Ds didn't see 5 questions on maths paper 1 and has missed his A by 7 marks. What would you do?

[AguaSinGas]

Ds thought he'd reached the end of the paper at Q10. There were 5 more questions. I contacted school as soon as he got home (he realised when he overheard students in the bus talking about questions he hadn't seen). School checked immediately that he didn't have a faulty paper. He didn't.

We knew his A star was lost, but remained hopeful for a A (based on conversations with his maths department who said that even if the grade boundary shifted upwards by 5 points, which was their feeling it could do, he could scrape the A. The boundary went up by 10 points. Had their boundary prediction been correct, he would have indeed just scraped the A)

He has lost his uni place as the A in maths was a hard line.

He got 3As. And a B in maths.

His marks per paper breakdown are:
Paper 1: 55/100
Paper 2: 65/100
Paper 3 69/100

Raw score 189, A boundary 196.

He can: apply to see his scripts. Or ask for a review. Or move on.

He's spoken to the uni, who have said no based on the B. He wants to retake the maths and reapply for 2024.

But we've been discussing whether we should get the scripts and just see if those 7 marks could be found in a review. We know 7 marks is a lot to find in a review.

We found out on results day that the school applied for special consideration but it was rejected by the exam board. We didn't know they'd done that.

What would you do?

Can he try for a degree apprenticeship elsewhere? Those are really high entry requirements- my son is looking at tech degree apprenticeships and the entry requirements are way less than for the actual Uni degree itself

I would say apply to have the paper remarked, with the view he will resit and go next year. I missed out on my uni place, so I ended up having a gap year, I went to the uni the following year. I will always be grateful for that year out. If I hadn't gone the year I did, I would never have met 3 of my very best friends. Get him to think that a gap year is actually a positive thing. He sounds like he's sensible. Get him to celebrate, he's done brilliantly 3 As and B, we'll done to him!!

@VisionsOfSplendour I have no idea what the outcome was. It was a neighbour who told me, it was her dd's friend. My Ds is the same year group. I must ask. I think the girl just knew how many questions had been on practice papers and just assumed the same. You'd think instinct would make you turn the page though.

We know it can go down as easily as it can go up. But in a way that doesn't matter if the grand plan is a resit.

He will not entertain clearing. I've tried! I also think resitting to go from a B to an A is verging on crackers, but these are his decisions, it's his future.

I'm happy to support him. He's driven and reminds me of me at that age. And my parents did my head in not understanding what I wanted and diminishing what I thought about my future. So, rightly or wrongly, I'm supporting his choices.

I'm just checking, while the review and see script window is open, that we are taking the right approach.

As a result of the thread, I have decided to get copies of his scripts.

I was going to say the same. It could end up being a great year for him and he goes into resits next year fighting fit in every way and then onto university in a great frame of mind.

He has to discuss the options with PWC. We have been told he wouldn't need to go through the whole recruitment process in full. But, there's always but, isn't there? They are moving back to face to face interviews next year and as he did a recorded interview, they may require him to go back through the process from the beginning. And it was a tough process!
@TooOldForThisNonsense UoB told us the lower offer is in recognition of the achievement of getting through the recruitment process. The kids that get accepted are usually exceptional.

He was so pleased with himself when he got through each round. And when je was offered the place, he was euphoric! And then we went for a special offer holders day where he was told that 50000 kids applied for the places and only 19 were offered it. I could see how gobsmacked he was!

And now it's gone. And he's struggling to come to terms with it. He will of course. But it's very raw right now.

I know this is terribly important to you and your son but you are asking the school and his teacher to do extra unpaid work in an almost certainly futile attempt to find 7 extra marks in part of a paper that he will have done extremely well on. Now multiply that request and effort by every other pupil that hasn’t done as well as they should and remember for teachers this happens every year. Then give your head a wobble.

This is part of a teacher's job. A Levels are important. Sometimes children make mistakes. It sounds like those extra marks won't be there for this student because he'll already have done well on the exam, but I definitely don't think students should be deciding not to ask a school to review a paper because it's a faff for a teacher 😳

At the minute all options for the year out are on the table. And this has definitely been discussed.

He's been offered a tech job already.

He wants to learn to drive, get a job, retake maths, with some tuition along the way to keep his hand in. These are all definite. He also has a couple of projects on the go, one of which is growing mushrooms (don't ask!) and picking the hardest locks (again, don't ask!). His girlfriend is going to the uni in our home town, so he will still be able to see her. He also has a long list of reading he wants to get on with.

He is also talking about getting some cyber security quals and other tech based things.

We are on holiday next week, which he needs. He has a mouth full of angry ulcers which he thinks is from the stress.

He sounds like a great kid (young man now, really!) you must be very proud.

An extra year before uni is just a small blip on a long life span and it sounds like he’s not the type to be easily distracted from his goals.

His grades are a great achievement so I hope he is able to enjoy his success as well as cope with his disappointment.

if he does have to redo the interview process he will have a stand out story to tell.

Look at options through clearing before ruling them out. See it as an opportunity rather than failure. It’s a life lesson but one he can come back from.

He has and he's adamant. Sigh.

