Page 7 | To tell you to tell your teens to read the f*****ing question!

BorrowedThyme · 2023-09-03T18:15:25+00:00

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

RosaGallica · 03/09/2023 21:19

RTQ (RT bloody Q when the kids aren’t listening) as it’s known for short. My sympathies op, must be horrid!

JudgeJ · 03/09/2023 21:19

jallopeno · 03/09/2023 19:53

There was someone else moaning about reviewing papers earlier. Next year teach the class to answer the question?

Oh, bless your naivity!!!! Are you dim enough to think that teachers don't spend time on exam technique, starting with the blindingly obvious such a read the question, make sure your 4 looks like a four and not a 7, 9 or anything else you think is arty? The problem seems to be that so many children are now used to their parents butting in that they don't realise that their parent's opinion counts for nothing! I once had a mummy 'correct' my marking of her son's mock paper because she'd talked to him and he knew what he intended to write! Naturally my original mark stood and she wasn't a happy bunny.

JudgeJ · 03/09/2023 21:22

Loved the comment earlier about students marking one another's work at university.

That's actually a great thing to do even in schools, it's easier to see someone else's mistakes.

helpfulperson · 03/09/2023 21:23

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.

Yup!

CinnamonJellyBeans · 03/09/2023 21:24

Actually, thinking about it, with all due respect, OP, you are being taken for a mug.

This is what you should be doing: The head of department, or the class teacher looks at the mark the student has been assigned and then briefly checks two things:

Has the student significantly underperformed based on your expectations?
Is the student < 3 marks away from the next grade boundary for maths/science? Maybe <5 marks for a humanities subject?

Pay £40 quid for a remark. Hopefully, the mark will go up and your school will get a refund, even if the mark does not increase enough to meet the next boundary. If the mark goes down, the student should still be within the initial assigned grade boundaries, so no harm done, just 40 quid down the swanee.

Are you actually marking whole papers? Do you really have that many exam papers where the students are so close to the next grade? You're being used to save the cost of "40 quid down the swanee" papers, because your stupid management insists on giving the disappointed parents more credibility than the professional examiners who marked the papers in the first place. You're just an unpaid screener.

Next year, follow my advice on this thread: Go on holiday and when you go back to school refreshed, rather than frazzled, follow my simple two-step plan outlined above.

JudgeJ · 03/09/2023 21:27

CinnamonJellyBeans · 03/09/2023 20:31

It's pretty shocking to be dragged into work without pay when you are meant to be unavailable.

OP, next year, you should book a holiday abroad for the last two weeks of the summer holiday, so you are not expected to work outside of your contract.

(or at least pretend)

Some schools don't like teachers being unavailable for Results Day, certainly as a HOD I was expected to be in school on Results Day.

ShadyPaws · 03/09/2023 21:33

I mean teachers can tell them to read the question a hundred times but it doesn't mean they will. And it's then not the teachers fault if they don't

You only have to look at Facebook or on here

I've posted before
"Found this top in next, £20, loads of colours, here's the link online"

First comment "where from hun?"
Second comment "how much was it?"
Third comment "have u got the link?"

I mean by that point I imagine it's the same as the OP venting, it's like banging your head against a brick wall

CheezePleeze · 03/09/2023 21:37

ShadyPaws · 03/09/2023 21:33

I mean teachers can tell them to read the question a hundred times but it doesn't mean they will. And it's then not the teachers fault if they don't

You only have to look at Facebook or on here

I've posted before
"Found this top in next, £20, loads of colours, here's the link online"

First comment "where from hun?"
Second comment "how much was it?"
Third comment "have u got the link?"

I mean by that point I imagine it's the same as the OP venting, it's like banging your head against a brick wall

I mean teachers can tell them to read the question a hundred times but it doesn't mean they will. And it's then not the teachers fault if they don't

Nor is it the parents if they've told them the same.

But the OP seems to be using parents as a punchbag today what with her other sanctimonious thread and now this one 🤷‍♀️

Newmum110 · 03/09/2023 21:38

Seeing as this is your second post regarding this topic I think it's fair to say you haven't spent your entire weekend looking at papers, fair to say you have wasted your time elsewhere. I'm sure you were an amazing student yourself.

Moglet4 · 03/09/2023 21:39

Soontobe60 · 03/09/2023 19:17

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

Teachers actually get paid for very little of the job- well below minimum wage if you actually count the hours!

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 03/09/2023 21:40

Next year teach the class to answer the question?

Have you ever met any children? They don't always listen. Or do as they're told. Or remember what they've been taught a million times.

Moglet4 · 03/09/2023 21:48

Angrycat2768 · 03/09/2023 19:43

I would imagine ( as someone who once did the cursed exam marking) that virtually everyone who has read exam papers at one stage or another wants to smash their head through the nearest window when they read the hundredth ' this is everything I know about x' or some other mistake that the pupil has in all probability been told about 1000 times. Years ago, one of my students forgot to turn over the paper to the last question. It's stupid things like this that is do frustrating.

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I had one idiot in my class who decided he would answer on a text he’d never read because he ‘preferred the question and had seen the movie’. Seriously, you can’t make it up sometimes!

CosyNightsOnTheSofa · 03/09/2023 21:50

You don't have to mark papers though do you? It's something you sign up for to make extra cash. My husband is a secondary teacher (science), he knows a couple of people who do it, they do it for the money (they made a fair bit out of it), not all teachers mark exams, my husband doesn't as he doesn't have time in work to do it so it'd mean it'd all be done on our time, taking him away from his own children. He also said he wasn't aware of his colleagues who mark having to do remarks currently, he assumed only senior markers have to remark papers. I'd assume you must be being compensated for spending your weekend marking? Maybe next year don't sign up to do it if it's too time consuming, no one is making you do it!

