Exam Re-mark

[Eggseggslegs]

Hi, has anyone had GCSEs remarked and what was the outcome? Or A levels? Our DD actually went down from her mocks by a couple of grades despite revising hard so thought it was worth a try. She's not close to the lower border so unlikely to go down. Thanks

Yes, we had a GCSE re-marked and it went from a 3 to 4. It was so much closer to a 4 we didn’t think risk of dropping to 2. Luckily we did this as it was English and they were told as retaking English wouldn’t be allowed to do A levels (would have to do BTEC) at local sixth form. So it meant they were able to do A levels in chosen subjects and 2 years later got excellent results. (not sure they would be allowed to do A levels now as the same college has minimum entry 5 GCSEs at 5 and above including English and Maths)

we are currently thinking of having an A level re-marked and other child’s GCSE re-marked, but not so important.

@Eggseggslegs last year my DC had three GCSEs regraded - Eng Lit went up from a 5 to an 8 (a whole question was unmarked), Eng lang went up from a 6 to a 7 (they were overly harsh on one question) and geography went up from a 7 to an 8 (not sure what that was exactly but it was only a mark or two below the boundary).

We are in the process now. Teachers are going to look at the exam papers first and advise about whether to send for a review. One has been advised so far, we may not hear about the others for a week or two as teachers are still on holiday. There is no cost to us if teachers recommend the review.

I've paid for a review of marking for one of my DS's A-levels. He was 2 marks off the grade he hoped for. It is a non-urgent review as the uni he wanted let him in anyway, despite being a grade lower than required, but it's his main degree subject so apart from his pride getting a knock I think it may also stem from a bit of worry that he may not be quite as good in the subject as he thought. We'll see what happens. Even if he stays at this grade I figured it will give him peace of mind to know that the grade WAS correct. Plus, what if the lower grade restricts him in some way that we're not aware of at this stage? I'm not aware of many circumstances where this might be the case, but we're both happier to have all the bases covered and to have tried. I just feel guilty that we can afford to pay for this "peace of mind" when others can't and just have to suck it up.

I'm still sore about an A-level grade I got given when I was that age, it was 2 grades lower and a complete shock. It was never reviewed as it wasn't a thing that parents could pay for it, or school only arranged it for people who didn't get into a uni or something, I can't remember.

DS was one mark away from the next grade in Maths but seems to be less likely that Maths improves. We will see what the school say.

Can you please pass the memo on to the SQA in Scotland - we also want a remark for our DC. Not a "marking review" !!

There is also no cost to the school if the grade goes up.

It's in the school's interest to recommend reviews where they are justified, because it will improve the school's performance stats.

Sorry, but you have no choice. The rules are that, if you're unhappy with a grade, you can request a "review of marking", which is NOT, repeat NOT, what you actually want, which is of course a re-mark. A "review of marking" sounds like a re-mark, but it isn't, as explained in this blog... The effect of the "marking error" test (which was introduced in England in 2016) is to block, every year, the discovery and correction of about 1.5 million grade errors. I think this is most unjust.

@fairgrader that article is interesting, but it misses a couple of important points ...

Firstly, candidates who appeal tend to be just below grade boundaries. If everyone (or a randomised sample) appealed, two thirds of them would either be in the middle or lower range of the boundary, so even if they got a couple more marks their grade would not rise. Also, many candidates would lose marks ,so their grades would go down rather than up. Nobody would advocate for that.

Secondly, there is another layer if scrutiny which isn't mentioned at all - teachers usually review scripts before deciding whether an appeal is appropriate, so they only submit scripts that are likely to benefit from an appeal. Of course, there will be teachers who don't do this, but that is within the control of individual schools rather than a fault of the exam system.

I'm worried by the reports of things like a whole question being missed, or someone going from B to A* (that was A-level). I think that

• where there is a big discrepancy between papers, exam boards should be checking that nothing's been missed, BEFORE results
• exam boards should have to pay some sort of penalty for any result which turns out to be wrong by more than a few marks
• where there's a big error, there should be some automatic checking of other papers that may have been affected in the same way.

Whilst it is undoubtedly unfair that students who miss a borderline by a mark or two are dependent on school/parents being willing to pursue an appeal, I'm far more concerned that there are some students who lose a whole chunk of marks without anyone ever realising. If you've got someone you were expecting to get 4 or 5, and they score in the middle of the band for 4, you wouldn't necessarily think "I wonder if a whole question got missed".

