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Higher education

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

Original poster

One grade withheld as exam board questioning 'quality' - any advice please!

19 replies

butteredfly · 14/08/2025 10:01

Hi, DD just picked up her grades except she only got two of them (both As hurrah) but the third has been withheld as they are investigating the very high quality of hers and two other candidates work (in French speaking.) She's had to write an account of her research and revision for the exam to show it's all been legit. But it means her uni can't confirm her place and she's really worried about accommodation etc as this could take a while to resolve. I'm so cross with the exam board for leaving it till results day and also that she is being penalised for working so hard and obviously doing well. I'm hanging on the phone to her uni but the wait is epic so don't know when I"ll get to speak to them. If anyone has any advice, please let me know!

OP posts:
clary · 14/08/2025 10:06

Omg @butteredfly nothing helpful sorry, but how appalling. Can you say which board? Why has it taken so long to look into this?

I examine private candidates for A level and GCSE MFL and the quality can really vary (and no it is not simply predicated on native speaker or not). Well done her for working hard and doing well but how crap of the board. Is it AQA?

Best thing is yes to speak to uni and explain. Hope you get some answers.

TaborlinTheGreat · 14/08/2025 10:09

Sorry, no advice, only sympathy. I teach French A Level and I'm assuming that it's the 'individual research project' part of the exam that's the issue. I guess it may be that, if these students appeared to answer in a very fluent and seemingly over-prepared way (especially if this contrasted with the quality of their answers in the other part of the exam), they are questioning whether the teacher who conducted the exam basically told the students in advance what questions they would ask. I actually don't know if they'd normally leave it this late to query something like that though (or how they'd hope to get any evidence!).

I hope for your dd's sake that it's resolved quickly.

Original poster
butteredfly · 14/08/2025 10:18

Thank you! It's Pearson/Edexcel. I'm now in touch with her firm and they'll hold her place till this is sorted, but it's just so annoying to have this hanging. I think I'm going to complain.

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TheTurn0fTheScrew · 14/08/2025 10:23

No advice, but sending all good wishes. I think it's pretty poor of the exam board to drag it out this late, bearing in mind what's at stake. My DC's IRP was in the first week of May (and I think an external examiner was used, not the class teacher). Surely the long stretch of time between the exam and results should have been enough to resolve a concern?

Original poster
butteredfly · 14/08/2025 10:45

TaborlinTheGreat · 14/08/2025 10:09

Sorry, no advice, only sympathy. I teach French A Level and I'm assuming that it's the 'individual research project' part of the exam that's the issue. I guess it may be that, if these students appeared to answer in a very fluent and seemingly over-prepared way (especially if this contrasted with the quality of their answers in the other part of the exam), they are questioning whether the teacher who conducted the exam basically told the students in advance what questions they would ask. I actually don't know if they'd normally leave it this late to query something like that though (or how they'd hope to get any evidence!).

I hope for your dd's sake that it's resolved quickly.

Thank you - yes I think it's the quality of the statistics they are questioning. But DD worked harder preparing for this exam than probably any others.

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Treeleaf11 · 14/08/2025 10:54

Not the same but two of my DSs GCSE results were only provisional. One because he got a very high mark and the other in French because they were questioning whether the teacher had assisted some of the students in their speaking section.
It took about three weeks to sort out.

Original poster
butteredfly · 14/08/2025 11:10

Treeleaf11 · 14/08/2025 10:54

Not the same but two of my DSs GCSE results were only provisional. One because he got a very high mark and the other in French because they were questioning whether the teacher had assisted some of the students in their speaking section.
It took about three weeks to sort out.

Three weeks! How awful! Did the grades change in the end?

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Treeleaf11 · 14/08/2025 12:44

No the very high mark (RE) came down a few marks but didnt change the grade. The French teacher was cleared of any wrongdoing. But the exam board were useless and they didnt tell the school whether the speaking section had been included in the provisional mark or not so someone at the school had to keep monitoring some database to see if the classes' grades had changed.

