A in mock exam. E in A level

[Ceci03]

So we are querying DDs result in drama. The coursework was 60% and she got A*. In the mock exam she got an A. She got a C overall in A Level and it turns out she got an E in the exam. She was brought up to a C by her coursework.

I work in a Uni and come from a family of teachers and I have never heard of a student going from an A to an E ??? She didn't have a panic attack. She answered all the questions that has been confirmed.

Grateful for anyone going through so then g similar... I feel that her teacher needs to explain himself? Was he using a different masking scheme? The CW mark be awarded was confirmed by the external tho so hd Aug know what he is doing. Am so puzzled. I would accept she could drop a grade to a B but to drop to an E? She worked so so hard.

It can happen, albeit rarely. I would suggest asking for the grade boundaries and what the score was. A re-mark can result in a grade.moving up or down so you need to see where she sits withing the boundary. If she is at the very top and a very few marks could push her up go for it. I might be more cautious of she is at the bottom. This is definitely possible and is how I have approached re-marks in the past as a head of department. Good luck to your poor daughter. I can imagine it has been a real shock and so disappointing.

I'm not familiar with drama exams but are the questions essay based? I was a straight A biology student but got a D in my final exam which brought me down to B overall. I got I remarked and it came back as an A, all down to the essay question. I think with essay subjects/questions it's a bit more open to interpretation and a 2nd marker 'got' my line of thought and graded it far higher than the first

I've just seen the same has happened in 2 subjects. Gently, on that basis I think it's possibly more likely that this is an exam technique issue, particularly if the whole class(es) haven't underperformed. There will be set things she needs to demonstrate to reach the higher grades even if all the knowledge is there. Whether teachers have been more lenient in mocks is obviously hard to say, or if they had more coaching for mocks and without that jog/reminder she's forgotten, but it wouldn't hurt to get it remarked. I would also ask her teachers to read over the scripts and give their opinion. My biology script for example my teacher read and thought they'd marked very harshly, but my psychology that I also did as well as expected in my teacher was able to read through it with me and explain why what I'd written hadn't met the criteria needed etc

I think if the head who has looked at the paper says it’s not worth remarking then you probably need to listen to them. What was your dd wanting to do at uni? Has she now not got her required grades or did she have an unconditional? Anything available in clearing?

Dd didn’t do great in her A levels, think she got CCC, she’s just finished uni with a 1st class degree in a tough academic subject. I don’t necessarily think A level results are a great predictor though admit that probably depends on the subject.

If the head is not a specialist oin the subject then what would they know, they only care about the grades and their own job, not about student's wellbeing.

Also it is not HT'sdecision to get the remark, go for it,E or U,no big difference, E or A, a massive one, a no brainer.

The fact that this has happened in two subjects indicates leniency from teachers marking during the year rather than completely incorrect marking in two different exams across two different subjects. She might want to resit next year

Not necessarily- we moderate our papers between 4/5 different teachers for both GCSE's and A levels and are usually spot on and yet marks were shockingly lower as compared to previous years.

Examiner here.

Depending on the board, the school may be able to get immediate access to the script without having to request it. They can just do it through the teacher section of the exam board websites.

First thing to check is has your daughter answered the question correctly? Does she have enough info in her response? Compare it to the markscheme. Have all the questions been marked? Etc.

If there's nothing obvious, do go for the remark. Mistakes do happen, so question it.

However, also be prepared that perhaps the fault might also lie with your daughter. You say she's never been anything other that an A grade student, but she's also never sat exams before. This year group never did their GCSEs, it was always teacher assessment, so there is always the possibility that perhaps her teachers have been too generous in the past (typically done when students have a lovely written style but with little substance behind it) or perhaps, not having done exams before, she didn't revise as effectively and have as much knowledge as needed. Mocks only ever look at a small section of the paper and so rarely give a real reflection as to how students will do.

The fact it happened in 2 subjiexts does make me question the school

Eeeeeee see for me that points to the exact opposite

Mocks only ever look at a small section of the paper and so rarely give a real reflection as to how students will do.

Not always true. We do full mocks for each paper.

