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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

Question re A level missed grades going to review of marks

65 replies

Boysarefab · 18/08/2022 20:06

My DS missed his firm and insurance by a few marks so was rejected by his chosen uni's. Teachers suggested a priority remark on the two subjects. He has offers in clearing which we may accept one of but if after the review he gets the grades he needed for the original firm or insurance do they have to honour it? The dilemma is that we only have a couple of days to accept the clearing place and be also guaranteed accommodation and the review will take longer than that. Anyone have any experience of this and what happened. Thanks

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 18/08/2022 20:25

The UCAS website says

"Students have the right to appeal their grade.

Universities and colleges will endeavour to be flexible in keeping places open until an outcome is received. It’s important to keep the universities and colleges informed of any appeals."

deuxgarcons · 18/08/2022 20:33

@noblegiraffe he missed an A in maths by 2 marks. His head of dept has requested his paper to look at. It's Edexcel. As a maths teacher (you have an excellent reputation on MN!) Have you seen good outcomes on any reviews with a couple of marks off?

noblegiraffe · 18/08/2022 21:17

Maths/Further maths have the lowest rate of appeals but a higher rate of grade changes (about one in four appeals successful in changing grades in 2019) because the marking is so tight that usually appeals are only made when one or two marks off and because maths teachers can look at scripts and spot marking errors more easily than in other subjects which are more subjective.

Fingers crossed for you that the HOD spots something.

noblegiraffe · 18/08/2022 21:32

Incidentally, if anyone wants to look at the data for all subjects, it's here on Table 8:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/851641/Reviews_of_Marking_and_Moderation_for_GCSE_and_GCE_summer_2019_series.xlsx

Acuppaandcake · 20/08/2022 16:22

@Boysarefab - I wish your son lots of luck. - it feels like decisions have to be so rushed

We’re in a similar boat - although ds has found a clearing place which he is happy with. However he’s really unhappy with one of his grades (AQA economics) and I think from a self esteem point of view i would like him to investigate either what went wrong or pursue a review. He felt the economics exams had gone pretty well but his grade doesn’t support this…
We’ve asked school to get copies of papers / breakdown of marks as a starting point. It looks like he’s 4 marks off the grade above.
I’ve just had a quick scan of the doc you attached, @noblegiraffe - will have a proper look later, thank you.

ZandathePanda · 20/08/2022 20:55

In 2019 my older Dd had one of her humanities papers remarked and gained 8 marks (she only needed 1 to change the grade). She thought the other paper was low in the same subject but she had the most obviously low one remarked first and then didn’t bother will the other once the grade had changed.

Her friend went from a D to an A at A Level in 2019 (apologies don’t know the subject) but it was an admin error. Another girl, same year, expected to get a D got an A (politics) and she was so delighted she asked if she could see the papers but the teachers advised against!!

Exams really feel like luck and games. It can be very frustrating.

Dds state school is very proactive at looking at papers and requesting priority remarks for pupils. I know one pupil this year who has got (back) into his first choice after a priority remark that came back after 24 hours. He was lucky the university had room as he had been rejected. It was a humanities subject and he was 1 mark off.

I don’t know anyone who has gone down a grade after a remark but you need to have a really good idea of grade boundaries. I sure it happens.

Acuppaandcake · 20/08/2022 22:22

Goodness - it feels like such a lottery. These grades are life changing and yet seem so often to be inaccurate 😞

ZandathePanda · 20/08/2022 22:59

Yes I agree it’s a lottery and I feel bad some people can’t afford to chance a remark as it costs £50-£60 each if the grade doesn’t move. If the grade does go up they don’t charge.

MulberryMoon · 20/08/2022 23:04

ZandathePanda · 20/08/2022 20:55

In 2019 my older Dd had one of her humanities papers remarked and gained 8 marks (she only needed 1 to change the grade). She thought the other paper was low in the same subject but she had the most obviously low one remarked first and then didn’t bother will the other once the grade had changed.

Her friend went from a D to an A at A Level in 2019 (apologies don’t know the subject) but it was an admin error. Another girl, same year, expected to get a D got an A (politics) and she was so delighted she asked if she could see the papers but the teachers advised against!!