Original poster
butteredfly · 14/08/2025 14:57

Thanks everyone. Thankfully this has all been sorted quickly now they have statements from students and teachers. And she has her grades for her firm choice! It's not uploaded to UCAS yet annoyingly but we're in touch with admissions so nearly there...

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Treeleaf11 · 14/08/2025 15:00

Thats great news! You must be very relieved

TheCurious0range · 14/08/2025 15:07

Glad she got it sorted. There are some dodgy practices in spoken exams, not sure if they are videoed now but mine was on audio tape, it didn't happen for me because I didn't need it but lots of friends told me the reason the teacher had a hat stand in the room and a very large bin was because she pointed to them if you didn't know if you should use haben or sein (haben conjugates as hat in some instances and sein as bin) she would point to one or the other!

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 14/08/2025 15:35

Fab news!

Original poster
butteredfly · 14/08/2025 16:47

Treeleaf11 · 14/08/2025 15:00

Thats great news! You must be very relieved

yes, very! But still feel a bit wrung out from this morning! Will have a good sleep and all will be fine tomorrow

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Original poster
butteredfly · 14/08/2025 16:49

TheCurious0range · 14/08/2025 15:07

Glad she got it sorted. There are some dodgy practices in spoken exams, not sure if they are videoed now but mine was on audio tape, it didn't happen for me because I didn't need it but lots of friends told me the reason the teacher had a hat stand in the room and a very large bin was because she pointed to them if you didn't know if you should use haben or sein (haben conjugates as hat in some instances and sein as bin) she would point to one or the other!

ha! Maybe they should start videoing them if they are worried. My dd had her teacher and an external invigilator in the room though. they were concerned that their research and recall of statistics was too good. But they were just doing what they were supposed to. My main gripe is that they didn't sort this a bit earlier so it didn't spoil results day. Speaking was months ago so no excuse really...

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TheCurious0range · 14/08/2025 16:50

butteredfly · 14/08/2025 16:49

ha! Maybe they should start videoing them if they are worried. My dd had her teacher and an external invigilator in the room though. they were concerned that their research and recall of statistics was too good. But they were just doing what they were supposed to. My main gripe is that they didn't sort this a bit earlier so it didn't spoil results day. Speaking was months ago so no excuse really...

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No it really isn't and must've been very stressful for you all, I'm glad she's sorted now!

ShanghaiDiva · 14/08/2025 16:53

butteredfly · 14/08/2025 16:49

ha! Maybe they should start videoing them if they are worried. My dd had her teacher and an external invigilator in the room though. they were concerned that their research and recall of statistics was too good. But they were just doing what they were supposed to. My main gripe is that they didn't sort this a bit earlier so it didn't spoil results day. Speaking was months ago so no excuse really...

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Glad that this has been sorted promptly and congratulations to your Dd! Considering the oral exams take place in early may this should have been sorted weeks ago!

Original poster
butteredfly · 14/08/2025 18:12

feeling annoyed again as still nothing uploaded to UCAS. Until it's all there it's hard to completely relax. This really shouldn't have happened.

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AelinAG · 14/08/2025 18:31

Please don’t worry. Unis have got so many acceptances and updates to work through and there are only so many UCAS upload points in the day. Plus a lot of people will have finished at 5 so the work pace will have slowed down for now. If she’s met her offer there isn’t an issue - she should have an update in the morning on UCAS

Original poster
butteredfly · 14/08/2025 18:37

AelinAG · 14/08/2025 18:31

Please don’t worry. Unis have got so many acceptances and updates to work through and there are only so many UCAS upload points in the day. Plus a lot of people will have finished at 5 so the work pace will have slowed down for now. If she’s met her offer there isn’t an issue - she should have an update in the morning on UCAS

thanks for taking the time to post. I've got myself wound up and just need to relax and wait.

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