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

[BorrowedThyme]

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

@Missingpop - marking external exams (GCSEs, A levels etc) is NOT a part of teachers' jobs - it is done by paid exam markers. Teachers can choose to do this extra work (and from what teacher friends have told me, it is a lot of work), but they are not contractually obliged to.

What @BorrowedThyme is doing is not marking exam papers. She has been told by her school to examine the pupils' papers to see if it is worth asking for a re-mark by the exam board - which is also not a part of her contract, as far as I am aware.

And she is not complaining about having to do this extra, unpaid work - she is frustrated because she is finding examples where pupils have not read the question properly, so have wasted time and effort in the exam putting down information which was not asked for, does not answer the question and which, critically gains them NO marks - something which could have been easily avoided if the pupils had read the question and actually answered it.

Teachers do spend time going over and over exam technique with pupils, but it could be a good thing if parents also pushed home the message that it is vital to read the question properly.

I really don't think OP deserves all the nasty comments. She was just incredibly frustrated and needed to vent a bit. Teaching can be very rewarding, but it can also drive you slightly crazy when you work your arse off trying to help kids who then refuse to follow the most basic instructions. And a lot of it is refusal. You go on and on about it in lessons when they clearly aren't suffering from exam nerves, and they still won't check their own work (which would include re reading the question), they just wait for you to do it for them. Then they've had no practice at it when it comes to exam conditions and don't do very well as a result. Teenagers can be very stubborn about these things. Having a bit of a vent about it is perfectly natural. I really like all my students, even the ones who don't read the question, but I do really wish they'd read the question, it is infuriating. That doesn't mean I'm in the wrong job.

you know what!

holidays are not paid!

and this is not part of my job!

and the point of this thread is to give parents a way of helping their children do better!

so sorry for suggesting parents might want to support their children's education

If that's yet another cheap shot at the OP then it's yet more rubbish! I think the original post was meant as something where parents could help their children even if they're not too familiar with the subject matter and at the same time be seen to be on the same page as the sdchool where RTQ is drummed into them! As a marker, sitting here on my own, I found myself getting really annoyed because I had to withold a mark for something silly, if I didn't care about these strangers's results I wouldn't do that.

strangers's should be strangers' obviously, before some pedant corrects it!

When I was at school (dark ages) we were given a 'mock' exam and the last question was 'only answer question 3' - so everyone who didn't read the entire paper through before starting failed.

Never forgot that, perhaps a few papers like that might get it to sink in.

I would actually argue that the intensity of frustration and passion in @BorrowedThyme‘s posts mean she is exactly the sort of person we want as a teacher!

Or would people prefer teachers not to give a crap about the things that could improve their pupils’ education and exam results?

When I was at school (dark ages) we were given a 'mock' exam and the last question was 'only answer question 3' - so everyone who didn't read the entire paper through before starting failed.

In history papers, it was usually something like 'answer one question from section 1, one from section 2 and one from section 3. Answer a fourth question from any section'.

Anyone who answered all from section one of course could only get marks for a maximum of two out of four.

But at my school we had end of year exams every year, so we had practice in this sort of thing.

Similar here, not a teacher/tutor, but an accountant. I ask clients for specific information, documents, etc., all listed clearly, and half the time get back answers to different questions and the wrong documents. Drives me crazy that adults running their own businesses can't read questions. It's certainly not just students!

@HonoriaLucastaDelagardie

But at my school we had end of year exams every year, so we had practice in this sort of thing.

Same at my son's school, they did proper "mock" exams (exam conditions in exam rooms etc) twice a year (December and June) from year 7 onwards, so the pupils were VERY well versed in exam technique. I think teaching exam technique for/after mocks is fat too late.

Came on to say this! I've done it once on MN