Truffles15 · 03/09/2023 21:52

I tutor and mark several GCSE examinations including English Language and Literature. I agree with you. It is frustrating that so many, in my opinion nearly half, ignore the question. Highlight the key points within the question and address them, also include the AOs (Assessment Objectives). There were some truly excellent literature responses this year, but I had to reduce the marks when candidates ignored the question. Gutting.

Moglet4 · 03/09/2023 21:53

FailWhale · 03/09/2023 20:13

Not unreasonable.

Loved the comment earlier about students marking one another's work at university.

How practical would a session like that be with your students? I'd have LOVED something like that when I was a student. My ego wouldn't have enjoyed it but it's exactly how I learn from reading and understanding where others have gone wrong and where others have done a better job than me.

I wonder also if a session for parents might help where you invite them in to grade mock exams. Suspect that requires more free time and will power than teachers or parents have right now.

Good luck to everyone over the next few weeks of returning to routine! 😬😬🤞🤞❤️❤️

It’s fairly standard in classrooms to have peer assessment

Fuckthatguy · 03/09/2023 22:01

Haven’t read the full thread but based on my limited experience of ‘some of’ the teachers/education provision in the UK, I’m not surprised these children don’t understand basic exam techniques.

The childish ranting in the OP doesn’t garner my support either.

YBVU

Upanddownthemerrygoround · 03/09/2023 22:05

My maths teacher would write on the blackboard during our GCSEs…

RTQ
RTQ
RTFQ.

CinnamonJellyBeans · 03/09/2023 22:06

CosyNightsOnTheSofa · 03/09/2023 21:50

You don't have to mark papers though do you? It's something you sign up for to make extra cash. My husband is a secondary teacher (science), he knows a couple of people who do it, they do it for the money (they made a fair bit out of it), not all teachers mark exams, my husband doesn't as he doesn't have time in work to do it so it'd mean it'd all be done on our time, taking him away from his own children. He also said he wasn't aware of his colleagues who mark having to do remarks currently, he assumed only senior markers have to remark papers. I'd assume you must be being compensated for spending your weekend marking? Maybe next year don't sign up to do it if it's too time consuming, no one is making you do it!

OP is not a paid examiner who marks for an exam board. She is a teacher, who is being forced to quality-check the marking on her students' exam papers, which have already been marked by professionals, quality-checked by professionals, moderated by professionals and assigned scores and grades. The marks and grades have subsequently been given to the pupils: AKA GCSE results.

Her school is forcing her to do this in the hope that she can find a disputed mark or two, which might go in the student's favour.

Because of the rigorous marking process described above, it is highly unlikely that she will find a mark that she can dispute. It's like panning for gold, not worth the effort. Even if she does find a mark, it has to be enough of an increase to get the student across a grade boundary.

She's being forced to do this work in her designated holiday time, when she should be resting and unavailable.

TheMoth · 03/09/2023 22:09

Moglet4 · 03/09/2023 21:48

I had one idiot in my class who decided he would answer on a text he’d never read because he ‘preferred the question and had seen the movie’. Seriously, you can’t make it up sometimes!

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Just the one?

Our text isn't the first one on the paper. Many students don't bother to turn the page and FIND the text they have studied. Then some parents complain that we haven't found the page for their child.

Students also spend the same amount of time on 5mk questions as 10 marks.

Students skim the question.

Students give up after a couple of questions.

Students ignore the advice you thought you'd drilled into them.

Students don't turn the page.

Students don't understand many of the words in the question. This is increasingly the case at A Level, where all the vocab sheets in the world will not make up for actually reading and absorbing language.

FrippEnos · 03/09/2023 22:13

I always used to get the pupils to read the question and either underline or highlight the keywords on every practice paper.
The amount of practice papers that came back in with none or the keywords underlined or highlighted was a high percentage.

You can lead a horse to water etc.

Trevorton · 03/09/2023 22:17

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!!!

You’re a teacher?

HagoftheNorth · 03/09/2023 22:19

Just for balance, one remarked paper I saw turned up an extra SEVEN marks. Sadly markers are not infallible, so I can understand why unexpected results will be queried.
But yes - read the question is pretty much the best advice for any exam candidate!

Inkpotlover · 03/09/2023 22:20

CinnamonJellyBeans · 03/09/2023 22:06

OP is not a paid examiner who marks for an exam board. She is a teacher, who is being forced to quality-check the marking on her students' exam papers, which have already been marked by professionals, quality-checked by professionals, moderated by professionals and assigned scores and grades. The marks and grades have subsequently been given to the pupils: AKA GCSE results.

Her school is forcing her to do this in the hope that she can find a disputed mark or two, which might go in the student's favour.

Because of the rigorous marking process described above, it is highly unlikely that she will find a mark that she can dispute. It's like panning for gold, not worth the effort. Even if she does find a mark, it has to be enough of an increase to get the student across a grade boundary.

She's being forced to do this work in her designated holiday time, when she should be resting and unavailable.

Show quote history

She said she's not a teacher but works in a school.

grumpycow1 · 03/09/2023 22:21

AngryLegend · 03/09/2023 19:17

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

Doesnt sound like it's for you...

🙄🙄🙄

(not a teacher, btw)

TotalOverhaul · 03/09/2023 22:21

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!!!

My tutor t uni said reread the question after every paragraph to make sure you don;t wander off the subject. I did. And the amount of times I was about to write something entirely unrelated to the question was surprisingly high. that advice was so helpful for keeping on track.