Applying for Uni 2019 Part 7: IB and A Levels are but a memory, we're relaxing and let's not even think about the 15 August yet!

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Carrying on from the previous thread which filled up very quickly.

, and for everyone

two!

@PiggyWasPushed that is really good to hear.

I appreciate the system favours those who can afford to apply for a re-mark, but until the exam boards improve the process for initial marking so that parents and students can be confident in the first result given, an opportunity for the paper to be reviewed and marked again is welcome.

on the subject of remarks, again going back a few years DS1 had a humanities paper remarked. Marked originally as just above the Grade E boundary, came back just below the A boundary - this was a humanities subject and the other papers in the subject and course work were both high As. Frightening really the scale of error. This was AQA.

Conversely last year DS2 had a slightly lower than predicted overall grade, and two papers widely different in scoring (one almost perfect, the other rather less so). He was confident about the "poor" paper being better, however nothing changed with the remark.

I'm sure if successful the remark fee is returned, however I'm equally sure that the remark fees can put some off.

Right!. So based on Errors experience and piggy’s list it might just still be worth it. Problem is we went for 3 paper remarks at GCSE, DS was 1 mark away from an A in physics and 2 & 3 marks away from another A and A in 2 other subjects. He didn’t get a single mark extra! And it cost about £300 in total.

Sorry meant to say Marching’s criteria list plus Piggy’s comments.

It is extortion : hence my comment about affluence. It makes me vvvv cross.

Of course, if the boards admit error, they refund the fee. Read probability into that, if you will...

The anecdotal info from years back is before the changes to the system. History was , in particular, developing a bad reputation for accuracy of marking. If media is to be believed , the shitstorm will be in Eng Lang GCSE this year.

To give you an example, in my school, remarks are funded either by the parents themselves, or by the department. Any recall of papers to look at them is funded by the department. My annual budget for everything I need in my (small) department is wiped out by one remark and two script recalls...

I see what you mean Piggy. We could afford it and funded it ourselves but we’re not millionaires and £300 in return for nothing really hurt. I know charities that would’ve been delighted to receive that.
Of course like you said the likeliness of boards admitting liability is very small. I don’t know what the answer is, if there’s s a chance of 1 or 2 Marks extra to get into your university choice, you’ll want to do whatever you can for your child, on the other hand, where does “marking” stop? The workload must be immense, unless we can all be certain they get it right first time. *Error’s” example is quite mind boggling.

Hi - just to add our experience - two DDs, three extortionate (self-paid) re-marks, one A* instead of an A, the other two remained as A's. Suppose it was worth it and it kind of has to be done I feel if you're only one mark away.......?

@Piggywaspushed How does your dept. decide whose papers they put forward for remarking and Is there a cap on number of paper remarks per student? Or is it simply driven by parental requests?

I have a well off friend who, last summer, paid to get every one of her DS's History A level papers re-marked, taken at a ££ private school, as he got a B and needed an A to do History at uni.

It cost her several hundred £, but most of his cohort's parents did the same, and most got higher marks, (a few got lower marks!) but several crossed a grade boundary, as did her DS.

It's a huge shame that poorer parents can't do that, but that's how the world works, I guess.

3 or 4 years ago our comp got all of the English Lit GCSEs re-marked as they had many really clever kids, you know the sort, 12 A stars, who actually got 11 A stars and a C...🤔

They all got far higher marks.

I completely understand and agree with @Piggywaspushed frustration.
At DS school re-marks were hardly mentioned and had to be paid for by parents. If it hadn’t been for mumsnet I wouldn’t have known we could do this.

Oh and the school refused to refund the fees we paid despite the increase in the grade!

But again the fault is not with parents who pay, but in the Boards not marking correctly in the first place. Though it seems that anecdotally some very well off parents are taking advantage.

Actually wasn’t there an issue 2 years ago with the new English Lit GCSE? I think those who applied for a re-mark early on had a far greater chance of the paper being properly reviewed and re-marked?
@Piggywaspushed - I seem to remember you commenting on this? Or have I got confused?

Do you see your full mark and boundary with the results then or do you need to ask if you missed a grade how far off you were?

Yes, that was indeed me error !

Shouldn't be such an issue at A Level as remarks are usually requested immediately.

Grade boundaries are published a day or two before results day. They are not printed on the results slip.

shimy, I'd advise the students/parents and ask them to cough up, unless PP.

Large depts. with big budgets would tend to target some borderline scripts and pay for those and then expect students/parents to request otherwise.

My school is huuuuuge so no one really has time/ resources to analyse every result, sadly.

LIZS I think they are only publishing them on the morning of the results now as it's caused too much anxiety in the days or so before the results came out. I don't know if schools get them earlier. When do the school's get the results?

We paid for an english lit remark 2 years ago and DS went from a 7 to an 8. His teacher looked at the paper that we had remarked and said it was way off in terms of the marks awarded.

For IB you can’t have individual papers of a subject remarked - it has to be all papers in a subject. This makes more sense in my opinion.

The grade boundaries for my subject are very hard to find. They are on a secure website which most teachers can't access. It seems to me boundaries for science and maths are always much more openly published.

They are all published on restricted access to educational people the day before results and maths and the sciences are the most commonly leaked to the wider public. They are released freely on the website at 6am on results day at least for Edexcel.

Edexcel is far more open, though : they are the same board who let you view the actual papers foc online. Eduqas , for example, stick everything in a 'walled garden' which is really frustrating.

Hi everyone, a query:

"Many more courses not listed in July will be added to the listings in August when universities know how many applicants met their offers." (from TSR)

I was going to advise DS to sit down tomorrow and find some Clearing options which many be on a level with his back-up university (if he doesn't get his firm choice). However, if the universities now know today how many of their applicants have met/exceeded their offers, is it likely that Clearing will be updated today, or more likely this won't happen until Monday/Tuesday of next week?

New I think the closer to results date the more accurate Clearing database will be. So I would wait till at least Tuesday. That’s when DS and I will plan to trawl the database for other options.