If there's nothing obvious, do go for the remark

I would say even if there IS something obvious, go for the review (it's a review not a remark these days; they are different things).

there is always the possibility that perhaps her teachers have been too generous in the past (typically done when students have a lovely written style but with little substance behind it)

Fully agree with this as a possibility.

Eeeeeee see for me that points to the exact opposite

Same - the common thing here is the student, not the teacher!

What @LadyHester said.

I think it is very very worrying that the school are pressuring you not to investigate such a huge surprise. They should be leading the investigation, not stopping it!

If she worked hard and got an A in coursework and was not anxious and answered all the exam questions then it sounds to me like the school did not teach her the stuff that came up in the exam. I see no other explanation. No wonder they’re blaming DD not investigating!

So sorry this has happened 😔

If she worked hard and got an A in coursework and was not anxious and answered all the exam questions then it sounds to me like the school did not teach her the stuff that came up in the exam. I see no other explanation. No wonder they’re blaming DD not investigating!

But surely dd will know if she actually wrote enough which was relevant for each question to make a decent response or just scratched around to fill the page. Did she relate her answer to productions for example? There is a big difference in quality between an A or E grade answer.

@surreygirl1987

"Not always true. We do full mocks for each paper."

But do you require the students to revise for the whole of the subject content for all of their A levels at the same time?

If not, then this is not a true replication of the exams. And that's my point. There are a lots of studies which show that the way students revise for mock exams is different to the way they revise for their actual exams, and that schools rarely assess everything in the mocks.

So we assess all three exam papers over the two years, but at no point during the mocks are the students expected to know everything for every exam in their mocks in one exam session(largely because they haven't studied it all when they do their mocks!). Again, research shows that this rarely happens, largely because most schools cannot afford to drop teaching for a month to sit full mock exams.

The issue is, what revision is needed for their mocks can cause some students to underestimate the amount of time they need to revise (again, studies show running out of time, not leaving enough time to revise everything can be a real issue for exit exam revision)

I've just written a university paper on this, so if your school is running full mocks (as in students complete every mock exam for every aspect of the course in every subject at the same time, as they would in a real exam), then your school is very much the exception to the rule!

I agree, ask for the grade bonderies first and then decide if a re mark is possible.

I can also say, something similar has happened to DD and her class mates in one subject. They all dropped 1-2 grades after sitting the exam.

It was queried, due to being a popular subject with lots of students. It turns out that the teacher has been teaching the wrong content for some of the exam. Teacher also confirmed that course work was at least A or B standard for all students only to be marked down by external examiner in most cases. So quite frankly techer was useless!

Maybe something similar happened to your DD?

The school cannot ask to review a paper unless they have a member of staff prepared to do it voluntarily, or the funds to employ someone to do it.

If a teacher genuinely believes a student would benefit, they are more likely to review the paper. But last time I volunteered, I gave had feedback ready for the student, and she never even came to get it. It didn't change her mark, but I could have helped her understand where and how she was losing marks - it was the old not answering the question asked - going into great depth and giving accurate information, but not reading the question carefully enough to make their answer relevant to what was asked. It was a waste of my time, she could have benefitted, and improved her exam technique, but couldn't be bothered.

This is really useful. DS did History A Level.
He got equivalent of an A* in Paper 1 and equivalent of an E in Paper 2.

Because he's more confident with the content on Paper 2, and he felt Paper 1 went better than expected, he thinks he probably got a little cocky and just wrote and forgot structure etc.

College have requested the scripts, so I'm assuming he can ask for feedback from the teacher? This would be really useful as he'll probably resit all his A Levels next year after pretty dire results.

Hello!

So not all the advice on this thread is wise, OP. Listen to the teachers and examiners.

A few things:

1. This is a funny year. This group are difficult to predict because they didn't sit GCSEs- therefore we don't really know how they'll do. They don't have that sustained experience of exams.
2. Speak to the subject specialist, not the head. The head may well not know your daughter that well. You've still got a few weeks when school starts back. If they think it's worth sending your daughter's exams off for re-mark, they will want to, because it affects their subject grades too. The head may well just having been risk averse.
3. Not sure of the exam board, but some of them now have the exam papers ready for staff to view online. If this is the case the head of dept. will be able to spot mistakes.
4. I'm a former examiner for English. I suspect drama is likely to be similar. If you think there may have been a marking error, check. It's not unlikely. With the drama grade in particular I think you lose nothing by getting a review.

