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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Do all schools/ teachers get to see A level scripts after results?

29 replies

sunglasses · 22/08/2023 16:42

Have seen a few references to teachers looking at student papers and then being in a position to advise a review for those students who might move up a grade but wondered if this is standard practice? So when teachers return to school shortly before term starts do they look at the marks, papers etc? And would they contact any students they thought could possibly achieve higher marks and advise them to get a review?
My DD has a uni place at her first choice but she was v close to a grade up in one subject and not really sure about another subject (she hasn’t properly looked at the grade boundaries, break down of marks etc as she got a C and is fine with it) but just wondering if teachers picked up anything like harsh marking or clerical errors on a paper would they get in touch or is it down to the student to contact teachers if they want to find out more about their papers?

OP posts:
MBappse · 22/08/2023 16:47

Not automatically, but then can request them, with the students consent. They would normally only do this if the mark was very close to the grade boundary. Have a look at these and then ask the school to review, if she is close.

Original poster
sunglasses · 22/08/2023 16:51

Ok I will encourage her to look but she has already moved on and thinking about uni, which is brilliant, I know but I suppose I’m just curious on her behalf! If we were to contact teachers would it be best done late Aug , early September?

OP posts:
MBappse · 22/08/2023 17:17

There is a deadline, I can't remember when but you can look it up.

You can check the grade boundary against her marks now - they are all published online. Her marks will be on her results paper/online portal/however she received them.

fuckityfuckityfuckfuck · 22/08/2023 17:23

They can. Same with any national exams AFAIK. Definitely can with y6.

Just to point out, it won't be when they're back at school. It will be unpaid during their holidays because they want the best for their students and ensure they have got a fair grade.

MrsHamlet · 22/08/2023 17:23

We would request any that looked "odd" but we don't automatically get them all. If you want them, you need to contact the exams officer.

Spirallingdownwards · 22/08/2023 17:24

Priority review needs to be requested by 24 August. Standard review by 28 September.

Original poster
sunglasses · 22/08/2023 17:25

I will get her to check again- I think initially they didn’t include marks for each paper plus coursework - just an overall mark( minus coursework) and the link to grade boundaries showed lots of options- it’s History A level- and she wasn’t sure what to look at. I think they may have updated that now though so can double check. I guess I was just wondering wether teachers could ( and do) access the papers anyway if they were interested to see how their students performed ( esp if any surprise grades for instance).

OP posts:
Maddy70 · 22/08/2023 17:26

No. You can request them at a cost to the school

Dragonwindow · 22/08/2023 17:30

As teachers, we have the component marks from each paper (so we're well placed to advise which paper to put in for a re-mark if that's what the student is thinking). But we only get the whole script if the student requests it. I work in an independent school- our parents pay for this, along with the cost of any re-mark requests. I don't know the situation in state schools.

MrsHamlet · 22/08/2023 17:33

AQA does access to scripts for free

Original poster
sunglasses · 22/08/2023 18:03

So just asked her to look at the marks and one paper was 50 out of 80, one was 32 out of 80 and her coursework was 30 out of 40 so total 112 out of 200. Boundary for a B was 118 so 6 marks away. Is this what you mean by ‘component marks’ ? And teachers can only see the actual scripts if student requests it? Although some posters seem to be saying that teachers would look into it if anything looked odd. The 32 mark is quite a bit lower than the other two so maybe worth checking?

OP posts:
Dragonwindow · 22/08/2023 18:07

In that situation I would certainly request a re-mark of the 32/80. I will say, it's very rare to find 6 extra marks (well, in my subject anyway) but it does occasionally happen that a whole question has been marked incorrectly.

LIZS · 22/08/2023 18:07

It is not routine but by exception and with student permission. Bear in mind marks can go down as well as up. How far above the c was she? Is a remark worth the risk?

xyzandabc · 22/08/2023 18:10

Teachers get to see the overall and component marks. The student has to give their permission for the script to be requested, so a teacher couldn't look at a script without the student knowing it had been requested. Some exam boards charge for scripts, some don't.

If she's curious about the low mark, she could request her script back via the school's exams officer and then ask the teacher to look over it. Not all teachers will be available between now and the start of term though.

Some teachers might look at grades and contact a student if something looked very odd but that is totally down to the teacher.

Original poster
sunglasses · 22/08/2023 18:13

Ok Thank you everyone-that’s good advice. I suspect she will just leave it( as she is not really bothered) but good to know the procedure just in case.

