Is it possible for questions to be missed in marking A Levels?

[purplepatricia]

DC has fortunately met the requirement for firm choice, just.

But looking at the marks for the papers, there's an obvious discrepancy with paper 1 at 42%. DC thought this paper had gone well - if anything paper 2 was the one they struggled with, but came out with 60% on that one.

DC was predicted A in this subject, has achieved A's in all mocks and class work, and has been dropped down to a C.

Now it could be that it was just a terrible paper, and as I say, DC has got their place confirmed anyway. But is it worth questioning whether something has been missed? DC uses a laptop for exams, so I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility...?

Thanks

Ask the school for a remark. The paper will be reviewed by the principle examiner or someone from their team. Some schools ask you to pay for this

Some exam boards (I know this applies to AQA as I use it) have a page for HoDs where they can see the marks that were awarded on each question. So ask your DC's HoD to have a check, if they are around. (If not, the deadlines for reviews of marking are fairly tight.)

(It's great, because if you can see that a whole class struggled with one particular topic, you can have a word with the teacher.)

And congrats to your DC!

Nothing is impossible but they will have a system to record each question mark.

Just request a re-mark.

Some exam boards will also allow the school to request the script for review- it's worth asking about this, and then a teacher will check it to see if there have been any very obvious mistakes.

The risk with asking for a remark/appeal straight off the bat is that the mark could go down as well as up, and that could impact your DC's uni place.

The teacher can request script to review, some boards do this foc. A remark is literally a clerical check.

With no place riding on it, I think I'd request an access to script so a teacher can check it.

Definitely request to view the script - this is free for all boards apart from Cambridge International and exams officers can download the paper electronically (I’ve been doing this today already!)
Requests must come from the student, but once made the paper should come back really quickly and you’ll be able to see if any questions weren’t marked (and request a review if necessary - fortunately it’s not a priority, university place depending on it review!). It happened to two of our students last year. Well done to your DC for getting their uni place! ☺️

Not quite, you can request a Clerical Check and that's different.

A "review of marking" has replaced a remark. It means that another examiner does a 'sniff test' (is there something fishy with the marking?) rather than actually marking the paper from scratch without seeing what the first examiner said (that would be a 're-mark.')

First step should just be to ask the school to check - for aqa and edexcel they should be able to do this straight away. Edexcel keeps crashing for me but for aqa I have been able to check each individual question mark. It's one of the first things I check for as I have had a student with zero for one question before - impossible for a clever kid in history who attempted the question - all that is then needed is to apply to the board for a clerical check. If your kid is that certain they can also discuss a review or marking with the hod (it's not a remark these days).

You can normally ask to view the paper, and I think that service may be free, or fairly cheap. I think you have to ask fairly quickly though, possibly even by tomorrow, so get on with it!

Some teachers will happily go through the paper then (with your dc's permission) and tell you if it's worth appealing. It could be that one paper they reckon should go up by 4 marks, and another go down by 5, so you then get the going up one remarked, and not the other one! But you do pay per paper if nothing is changed.
In dd's case when she was 2 marks off the boundary, her teacher spotted that they'd not marked part of one question (maths so obvious) and so that was an easy 3 mark gain.

My friend answered from the wrong section in our A level and I didn’t have the heart to tell her and risk her messing up the rest of her exams. She was supposed get A/B and got a D because she will have got a zero for one part. I’m not sure if they still have papers like that but sometimes it is the students mistake and not a reflection of their work.

Following as I’m interested too.

DS got AAB, the B was very unexpected in PE. We’ve seen the marks and on one of the papers he lost nearly 50% of the marks which is very unlikely (not impossible but he’s never done that before). Even his teacher thought it was really odd.

@purplepatricia This happened to my daughter last year. She got A star in both French and Spanish but the Spanish result was much lower - her teacher inquired and on one paper she'd only got 50% - when the teacher inquired it turned out the exam board had simply forgotten to include the marks from half the paper and when they did It gave her another 10%.
So do query this anomaly ...

Sorry, can you explaine further please?
It may be just me but I am confused.

