Re GCSE results/re-marks

[JeanSeberg]

My son got 9.5 GCSEs including a D in English Literature (16 marks off a C) and a D in German (4 marks off a C).

I was advised by the school that it wasn't worth having the English re-marked but decided to go for a re-mark in German. This came back today and was upgraded from D to C.

I'm now kicking myself that I didn't request a re-mark in English, especially as he has to re-sit this subject alongside his college course. (I requested a copy of his exam script instead.)

AIBU to think the whole thing is a bit of a lottery? There must be hundreds of students throughout the country that would have moved up a grade if they'd have gone for a re-mark. And therefore hundreds of students who potentially missed out on specific college courses/A Level places. My son is fortunate that he still got accepted on a Level 3 BTEC as he had a C in Maths and 4 other subjects and they were happy to accept a C in English Literature in place of English Language.

(I appreciate that marks could also go down after a re-mark.)

To be honest, I don't see the issue in him resitting his English alongside his college course. If he had moved up into a C with a re-mark then chances are that would only be a few points in. It will likely stand him in better stead (for personal development) to go over the subject a bit more and hopefully gain a better grade but also a better understanding.

Any YP (young person) who doesn't achieve C in English or Maths has to keep re-sitting until they are 18. So he certainly won't be the only one

There must be hundreds of students throughout the country that would have moved up a grade if they'd have gone for a re-mark.

That implies all the examiners are crap at their job. In turn, that undermines the exam system given that it is again more stringent this year.

Some subjects move, some dont. Maths and science have moved on remarks this year - I have never witnessed that before. English hasnt shifted on any remarks.

My point is how reliable is the marking in the first place?

I agree it undermines the exam system.

English is an extended writing piece. There is no right/wrong - two examiners may mark it differently or the same. In my experience this year (we use three boards) nothing has moved. Neither have any resubmitted papers across the whole academy chain.

There must be hundreds of students throughout the country that would have moved up a grade if they'd have gone for a re-mark.

And others that have moved down. And still more who have an unchanged grade.

The danger with remarking something so far from the grade boundary is that it might move down to an E.

This is a level results not GCSE but a teenager I know this year on results day had BCC and so missed his uni offer (ABB) and his insurance and was declined. I probably wouldn't believe it if I didn't know the boy but after remarks he actually had improved one grade in each subject so had what he needed I.e. ABB. Lucky he had parents who could afford to risk the hundreds of pounds the remarks cost (all refunded as all the grades improved). He has ended up with terrible accommodation through the whole fiasco putting him to the back of the queue and had 2 miserable weeks post results when he thought he wasn't going to go to uni this year, missed out on all the results day celebrations etc.

mysteryfairy odd you mention that - every A level paper I have put back for remarking this year has increased in marks - not always enough to tip a grade but it it has gone up

I'm a Maths teacher and every year we put those who were up to 5 marks away in for a remark. About 50% usually go up (we do it for c/d and b/a students). 16 marks is a huge amount though. As a pp said he will get a lot out of repeating (better understanding etc) so don't worry about not having put in for the remark. Sometimes the parents have put in- the most I've ever seen is 8 marks and that's in 13 years of teaching. I was very shocked about that one- Maths is pretty much a right or wrong subject!

Princess28 my own son went up 16 ums on FP2 this year. School told me I was wasting my money when we asked for the re-mark. It was ed excel and he gained marks across 3 questions so apparently 3 different markers had failed to mark accurately.

It doesn't leave you with much faith in the system when you see these wild discrepancies.

I would have advised you to get a re-mark OP unless you really couldn't afford to lose the money after my experiences this summer. I hope he gets the grade he needs in November.

Princess28 my son did AQA maths and got a B (strongly predicted A*). We were so surprised that I requested a remark despite being told I was wasting my time.
He was awarded 12 extra marks (2 on one paper, 10 on the other) and regraded an A.
I would never, ever, tell a parent it is not worth requesting a re-mark when a child gets a grade lower than expected - it has left me with no faith at all in the system as his school was more than happy to tell us 'that a B was still a good grade'.

It's a huge lottery and it all depends on how close you are to the upper grade boundary. You could be two marks or ten so it's all about whether it's worth it.
To be 16 marks off a C could actually drop him from the D if his marks went down so it's not a risk worth taking to be honest. Plus English is weighted on exam and coursework so it could be a lot of this contributing. It's a lot of marks to find in English to push him higher. In my experience it is often put up but a couple of marks. To find that many would be a long shot.

I went from a C to an A in my English GCSE at remarking. They sent all my coursework off for moderating too which is why it got such a dramatic boost

My DS got B, B, B, E =overall D in GCSE French. The E had been moderated down, & didn't match the other 3 exam/coursework results. I had the E work re-marked & he's got a C, so it was worth doing.
He missed out on a B in chemistry by 2 marks on 1 paper, so I had that re-marked & he got an extra 5 marks taking his overall GCSE to a B.
The printout showing the breakdown of results is really useful. I went through it carefully & picked up these 2 issues, which I then had explored. The school agreed that a re-mark in these 2 cases would be a good idea. I'm glad we did it!

We had some of our sons GCSE's remarked last year and he too went up a grade from B to A. On all his papers that were remarked he was 3-4 marks away from the next grade up.

OP, I understand what you are feeling with the German issue confirming your lack of faith in the marking but 16 marks is actually quite a way off the next grade even though it may sound a small amount. In my experience, it is quite rare for a paper to be re-marked and moved up by such a high margin, especially at the moment with English as there is a certain amount of pressure on the exam boards to not award too many higher grades and grade boundaries are tougher than in previous years.
I know none of this is fair on you ds, but it is the reality I'm afraid. You are going to get a bit of a false picture on here as people are bound to share their experiences confirming otherwise.
I think requesting his exam script is a good idea and, if nothing else, he can learn from his mistakes in his re-sit.