OP posts:
xyzandabc · 22/08/2023 18:16

If her uni place isn't dependent on it, don't go straight for a review of marking (it's not a remark any more), they are expensive. Get the script back first, much cheaper or free, then decide, in conjunction with the teacher, whether a review of marking is worth it or not.

Teacher will also be able to see everyone else's marks for that paper and it may be that everyone got low marks in it.

6 marks is an awful lot to find in a review of marking. Only really likely if a question or page has been missed in the marking process. In processing hundreds of reviews of marking over many years I've only seen 6+ marks extra awarded a couple of times.

Original poster
sunglasses · 22/08/2023 18:27

Yes I can understand that and as I say not hugely concerned about the grade or the review of marking- just curious to make sure that there hasn’t been a whole question not marked or something like that as I keep reading horror stories of pages being missed or marks missed out of the total etc. she was predicted a B with a possible A if really pulled it out the bag so C is perfectly respectable.

OP posts:
Notellinganyone · 22/08/2023 19:24

We have to have the students’ permission to recall a script. We either do this if we think there is an issue with marking, because the students/parents have requested it or because we want to see a range of marked scripts for professional interest. For example last year one of my A level students got full marks in every paper- this is very unusual in English so we asked for them as exemplars. Anonymised of course.

Notellinganyone · 22/08/2023 19:26

@sunglasses - I’m a teacher but have recalled scripts for my own children. DS for English Lit and Lang - my subject- definitely under marked in my view but stayed the same after review. Both DD and DS2 for A levels- again no change and expensive.

Original poster
sunglasses · 22/08/2023 20:55

Notellinganyone · 22/08/2023 19:26

@sunglasses - I’m a teacher but have recalled scripts for my own children. DS for English Lit and Lang - my subject- definitely under marked in my view but stayed the same after review. Both DD and DS2 for A levels- again no change and expensive.

That’s interesting and frustrating that you paid as you thought they were harshly marked and the marks didn’t change. I think I would only do it in this case if there wax a clear mistake / clerical error. Her other grade B that is three marks off an A is in English and that might be changed as the school are looking b into why everyone’s coursework was moderated down. Grade boundaries were very high!

OP posts:
NigellaAwesome · 22/08/2023 22:51

Interesting. Dd got 89.2% on one of her A levels, so we are thinking of getting access to her paper. She thinks she was 3 marks off getting an A*. We have never done it before so not sure of the process. Is it her teacher who does the initial review to see if it is worth requesting a remark?

MrsHamlet · 23/08/2023 07:36

@NigellaAwesome the paper should be looked at by someone who is very familiar with the markschemes, and preferably who has examined this year.

Access to the script is easy - the school will have a form for you to fill in, but if you want a priority review, the deadline is tomorrow

Moglet4 · 23/08/2023 22:50

sunglasses · 22/08/2023 18:03

So just asked her to look at the marks and one paper was 50 out of 80, one was 32 out of 80 and her coursework was 30 out of 40 so total 112 out of 200. Boundary for a B was 118 so 6 marks away. Is this what you mean by ‘component marks’ ? And teachers can only see the actual scripts if student requests it? Although some posters seem to be saying that teachers would look into it if anything looked odd. The 32 mark is quite a bit lower than the other two so maybe worth checking?

Honestly, it’s very unusual to make up 6 marks. We’d usually only do it if it was borderline 1-2 marks

Shadowboy · 23/08/2023 23:08

We only send for a review of marks if we’ve read the paper first.
about 10 years ago one of my students sent off for a remark (without telling me/allowing me to see the paper first- it dropped by 16 marks!!) once I’ve read the paper, I’ll look at the published mark scheme and see if the levels or point marking was accurate. If not I’ll send for a RoM (some exam boards call them EARs)

I also work for the exam board. I’ve been doing many reviews since Thursday. To give you and idea - out of 10- one went up by 2, one went up by 1. One went down by 1 and the others stayed the same.

6 mark increase would be exceptional.
it would require significant errors in the marking of the original script.

By the way, teachers won’t be paid for any of the accessing of scripts and reading- they will be doing it in their holidays. Most exam board provide access to scripts for free and they only take a few hours to 48 hours to arrive as a PDF in an email.

rainylake · 26/08/2023 14:53

Bear in mind that if you get the paper remarked and it goes down, she may lose her university place. If she has got into her first choice, I’d let sleeping dogs lie - no one cares what A levels you got once you have a degree.

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