Do you mean the system has changed? Thanks.

https://www.aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/after-results/post-results/review-and-priority-review-of-mark

That's the AQA version, but all the boards are similar.

One of the major differences from a few years ago is that grades can now be changed up or down - previously, the possible outcome were up or no change. Now, if the reviewer finds that marks have been awarded which shouldn't have been, and that would result in the grade going down, it will be revised downwards.

(I'm still boggled at all these schools / colleges which seem to have given GCSE and A level candidates zero information about the exam boards' post-resulys services).

I had this in one of my English A level papers. There were two essay questions, and the marker had stopped reading after the first page. So one question got an extremely low mark and the other question was awarded zero. My grade went from a U to an A for that paper when it was remarked. Luckily I still met the grade for my university place!!

Thank you for the replies.

Sure! This changed a few years back.

The old system was a re-mark. The second marker (normally a team leader) got a copy of the paper and marked it from scratch. The new system is a review of marking. The reviewer looks at each question and the mark awarded by the first examiner, and asks, "is this reasonable, even if I would have given it higher or lower?"

Imagine an essay. Examiner 1 gives it 18/25. In a re-mark (old system), examiner 2 might have given it 21/25, and that would be the new mark. In a review, examiner 2 would say, "Little bit harsh, but I can see why E1 gave that mark, so the 18 stands." In effect, it means that long questions are less likely to change marks than short questions.

Warning; this is my understanding as a teacher. People involved as examiners might have more info!

Just thought I’d update if anyone is interested. DS got AAB with the B being very unexpected in OCR PE. He’s taken a Gap year to try and apply to Loughborough again next year with grades in the hope of getting in this time.
Its taken a long time to sort out but school sent 2 PE papers and 1 Psychology paper to be reviewed on Friday. We are quietly hopeful for Psychology as he only needed 2 marks for an A star but PE was a complete long shot as he needed 6 marks for an A. 6th form advised to only send the paper with the lowest mark but we decided to try 2 papers as DS was confident it hadn’t been marked correctly on 2 questions.

I got a very excited phone call this afternoon at work saying it’s been reviewed and he got 6 extra marks. 2 were from the marks not being added up correctly and 4 were from the mark scheme not being followed (his paper was full of “Too Vague” comments.

So his grade has been adjusted from a B to an A which he absolutely deserved.

It hasn’t solved the problem as Loughborough want A star AA but we are half way there at least. I’m so proud of him for persevering as he believed he was right and the questions had been marked wrong.

@mrsconradfisher Great news!! Have you had the psychology paper back yet?

What are his plans for the gap year?

No not yet. It’s AQA which apparently takes ages. The PE one was back in 2 days!!

He is working (already had a job so just more hours), doing a Sports Psychology course online with Derby Uni (it’s like a pre degree course) and supporting with the PE dept at his high school plus his usual football coaching.

He’s gone from complete panic about not getting the grades and dreading Uni to looking forward to a Gap Year. It will be easier if the Psychology gets upgraded but I think he still has a chance with AAA.

This happened to my son (Scotland, not A-levels, but national exams) in his computing exam which is roughly equivalent to GCSE. Two papers, arrangements which meant he sat them on a laptop in a room separate from other students. Predicted an A grade. Results came in at a D - we were surprised and a but concerned as he had already started the course for the next level exam and had he only achieved a D, that was clearly a worry.

Very long story short but the school got access to the marks on the paper and saw that he had done well on paper 1 (about 80% I think) but had scored 10% on the second paper. First two short answer questions marked, the rest not marked. . We are still not sure what happened as the school are adamant it was printed and sent with all the others, the exam board would not confirm whether it was received and then lost, or never received. Just that it wasn't ever marked.

He got upgraded on appeal and continued on to get a good mark in the next level exam. So in short yes - anything is possible. The school/college should surely be able to see the breakdown of marks between papers, or even ask the exam board to confirm all parts were received, and all parts marked. Mistakes do happen and it seems there is more scope for that happening when you have one or two kids separate from the bulk where papers are collected by the invigilator and immediately put in envelopes.