much to disqualify a paper over it (if they do!), and that in any case the invigilator should have spotted it in class?

Usually controlled assessments only account for 25% of the overall GCSE, so it should only drag his grade down by one or maybe two boundaries. If he was expecting an A or A* anyway, it isn't the end of the world.

Are you sure they mark controlled assessments by machine? I'm a secondary school geography teacher and we hand mark CA's. I don't know what they do for history though. Black is easier to scan, but blue isn't the end of the world, it should still show up! At least it wasn't a pencil or gel pen. Usually if a paper can't be scanned they hand mark it. But again, this might not be in all cases. Don't worry about this meeting with his teacher, your son just made a mistake and I know plenty of students have done it before too.

markers now mark exams online only rather than having the paperscript in their hands. markers are expected to mark X number of questions in Y minutes. personally, I would repost this in secondary education and teachers because someone on their will be able to give you spot on advice. there are some brilliant people that only lurk on those boards so if you don't get the answer here ask MNHQ to move it for you.

thank you MM

Casey, thanks. Its history. I have yet to speak with him and he there may not be an issue, but he has never tried to call me before, and I cant see why he would be if there wasnt a problem, given DS was told there would be.

So AQA dont have a firm rule?

Echo Casey. Controlled assessments are usually marked by teachers and the exam board will then request a selection from the school to check teachers marks are within the tolerance levels. These will be sent to a moderator. I have never before heard of this issue with the wrong coloured ink.

Thanks. So if the teacher does tell me it is an issue, what should I do? Ask for the guideline from AQA, or just accept it.

I see Casey says it will only drag his grade down a bit if it happens, but it doesnt seem fair? It may still be the difference between an A and an A*, mightnt it?

I am a head of history in a secondary school, and we do aqa for gcse. Controlled assessments are marked internally (by teachers/heads of departments). In may of year 11, a selection are sent off to be moderated, but it is the hard copies that are sent, they're not scanned. I can't see any reason that being in blue ink would make a difference, and I can't recall seeing written anywhere in the specification that black pen has to be used. In short, I've no idea what your history department are on about! Do you know if the school does SHP (he'll at some point probably study the history of medicine) or modern world?

X-post, I would ask to see the guidelines and say you can't find anything to say it has to be in black. All the guidelines should be freely available online I think

It normally states clearly on the front of a paper that it should be written in black ink - which is for scanning purposes. However many exam scripts are unscannable (for all kinds of reasons) and get put on another pile to be marked by hand (happens a lot).

Although CA's are normally marked by teachers in the school and then only moderated by the exam board.

I would be very surprised if AQA did not accept his work because it was written in the wrong colour ink. That said the black ink is specified on their CA website. It would seem incredibly petty and counter productive to disqualify a controlled assessment because the ink was the wrong colour. Fingers crossed for you OP

AQA guidelines

Gerry, that's very helpful. I did scan the guidelines online, and couldn't see anything. The instructions to candidates on the first page did say it, though, apparently.

DS is in year 10. I think it must be modern, as he seemed to be studying the Russian revolution recently.

And I thoroughly agree with Gerry - as there is no mention of using black ink on CA's only on examination papers.

It might be a school department thing - but if you are worried contact AQA and they will tell you what the actual guidelines are (and I don't think pen colour is one of them)

Is it for a 2014 GCSE? It seems late for CA.

If for 2015, can he not copy it out in black? Or they photocopy it? I'm sure the exam board would allow that if asked?

Sorry, more posts while I was writing!

Thanks Cantbelieve. Page 9, says:

How should candidates’ work be presented?

Work may be handwritten, in black ink, or word
processed. In some cases, work may include
printouts, charts, artefacts, videos or recordings

Its for 2015- he is in year 10. Ds say he thinks he may have to resit the exam another time.

Well, I was planning to ask about photocopying or recopying. Surely anyway, if it were recopied under controlled conditions, if necessary, and the two versions compared, there couldnt be an issue?

In any case Gerry says they arent scanned.

I don't know about other subjects, but our students have 3 attempts and we submit the best. The guidelines do say black ink. I police it and have a special box of CA pens that come out... The school needs to contact the exam board, if they haven't already.

Thanks for the guidelines, as far as I can see that's the only place anywhere that black pen is mentioned, and that's general guidelines for all controlled assessments. It may be that in other subjects the papers are scanned to be sent to moderators but I know that when we send ours off for moderation, we send the physical papers to the home address of the moderators. I think probably if it's just a case of copying out the work then he might as well do it, but of he has to start the work all over again that's completely unreasonable

That's what we do Gerry

I agree, Gerry. He thinks he will have to, but he may be wrong. 15 year olds can be, I know!

There isnt any reason, is there, he cant copy it in front of the teacher?

A bit of me thinks that if it is such an issue, then the teacher should have noticed at the time. Not that for a minute Im suggesting that it isnt Ds's fault- he should have read the bloody instructions, clearly. He wont forget again!

I don't get why this is still an issue, modern scanners are so good they pick up every dirty finger print and faint smudge.

They aren't like old photocopiers which really struggled with pencil and fine blue pen.

The things that are stroppy are the machines that mark multi guess papers, but that doesn't apply to GCSE.

No, we send hard copies too, but it still says black ink. I wouldn't get a child to copy a paper without written authorisation from AQA, because of the high control element. School needs to contact the exam board!

I did that when I was at college (a level paper) it still got marked, can't remember what happened bit the man said something about it, put a sticky note on my paper and it was all fine. That was a few years ago but they were scanned and marked back then too. He's probably just worrying a lot cause at 15, anything GCSE related seems like the end of the world. hopefully it turns out fine, plus he can probably re sit anyway if he's in year 10.