Confusion On Remarks

[BettiG]

With having our daughter’s business paper remarked it has also made us think about having her chemistry papers remarked. She was 6 marks off gaining a B which would be a big help towards her uni application for next year.
we know 6 marks off the next grade up compared to being just 1 mark off in her business is a big hope.

We have asked her teacher for advice and her thoughts on requesting a remark.
Teacher seems to be more towards making sure we understand that the marks could also go down. This we totally understand, we are aware that a remark could also mean a drop in marks. However if you have achieved the higher end of a grade how can you drop that amount of marks to go down a grade? If this did happen we would really have to question the marking system surely. Yes dropping a few marks is possible but it’s not going to change the grade then what have we got to lose? Or is there something we are missing and not understanding?
Any advice would be appreciated.

The first thing you have to understand is it isn't a remark. It is a review of marking. That said they may be synonymous for Chemistry.

Get the papers back and compare against the mark scheme (or ask if teacher will do so). See if there appear to be missing marks, then go from there.

Hi, OP -

I am a former Russell Group admissions tutor. @TeenToTwenties has given you good advice.

It would be very unusual for a review of marking to result in the drop of a grade. In that sense you probably don’t have anything to lose.

OTOH, the purpose of reviewing marks is to make sure the marking scheme was fairly applied. Quite a lot of pupils will quite fairly end up one mark away from the next grade, and when they do the reviewer won’t change the mark.

All of us have an interest in ensuring that A levels are marked fairly, and there are two sides to this coin. We’ve seen some appalling examples of missed marks on this board and your DD’s extra marks on her Business paper, whilst of course significant, are (consider some of the others) actually a lesser example of this kind. I am glad she got them.

But whilst being one mark down is enormously frustrating, it is less likely to be down to a mistake in marking. I think asking the school to go over the paper and the marks scheme with you is the place to start.

If you have done that, it sounds to me like their comment is meant to sound discouraging. They value their relations with the exam board, even whilst prioritising good cases for review, and may possibly concur with my reasoning above.