And I don't want anybody to think I'm not proud and I haven't told him how well he's done.

He is an interesting, driven, talented young man. He will undoubtedly come out stronger from this experience. He just needs to get over the initial feelings and get focused on making the most of the year ahead. It's still early days. It'll come, I'm sure!

I’m not saying pupils and parents should not ever ask for this but I’m saying in this case where it is almost certainly futile it comes across as fucking entitled to ask the teachers to put in extra unpaid unnecessary work in a futile attempt to undo a mistake he made.

The OP said
He came out of the paper 2 exam, rang me and said it went really well. He was right, of the 10 questions he did answer, he was operating at about 86%.

I think I'll ask for a copy of the scripts on Monday. Nothing to lose. But I'm sure it won't make a difference. He actually predicted his raw scores to within a mark on each paper. He knew what he'd got right and what he'd not.

I feel for the OPs son I really do but sometimes mistakes are made that cant be undone.

Oh, bloody hell, poor lad. I managed to put down my clipboard over a whole page of questions at an OSCE station in one of my finals. On the plus side, it was my best subject, so I still passed. But it was also the only subject where I was likely to get a distinction. I was gutted. It's so easy to make a silly little mistake with potentially major consequences when you're freaked out in an exam room. Good for you that you are supporting him in his ambitions. It sounds like he is a very bright and motivated young man. Ultimately, I think he will go far. One day this will just seem like a minor bump in the road.

@AguaSinGas i haven’t read the full thread so I’m sorry if I read this wrong - is he hoping to work for pwc? Only to add, my cousin is there and utterly miserable. He said it’s an awful work environment and he’ll be leaving as soon as he can once he has done his agreed contract following training. He gets out in 6 months and is so happy talking about leaving. It’s not necessarily the dream but I appreciate it looks good on a cv. My brother didn’t get in (20 years ago) despite Cambridge degree and now works in hedge funds in Canada. There’s other routes in life so this is an opportunity for ds to have a plan B and explore options.

I hear you. But the school were honestly happy to do whatever to help him. Getting the scripts won't create extra work for the teachers, the exams officer said he would apply and they'd be emailed over to my son. I didn't get the impression that teachers would even look at the scripts.

He also said the review of the paper requests are administrative only (from the schools point of view) and the exams officer is processing lots of them, so again was happy to receive the application from ds. The exam board do the review.

Have the school given me the wrong impression here?

Our school talks about this a number of times to both GCSE and A'level students as part of exam prep, to try make sure it doesn't happen.
He won't find 7 marks. A hard lesson to learn I'm afraid.

Our school had an A level enquiry last year as so many remarks resulted in a higher grade (particularly in English and Economics). My son's Politics re-mark went up 7 or 8 marks to an A star.

I'd discouraged him from doing it as he had his university place but he felt hard done by on one of the papers, as did his teachers.

If you can afford it, I'd do the re-mark so you don't have that what if feeling.

This is interesting. And you're not the first person with this kind of story. I am definitely going to mention that it may not be everything he'd hoped for anyway.

Thanks.

I also think resitting to go from a B to an A is verging on crackers, but these are his decisions, it's his future.

A friend's son has also taken a year out to resit maths as he needed an A star for his dream course and got an A. The uni were willing to offer the same grades again and having just got his results, he's going in September.

Oh blimey. Sorry I've just seen the bit about Tech Degree with PwC. Talk to PwC, see what they say re doing stuff now to hopefully being partly already accepted next year? Ds1 is PwC Flying start at Nottingham. He's working for them Canary Wharf for 3 months starting next month. Sorry to read @TeenLifeMum post about cousin not liking PwC, I have heard similar. But ds1 seems happy so far.

Most posters on here OP, won't appreciate how absolutely massive this is. If a child does want to go on a PWC apprenticeship or placement or flying start or whatever, they want it really badly. they've probably wanted it for a long time and the whole procedure: going through applications, interviews is absolutely monumental, because the competition is fierce - about nearly 10,000 compete people for a few 100 places. so those of us who do know what your son has been through, have quite a bit of sympathy. ❤️ unlike some other posters who won't know enough about it to appreciate what has happened. I am very sorry for your son. Try and investigate with both the school and PwC themselves and see if anything can be done at all.

This is a fabulous story and I think what my ds is hoping for. He may well change his mind as the year progresses, but as things stand at the minute, this is his plan and his hope!

The year out can be a positive, after the initial disappointment wears off. The kids I know have gone travelling, studied abroad and worked in related fields while resitting an A level.

Thanks, this is where the massive feelings come from.

He saw this when he was 15 and he said 'I'm going to do that'. And he bloody did. We knew about half a dozen other kids going for it and he was the only one offered. And some of those kids were truly exceptional. One of the lads got 3A stars, but didn't get offered a place.

They were paying for his degree, paying him a salary, he was due to get private medical and dental, tons of work experience in a corporate environment and a flying start (ha!) to his career.

Nothing else, in his mind, comes close. Thanks for the understanding. He was due to go to the office on Tuesday to complete his right to work checks. Now he's desperately got to try and get hold of his recruiter and confirm the process for next year.