Good luck.

The teacher needs to explain himself?!?!? When you have clearly stated that his grading of the coursework was confirmed. You sound like a nasty piece of work. I understand that your daughter is upset but maybe she didn’t do well or maybe there was a problem with the marking…. And yet you talk of her teacher as if he works for you and has to explain himself? Wow!!

Much as I hate comparisons how did the rest of the cohort do in those subjects . If everyone did as badly then I think you would have more grounds for saying there is an issue with the marking in the last 2 yrs . Getting. C in an A level doesn’t make you a dunce and that is what you should be saying to your daughter . What was she planning on doing at uni ?

I've just written a university paper on this, so if your school is running full mocks (as in students complete every mock exam for every aspect of the course in every subject at the same time, as they would in a real exam), then your school is very much the exception to the rule!

Good for you... and I have a PhD in education and have researched this a great deal (you may have even read my published work). 🤷‍♀️ But what actually matters is the facts.

You are correct in a great deal of what you say, but your claim that Mocks only ever look at a small section of the paper and so rarely give a real reflection as to how students will do is factually incorrect. I don't think anyone, including me, has even suggested that any school is running full mocks (as in students complete every mock exam for every aspect of the course in every subject at the same time, as they would in a real exam). That is entirely different from your claim that Mocks only ever look at a small section of the paper.

College have requested the scripts, so I'm assuming he can ask for feedback from the teacher? This would be really useful as he'll probably resit all his A Levels next year after pretty dire results.

Yes he can. This is not a 'review of the marking' as that is an official process that would go to the exam board. But he can certainly ask the teacher (and/or Head of Department) to take a look at his paper and they can give him feedback. I'd had 3 requests for this already since Thursday - I examine that course for the exam board which is helpful (although in their cases they want to know if it's worth them going for a review). If you know of any of the teachers who have examined that particular unit (or units) this year, definitely ask for them if possible (mark schemes are great but there can be an element of subjectivity, definitely in English, and even in the sciences, and you might only know the nuances if you have examined that year). Ths teachers don't have to do it of course, but I would never say no, and I don't know any teacher that would refuse. Best of luck to him!

Because he's more confident with the content on Paper 2, and he felt Paper 1 went better than expected, he thinks he probably got a little cocky and just wrote and forgot structure etc.

Also worth bearing in mind that examiners have a level of 'tolerance'. So two examiners could mark the essay at different marks and both would count as technically 'correct' if they're both within the specified range. This level of tolerance differs depending on the exam board, subject, and sometimes unit. The tolerance is obviously higher in subjects like English (and I presume History as well, though am not a History teacher) AND the tolerance typically only comes into play with 'seeded' papers that are included for quality control. Therefore inconsistency with examining can easily slip through the net.

In most subjects, an examiner marks one paper/unit/component. So the same examiner is unlikely to have marked both papers. Your son could easily have got a lenient examiner for one paper, and a harsh one for another. It shouldn't work this way, but sadly this often happens. I've had students get full marks on one paper, and absolutely crash in the other, only to recall the papers and realise that the examiner must have been asleep when he or she marked the low one. Of course, I've seen it happen the opposite way round too!

You need to get a remark.

We had a history student one year who was predicted an A but got D. The paper was sent back and it turned out that the examiner had just put a massive line through a whole essay because they said they couldn’t read the writing.
It was remarked and he jumped to a B.
Absolutely shocking!

Lots of students have had grades that are one or two grades below what they expected this year. It appears that a lot of teachers had forgotten what 2019 grading looked like, and the return to that approach to grading has caught a lot of people out. Nevertheless, if your DD has been getting A grades for her written work, but ended up with a low E in the exam, I think it's reasonable to expect the drama teacher to look at the script and explain what went so wrong (eg did your DD misunderstand what the questions were getting at and therefore give answers that completely missed the point?) In the absence of a detailed and compelling explanation from the drama teacher as to why a low E was the correct grade, I would insist on getting the paper reviewed.