Worth requesting a remark?

[PushItToTheMax]

DD is 3 marks from an A in her best subject, which she is gutted about as she was predicted an A star and her results look well below her normal marks. She is going on to study this subject at uni, will also need postgraduate qualifications.

She is also 1 mark from an A in her 2nd favourite subject - this one was a shock the other way as she’s achieved a lot better than we expected!

She has met her grades for her firm so doesn’t technically need higher grades, but for her best subject especially she’s absolutely gutted and can’t stop crying. I think it’s really knocked her confidence about studying it at uni.

I can just about afford the remark costs but it will be tight. I’m just a bit unsure what to do for the best. We didn’t get to speak to teachers at school this morning as DD was distraught, trying desperately to hold her tears in until she got to the car. I’m trying to reassure her that BBB is actually really good, that she’s in to her firm but it’s not really sinking in.

These are the people causing the problem! If they really cared, they would refuse to do it, rather than propagate a failing system which lets everybody down, children first and foremost.

We are all that caring teacher who goes the extra 100 miles at first, until we realise that actually caring about children and education means refusing to

I think this throws up the consequences of schools being massively underfunded.
Schools have had their budgets cut to the bone and everything that can be cut has been cut. The consequence is teachers are under resourced and over stretched. Loads are leaving all the time. And those remaining are more and more stretched and often working daft hours.
Yes, resources and teachers need to be available on results day and immediately after. But it isn’t part of their contract and schools generally won’t insist they come in as they can’t. In the past, more would but goodwill has been lost because so many have worked so much more than they are supposed to in term time.
So when staff aren’t there, it’s not that they don’t care about the kids. When schools don’t pay extra staff to come and do this vital work, it’s because tgey don’t have the budget. Everything is whittled down to the bare bones. And students lose out - some won’t get helpful input about Clearibg or about the breakdown of their marks or in deciding if to have a review of marking.
So parents on these threads hope their own school will have enough staff in to do these things. Some are surprised if they get the answer machine or no reply to emails after A level results day and until September. It’s the system that’s broken and it’s not down to individual teachers caring or not caring.

I would 100% go for the remark if it was that close. My dd was at independent school and so many of her friends got their grades improved by re-marks. One girl had all her marks from one paper missed! There’s no way I would just accept it myself but of course it’s ultimately your decision.

My daughter was a mark or two off the grade she expected in one of her “a” levels, but she had a place at her first choice nevertheless. She had it re-marked and she went up a grade which was just as well as she hated her first choice course! The higher grade gave her a greater choice when she reapplied the following year. She loved her second course, thank goodness!

Sorry this is 100% wrong. I work at a senior level for a big four firm. We don’t care about GCSEs (assuming you have 9 or 10 above four/five) they are considered way too basic to care about- but we care a lot about A levels when recruiting grads. A levels are much more indicative of how well you will do within the high academic demands of the kind of job roles we offer.

It might seem from the application form we only care about GCSE but that’s because obviously we’d never employ someone without those basics so it’s mentioned in the forms. But in reality when it comes to sifting hundreds of applications A levels are a really important differentiator and we won’t consider people whose grades aren’t top notch.

Even when you get to university, marks literally dont count. I knocked myself out over 4 years to get a first class degree and then a masters distinction it made absolutely no difference! I have the satisfaction of having them but no employer has ever asked my degree/ masters grade..just that I have them

How will she feel if the mark goes down? I understand that 70 per cent on average drop. If it dropped a grade would her Uni place be jeopardised?

Not only is not a victimless crime, it is also not a crime at all. I do this as a teacher. I quite enjoy supporting my students.

My son is a few marks of a higher grade in one subject and in his strongest subject he surprisingly got a C having consistently always been an A student in that subject. His head of sixth form has said he should ask for the scrips where the teachers can then take a look to see whether it is worth getting a remark - so I think we are going to do that.

A friend's DS had his English paper upgraded after a teacher gave up his holiday to check, remark and re-submit the paper with his revised marks.

She bought the teacher a bottle of wine to say thank you.

I thought that was nice of her.

Schools will usually only request a remark on results that reflect badly on them. Not sure about A levels but it was always borderline C/D at GCSEs, it’s how their success is measured,

I agree with this. She needs to concentrate on
on the fact she has got into her firm university and into her next steps

If you time it well - you could potentially do one paper from each subject and then if she doesn't go up, do the second papers.

In her GCSEs, DD was 3 marks off a 9 in one subject and one mark off an 9 in another. She got her place at 6th form but was gutted as she was predicted 9s in those subjects and generally was a 6 grade student. I got them remarked and she was awarded 11 more marks in one and 8 in another putting her well into the 9s. It was definitely worth it for her confidence that she could say she got two nice

I agree with you actually. A couple of years ago, at my school we agreed we would no longer provide informal reviews of GCSE papers prior to parents submitting formal requests for marking reviews. For most part, there has been no pushback. I still do look at A Level papers, but we have far fewer pupils for this so it's not hugely onerous. GCSE was a nightmare though and I would end up starting the new school year absolutely exhausted. SLT annouced the change (as requested by HoDs) and I was so relieved.
(This is an independent school by the way).

Also:

1. Remarks no longer exist. It's a review of marking.
2. There is a fee for this, to the exam board.
3. If the mark changes, the fee is refunded (at least for the exam boards we use)
4. Subjects like English are more likely to see shifts in marks than subjects like maths and science. That said, changes (due to clerical errors, or poor marking, or questions missed out) do still happen in the latter as well.
5. Marks can go down as well as up in a review of marking. It is important to understand that this is a risk, and to consider where the lower grade boundary is.
6. I'd be concerned if a student is devastated about 'only' getting an A instead of an A*, and would worry that unrealistic expectations have been placed on her. A lesson in resilience would be useful here.
7. IMO, the who system needs a drastic overhaul. The whole thing is ridiculous.

Re 3 - it only gets refunded if the grade changes.

I was wondering; if a candidate is refunded when their grade goes up, could this create an unintended incentive for reviewers to leave grades unchanged to avoid issuing refunds? I know the system isn’t meant to be treated as a business, but it does make one think.

In theory yes. But the reviewers generally work FOR the exam board, rather than getting a cut of the fee themselves! I've never reviewed for the exam board, but I am an examiner for one. One of my examiner pals also does review work. His main job is a HoD though.

it’s a stats based thing and teachers won’t re-mark as they’ll be re-marking themselves

Sorry, yes - it is is the overall grade rather than the mark that needs to change in order to get the fee back. My apologies.

What do you mean?

The reviewers don't personally issue refunds, it makes not one whit of difference to them

i would 100% get these remarked. I was 1 mark off an A in Biology and 3 marks off an A in Chemistry… I had an unconditional offer at Kings so didn’t get them remarked but regret it even 18 years later!!

I work in legal recruitment and even when a solicitor had trained at a Magic Circle firm with 10 years experience… when they are looking for a new job the firms still look at their A Level grades!

I know the refund wouldn't come out of the reviewer’s pocket, but I was wondering whether exam boards discourage adding marks in order to avoid giving refunds. Perhaps I’m just being cynical, but do they give reviewers any incentive (direct or indirect) to leave grades unchanged? I’d really like to hear about this from someone with first-hand reviewing experience.