Exams really feel like luck and games. It can be very frustrating.

Dds state school is very proactive at looking at papers and requesting priority remarks for pupils. I know one pupil this year who has got (back) into his first choice after a priority remark that came back after 24 hours. He was lucky the university had room as he had been rejected. It was a humanities subject and he was 1 mark off.

I don’t know anyone who has gone down a grade after a remark but you need to have a really good idea of grade boundaries. I sure it happens.

Could the papers have got mixed up between the A student and D student if the first student might have been Politics?

ZandathePanda · 20/08/2022 23:07

No it wasn’t politics. I have a feelings it was maths or another subject where it was very easy to instantly see the mark was wrong.

Chewbecca · 21/08/2022 13:32

@Acuppaandcake DS is also surprised his AQA Economics paper 2 mark & we're getting the script to see where he went wrong. It's only £5 so worth it I think to find out.

He is happy with the overall grade and has his place so not planning a re-mark just be nice to resolve the confusion and see why.

Acuppaandcake · 21/08/2022 13:38

@Chewbecca My ds doesn't have his breakdown of marks yet but we will pursue a remark if it looks like it might help. Interesting that your ds had an issue with it too.

Zott · 22/08/2022 14:15

Head of a biology emailed this morning to say DS is one mark off a B and recommends a remark. We are thrilled as DS thought he had a high B and might scrape an A, he went white when he saw his C. Does anyone know how long the remarking takes? It’s doesn’t affect his uni as his insurance took him anyway. Just curious to know. TIA.

MrsHamlet · 22/08/2022 14:21

It's not a remark; it's a review of marking. They're not going to look for more marks but check whether the mark given was reasonable.
20 calendar days.

Zott · 22/08/2022 15:21

@MrsHamlet thank you, teacher called it a remark but thanks for clarification.20 days is pretty quick.

MrsHamlet · 22/08/2022 15:30

@Zott the awarding bodies try to get these things done as quickly as humanly possible. Teachers not understanding the new processes or using the wrong terminology can muddy the waters somewhat

Acuppaandcake · 22/08/2022 18:23

@noblegiraffe Just in case I’m being thick - have I understood it right that table 14 show that economics is one of the subjects where grade adjustments/uplifts were more common?

User56785 · 22/08/2022 18:34

We were told they would get the results back within 14 days.

However the firm offer university have said that they will not keep a place open. She has to wait till the remark is back and then contact them. They also won’t honour her accommodation so will end up with none as the clearing people are getting their places now.

Zwicky · 22/08/2022 19:18

We were told they would get the results back within 14 days

However the firm offer university have said that they will not keep a place open. She has to wait till the remark is back and then contact them. They also won’t honour her accommodation so will end up with none as the clearing people are getting their places now.

Same here. The university have said they will look at it if the review is back before September 2nd, with September 3rd being the latest it should be back according to AQA. They aren’t even giving accommodation to insurance place students or firm choice students who missed the accommodation deadline so there will be zero left for ds. I really want him to get the extra mark but it’s going to be pretty stressful finding a place to live if he gets it and they will accept him.

Acuppaandcake · 22/08/2022 20:30

That’s so tough - as if it’s their fault if it has been marked incorrectly? Hope it all works out for them.

Localher0 · 23/08/2022 10:48

DD was one mark off an A so we requested a review of marking in 18th. It was done by 20th but not emailed by school until 22nd. (OCR) The new grade was a comfortable A.
Good luck to all who are still waiting.

HarrietDVane · 23/08/2022 11:06

@Localher0 Congratulations to your DD! Did you go for the priority service with OCR? We are awaiting a standard review from OCR, also sent on 18th.

Localher0 · 23/08/2022 11:40

Tbh I'm not sure how it went through. We requested priority but the exams officer explained that was for students needing a quick outcome for Uni offers. My DD had met her requirements so I said I was happy for it to be a normal review. So was surprised to get it so quickly. As we don't have to pay I don't actually know how it was processed!!

HarrietDVane · 23/08/2022 11:46

Thank you - hopefully we'll hear soon too! Was it an essay subject?

Localher0 · 23/08/2022 11:59

Yes - Eng Lit

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