A level Review of Marking - if, what, result

[CartChat]

Just put in for priority review of marking with AQA for French & History.
Difficult weighing up whether to move on or chase down those last few marks.
Anyone heard back already?

It's normally around a week, with a max of two weeks.

@CartChat , on FB WIWIKAU someone posted this morning their dc had a remark and gained 5 points and has been accepted into their uni place. Doesn't say what subject / board.

@CartChat - how was the marking for French this year? Dreading DD taking exams next year & wish she'd never chosen a langauage as it seems really hard to get a good grade.

Thank you @PrivateSchoolTeacherParent
Good to hear there's a teenager able to plan the next steps so quickly @tennissquare.
Our school exam office has been obstructive, although shut after 2.30pm last Thursday and only reopening on this Wednesday, have agreed to submit for a review without waiting for cheques to clear!

I will never regret encouraging DS to study a language @JoeyRamonesHair Its been a great experience, particularly after covid, to travel, get excited about the world.
In a strategic way, trying to game the system - graphic design, Hebrew and say business studies might be statistically, the best bet, but I'm still soft hearted enough to think education for the good of your soul has a place.

We've seen the papers and we suspect the wrong marking scheme has been applied on one of the language ones, could potentially be a jump of 20ish marks. But who knows, I feel wrung out emotionally from watching DS deal with everything over the last few days.

There's another thread on this, @CartChat, but subjects like Hebrew and Graphics tend to attract students who are incredibly keen, talented, or already fluent speakers, hence the high grades! 😀(By the stats, Further Maths and Ancient Greek are both easy... but think about who selects them.)

Good luck on the reviews. I'm waiting to hear back for three of my students (although only one has a uni place hanging on it).

Exactly @PrivateSchoolTeacherParent success in exams is a combination of talent and hard work. You can't use statistics to dictate subject choice success.
There's no room to hide or nowadays just revise the night before so I still stand behind chose what you love and enjoy and have a bit of natural talent for.
I'm always impressed with the more niche subjects like Hebrew or Ancient Greek and further maths because they are often studied outside a standard school timetable.

I love that you are so invested in your students, DS has also been lucky with lots of staff emailing him whilst on their holidays, in the evening or at weekends. We are really grateful.

Also on WIIWIKAU someone who missed a grade A by one mark. Came back unchanged.

Stats show roughly 8% are reviewed and off those approximately 1 in 5 change so in total about 1.7% of all grades change.

We are submitting one of DDs for remarking, needed two more marks for an A. Doesn't change her plans, she's going to insurance choice uni but she was disappointed by her result and would feel more confident with an A in hand.

It was her school that suggested it based on a review of her paper, so fingers crossed!

Ds has accepted his insurance offer @Kerberos , it's a great course at a great uni. He missed the first choice by four grades which was a lot for the ego to handle on top of the rejection.

Need to find 2 marks, 0.5% to move up one subject and 4 marks, 2% to move up the other.
The teachers have been brilliant, the exams officer dreadful. I've had my GCSE DD talking me through marking schemes, A01-A04, grade boundaries, etc incredible how competitive and prescriptive exams are these days.
We think we have a really strong case on one, who knows on the other, it less that it was close more that sections were marked as an E for an otherwise nailing it kid.
A bit of good news would be great.

My daughter was two marks off a B grade in Politics and a review of marking gave her an extra 4. She has her place at her first choice uni but wanted to check out the paper as predicted an A and in all practice papers and mocks had never slipped below an A. That’s exams I guess - but she is happy with a B and despite this making no actual difference at all in real terms, she feels better so we’re all happy and can crack on with getting ready for September now.
Such an exciting but tense time. Fingers crossed for everyone else seeking a review of marking!

DS' OCR bio remarked already, hot results yestetday, and went down two marks! Didn't change grade but not result he had hoped for!

got result*

Dd was three marks off an A star in one of her A levels. Her teacher downloaded the scripts on results day and advised us to get one of the papers remarked as he thought the essays had been harshly marked. It’s been moved up a fair few marks and she now has an A star . I’m so glad we did it. We had no idea before that school could get hold of the scripts to take a look before going for a remark (maybe only some exam boards do this). Good luck to anyone else who does this! Of course they can go down too so important to know where you sit on the grade boundaries etc.

We were really worried @JoeyRamonesHair . DC did French. None of us speak it and most of DC's class were native French speakers (or had one Francophone parent at least) - we couldn't help at all.
DC got over 90% - well into the A* bracket - despite its being the subject DC found hardest by far. They worked very very hard at it to be fair; we bought French novels from charity shops and they watched French films and TV series as well as spending hours on Duolingo just to improve the vocab.
We were completely shocked at the result as we expected all the top results to go to French speakers.

Similar situation here - very close to A star. DC was advised to have one of their psychology papers reviewed. Just waiting to hear back. An A star won't make any difference to university offer but will help with confidence level.

They were predicted 3 A stars. Got AAB.

We had the car sat nav set to french!
I'm very happy to hear results are coming back. I really hope your kids feel valued.

I, myself, had a weird mix of A level results, which my parents never questioned, just told me off. I think part of my resolve to get the border line papers checked is that need to say to 18year old me, marking mistakes do happen and acknowledge that we've witnessed your hard work.

Thank you everyone for updating.

DD needed a point in one paper, came back with nothing.

Still waiting on one of the history papers- it is the AQA one I have seen others posting about elsewhere, think they are swamped with requests.

Not hopeful.

AQA Tudors - the teacher thought was very harshly marked, gave really detailed feedback about which elements.
AQQ Nazis - that teacher suggested a review with a blanket 'travesty of justice' which cheered up DS no end.

@cartchat - good news for your DS. Fingers crossed for the remark.

DD and I are in a quandary about her AQA Psychology. She is 2 marks off an A and whilst her teacher feels that the marking is fair, she has said it could be worth getting one of the papers remarked in case the additional marks can be picked up. DD not going to Uni this year but hasn’t ruled it out for next. Aaargh, help us decide!

Would it help to work it out percentage wise @AKAsomeoneelse so DS is looking for 2marks which is 0.5% in one subject and 4marks which is 2% in another. The other subject was 9 marks which is 3%. It's helped manage expectations.

She is 2 marks off an A and whilst her teacher feels that the marking is fair, she has said it could be worth getting one of the papers remarked in case the additional marks can be picked up

Reviewers are not looking for additional marks which can be picked up. They're looking to see if the mark given is reasonable.

@MrsHamlet - I understand that but her teacher’s exact words are ‘there could be a possibility of additional marks in other sections’. Her teacher is also an examiner.

@CartChat - just worked out the percentage - it’s 0.69%.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reviews-of-marking-and-moderation-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2022-exam-series/reviews-of-marking-and-moderation-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2022-exam-series#:~:text=At%20GCSE%2C%20the%20majority%20of,as%20opposed%20to%20a%20decrease.

This is a proper chunk of data to get your teeth into !

@CartChat - thanks for that. I’ll have a good look later.