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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To tell you to tell your teens to read the f*****ing question!

261 replies

BorrowedThyme · 03/09/2023 19:15

I'm spending hour and hours and hours combing through GCSE papers back from the exam board cos mum says Jonnie has told her he had written loads of high quality answers and should have got higher than a 5...

YES! Jonnie has written loads and loads of very high quality content, showing excellent understanding, recall and application of the subject

NO! his answers don't in any way match the question that was asked, so no! he gets no marks for said answers.....

FGS - what a total waste of time and energy for everyone.

And I have spent my entire weekend on these wastes of time

OP posts:
Aworldofwonder · 03/09/2023 19:16

Teacher here. I concur.

Ponoka7 · 03/09/2023 19:16

Are you finding that it's equally lads and girls?

AngryLegend · 03/09/2023 19:17

Maybe you shouldn't be doing that job, OP.

Doesnt sound like it's for you...

Soontobe60 · 03/09/2023 19:17

But why are you spending your free time doing this? Are you getting paid?

Soontobe60 · 03/09/2023 19:18

AngryLegend · 03/09/2023 19:17

Maybe you shouldn't be doing that job, OP.

Doesnt sound like it's for you...

Maybe teachers should not be expected to work in their holidays?

Meredusoleil · 03/09/2023 19:18

I always tell all the children I teach, tutor and am raising to read the Q at least twice, including after you've answered it as well!!!

Toffeesgirl · 03/09/2023 19:20

And underline the important information!!

YukoandHiro · 03/09/2023 19:20

Ponoka7 · 03/09/2023 19:16

Are you finding that it's equally lads and girls?

Good question

AcclimDD · 03/09/2023 19:22

AngryLegend · 03/09/2023 19:17

Maybe you shouldn't be doing that job, OP.

Doesnt sound like it's for you...

Oh behave Hmm

LimeTreeGrove · 03/09/2023 19:22

I remember writing what I knew in exams, even though it wasn't what was being asked. The big difference is when i got a crap mark, it wouldn't have occurred to me to then run to mummy and get her to demand the teacher check whether I should have got higher. Times have changed!

Meredusoleil · 03/09/2023 19:24

LimeTreeGrove · 03/09/2023 19:22

I remember writing what I knew in exams, even though it wasn't what was being asked. The big difference is when i got a crap mark, it wouldn't have occurred to me to then run to mummy and get her to demand the teacher check whether I should have got higher. Times have changed!

Same here! That's why I know how important it is to read the blinking question. Having learnt through my own personal experience lol.

luckylavender · 03/09/2023 19:26

Soontobe60 · 03/09/2023 19:17

But why are you spending your free time doing this? Are you getting paid?

She didn't say it was her free time

BellaJuno · 03/09/2023 19:26

I’m guessing you’re a teacher and therefore assume some of the responsibility for Jonnie’s poor exam
technique? 😂

Newrumpus · 03/09/2023 19:26

AngryLegend · 03/09/2023 19:17

Maybe you shouldn't be doing that job, OP.

Doesnt sound like it's for you...

Yep - why would a teacher be offering feedback to help students improve?

luckylavender · 03/09/2023 19:27

BellaJuno · 03/09/2023 19:26

I’m guessing you’re a teacher and therefore assume some of the responsibility for Jonnie’s poor exam
technique? 😂

Big assumption

Goldenbear · 03/09/2023 19:28

This is your second post on this - are you actually a teacher? If so, you were told on the other post that not every school operates like yours and that some of us with DCs have been pestered by the teachers not the other way around!!

Vallmo47 · 03/09/2023 19:29

YABU

Goldenbear · 03/09/2023 19:29

And as it is your second post on it, you do sound angry and maybe not the job for you.

MILLYmo0se · 03/09/2023 19:30

Absolutely!! I could never understand why in exam advice in the newspapers etc they would always say things like 'read the question, re-read it, underline important parts, make sure what sure you are answering the question you are been asked'. I was thinking 'well talk about stating the obvious, what else would you be doing but answering the question?!'
Then i went to uni, and we would check each others essays for spelling mistake etc and a lightbulb went off as it dawned on me that actually lots of people would go off on a tangent about some battle that had little or nothing to do with the actual question.

Simonjt · 03/09/2023 19:31

Our physics A-level teacher used to write RTFQ on our mock papers when needed, read the fucking question

PattyDukeAstin · 03/09/2023 19:31

Time and time again here and also the WIWIKAU Facebook page I have read 'my son/daughter deserves a higher mark', and people being advised to 'demand a remark'..not once have I read maybe my son/daughter should have worked harder, didn't read the question properly...My son is 'two marks from achieving 9" - remark!! but someone has to be 2 marks from the next grade boundary and his mark might go down.
I tried to post on WIWIKAU as I was puzzled about this idea of deserving grades - unsurprisingly my post wasn't approved by admin.

GodDammitCecil · 03/09/2023 19:35

MN is littered with adults with terrible reading comprehension skills, so it’s hardly surprising teens don’t have great skills in that department.

TheLongGloriesOfTheWinterMoon · 03/09/2023 19:40

PattyDukeAstin · 03/09/2023 19:31

Time and time again here and also the WIWIKAU Facebook page I have read 'my son/daughter deserves a higher mark', and people being advised to 'demand a remark'..not once have I read maybe my son/daughter should have worked harder, didn't read the question properly...My son is 'two marks from achieving 9" - remark!! but someone has to be 2 marks from the next grade boundary and his mark might go down.
I tried to post on WIWIKAU as I was puzzled about this idea of deserving grades - unsurprisingly my post wasn't approved by admin.

I think, in fairness to WIWI, that the admins are trying to keep it very calm and supportive - whatever madness any parent posts. So they tend to turn off commenting the second someone says "hold on a minute!"

That said, the number of "the teacher was giving my son straight As and now he's been given Ds" posts did get ridiculous.

Especially as very few people seemed to want to admit that possibly the teacher had marked too highly, triggering predicted grades that were too high etc etc. Or that their child just didn't do well on the day.

Nobody seems to want to acknowledge that 92% of all A level students have got into their first or second choices either. Same as it ever was!

ThreePointOneFourOneFiveNine · 03/09/2023 19:40

BellaJuno · 03/09/2023 19:26

I’m guessing you’re a teacher and therefore assume some of the responsibility for Jonnie’s poor exam
technique? 😂

As a maths tutor I can tell you there's very little you can do with students who repeatedly refuse to do as you tell them. I don't write the exam paper and I have no influence on the mark scheme, so no matter how unfair it may or may not be that a right answer with no working gets you at best half marks, when I have explained this to you multiple times and shown you many mark schemes demonstrating exactly how it works, if you then go into that exam and still decide that you won't show your working then it is entirely your own fault when you fail. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink!

Prescottdanni123 · 03/09/2023 19:42

I've worked as a scribe for students who require support in exams. It in incredibly frustrating when you have someone who is obviously a bright kid but just not reading the questions properly. And I had to keep my face completely blank and let them crack on. So many marks are lost on silly mistakes.