Good point about people not appealing!! A gradd can get changed only if it has been appealed first. According to Ofqual's own statistics, only about 5% of grades are ''challenged'', of which about 20% (that's about 1 in every 5) results in a grade change. How many other grade changes are left, undiscovered, in the 95% of grades that aren't ''challenged''??

Also that statistic is simplified. It varies subject to subject.

This is what happened to my son. A whole question was missed on his Eng Lit. He had been consistently getting high 8's in mocks, so when he got a 5 in the exam it was a shock - the teacher checked the paper and it was clear that one question hadn't been marked. Obviously that makes a big difference in something like Eng Lit. His grade went up to an 8 after the review.

If it had been a 4 mark chemistry question that was missed then we may not have realised. However, the mistake naturally made us more suspicious, so we had 2 other papers that were close to a boundary checked too (Eng Lang and Geography). Both went up by one grade.

Just to update, we were standing in the Ikea checkout doing DS’s uni shopping 🙄 and he sighed “oh god!” while looking at his phone and shook his head with a wry smile. His review of marking had just come back awarding him an extra mark. So now he is only 1 mark off an A instead of 2 marks off an A. We could both only laugh. So close and yet so far! 😂

I don’t regret paying for it. Even though he did get accepted onto his course with the B grade anyway I think his confidence took a wobble getting the grade below his expected. He already knew after he’d sat the paper that he’d made a really daft mistake which had cost him a couple of marks. So with the extra mark in the review he feels he IS worthy of being thought of as working at A grade so can go to uni feeling more confident hopefully.

i need advice I am so stressed, my daughter got her GCSE results last week. Passed them all and we were so pleased as she really had to work hard and does struggle. The teacher asked her to sign a form and said her English language was one mark off a 5 and the school would pay for a remark/review.

My daughter has no idea what she signed and had just got her results so was excited and the implications were not explained that you could be moved down a grade. I was worried and spoke to the exam officer and said they are such small grade boundaries please check first. They have still not come back to me and I am worried they have sent off for a review.

We were happy with my daughters grade she normally only got 5’s in her mocks so not sure why they want to send off.

I am now worried they will reduce her mark by 9 marks putting her at a 3 and not being able to do any of the courses she has enrolled on.

i have emailed the school and asked if they looked at the papers and that we don’t want them re marked as it’s normal for her to get that grade but the head and exam officers are not replying.

We were 1 mark off a higher grade and went for remarking - against the school's advice,
Lost another mark but stayed at the same grade so not much loss! Happy to have tried - no regrets!

@Gcseworries1234 so you don't trust your daughter's teacher to check the paper and judge whether it's worth sending off? It's not clear why you think the grade might go down. Suggest you just talk to the teacher about your worries and seek reassurance when term re-starts.

Well I just heard they did send the off the paper for review without any teachers looking at it first, luckily it is back with no change. Unfortunately my kids school is not very good so I guessed they would probably just send off without even checking it!

@Gcseworries1234 - it's very unlikely that a remark can bring her down by 9 marks. A more likely outcome is gaining 1-2 marks and getting a 6, or losing 1-2 marks and staying a 5. The teachers must've seen scope for improvement hence suggested the remark, don't think you should worry too much, we lost 1 mark but stayed the same grade.

Thanks, she was on a 4 and they sent it off for a review so much closer to failing. They just sent off without the teachers looking at the papers, luckily they came back today no change but caused a lot of worry that wasn’t needed, a 4 is fine for what she wants to do, I think the school just want to improve their own figures.

On the issue of missed questions, that should be an easy spot in the centre - they have access to the question level marks.

We routinely ask students to give permission for us to see the papers if there are gaps.

We are getting English lit remarked as he was 1 mark off a 6 and the teacher advised it after looking at his paper. We discussed physics as he was 2 marks off a 8 but that teacher said probably unlikely to improve. We were told they couldn’t go down a grade though…

fyi... just in case your school didn't explain... when you 'challenge' a grade, you do not get the paper re-marked. Rather, the exam boards check for what they call a "marking error" - a mark that is obviously wrong. What is often unclear is that is very different from having a senior examiner take another look, and give an independent, authoritative, re-mark. That can all be most confusing! Here's a link that might be helpful. Also, it's worth noting that about 42% of Eng Lit grades, and 12% of Physics grades, as awarded, are wrong - but, since 2016, the rules for appeals have been 'fixed' to prevent their discovery and correction.

Thanks for the info although I didn’t really understand what it actually meant.

I’ve just received an email to say following a review of the marking he’s gone from a 5 to an 8. On one paper from 45 to 74 marks, I’m astounded really.

Sounds like a whole question was missed- my son went up from a 5 to an 8 last year on Eng Lit, and that was the reason.