Should we request an AQA remark when university place is secured

[HazelHedgehog]

My son has got his A levels results and onto his first choice course. One subject is one mark from the higher grade, aqa is the board. Should it get it re marked? Is it even relevant when he is on the degree course.

1 mark off I absolutely would. School got a whole cohorts gcse paper redone - dd went from 8 to 9. Absolutely worth it. She deserved that. Got her a levels back last year. 2 off the higher grade (b) She wasn’t holding a uni place as planned to apply with grades in hand when she worked out what she wanted to do. We got one paper remarked, no change. There were two others. Spoke to school and they suggested another paper. Put that in, grade went up. Which opened up some more courses and she’s off to an excellent uni this year. Your child deserves the higher grade. For one mark I would defo go for it but you don’t need to pay for priority, you can take the usual service.

And I think it was about 50 quid per paper. You ge5 it back when grade changes so we paid twice and got one refund. Well worth it.

I would get a remark! I was 2 marks off an A in English 20+ years ago and I still regret not getting it remarked!

I don’t understand why NOT to get it remarked? It’s not a lot of money and you’d get it back if it goes up by even 1 mark.

we did this for my DD and her grade went up! She already had her 1st choice but now she also has the satisfaction of having the ‘right’ scores

It’s £51.95 per A level paper.
It does depend on subject but I would request paper so she can see for herself the marks and consider it.

I guess it depends on his field. But I think all these people saying no-one ever looks at A level grades are wrong. It is one of the criteria we look at for graduate applicants in an extremely competitive area.

If he has AAB plus a 2.1 from a good uni, and someone else has AAA plus a 2.1 from a good uni, who is more likely to make it through the initial screening when there are hundreds of applicants for each position? Yes, it is only one factor, but if you can nudge that in his favour why wouldn't you?

Get the remark.

Yes same for me too. I didn’t even know it was possible when I was 18.

Thanks for this. It's a review, not a remark. Although everyone calls it a remark, which suggests that a senior examiner is going to remark the paper from scratch.

I would get it remarked.. unless there’s a danger it can go down, which I don’t think is possible?

I didn’t get one of mine remarked because I got what I needed to get my uni place and assumed that I could get downgraded (which was wrong). Subsequently told by the teacher I was very close to the next grade up.

In subsequent years, despite having a bachelors and a masters and relevant work experience, I was not making the first hurdle of some law training contract applications due to the A-level grades. A simple automatic rejection.

We are talking almost 20 years ago now, so I know things change, but it seems to me that graduate positions are harder than ever to obtain, so with hindsight I would do everything in my power to boost my future chances.

That’s a very crude marker for potential. I’m so glad in my early careers recruitment that we recruit blind and only assess what people can do, rather than looking back several years at something which has no context.

You might want to think about challenging how you recruit to these opportunities to help even out inequalities in childhood and ensure you’re drawing from the widest possible pool of talent. The public sector is way ahead in this and we reap the rewards by bringing in a more hungry and diverse cohort each year which brings us fresh outlooks alongside the greatest ability.

Sticking rigidly to a metric which doesn’t actually tell you anything about an individual’s capabilities risks perpetuating a very homogeneous workforce and squeezing out genuine talent in favour of people who went to the ‘right’ schools and the greatest advantage.

This is the reason I would too.

Of course A level grades may be relevant beyond uni entrance. As others have said, they may factor into scholarships, internships and eventual employment. DH was an R&D manager - he definitely took them into account. With rampant grade inflation in some unis more than others, and some courses having non-rigorous assessment methods currently able to be trashed by AI cheating, A levels which are proper externally moderated public exams are all the more important.

Students can see from the statement of results how close they are to grade boundaries so it isn't a shot in the dark. If one mark away from a higher grade it's extremely unlikely you'll drop all the way down to the grade below on review. But...strange things can happen.

I’d do it without a second thought, if I could afford it. And of course, top academic schools put in for many mark reviews of marking. It clearly can matter later on.

It’s such a short-term view to say you’ve got the uni place so it doesn’t matter. A Level grades will be on the CV through life. In the important uni years when kids apply for internships, placement years, a proper job….those grades can be really important and tip the balance.

Plus, if they should have got the higher grade….they should have it and not be denied due to marking errors.

Grade boundaries can be checked. If you’re one mark off the grade above, you’re likely many mark ps from the grade below. Yes, marks can drop…there is a risk, but it’s a v v small risk of the grade itself dropping.

I’d say lots don’t put in for a review of marking because they and their parents can’t really be bothered. You have to fill in a form with school or college and pay some money. Possibly you need to ask the school/college for a break down of marks on papers and advice about which paper would be best to get reviewed. It can take some time to do all this. Some schools and colleges won’t be able or willing to look at this stuff until September. And by then parents and kids have often moved in and can’t be bothered because the short term goal of uni place is secure. But it’s often worth the effort. And you’ll never know if you don’t try.

Im not advocating randomly putting in for reviews of marking. But if it’s 1 or 2 marks to a next grade, and especially if the grade feels disappointing and especially if there’s a discrepancy in paper marks which seems odd (and to find this out you need to get the break down of marks for different papers) then it’s really worth trying.

It’s something that annoys me about lots of schools and colleges….they don’t make this easy. Independent schools and some state schools will have looked at paper break downs before/on results day and will be letting students know the grade boundaries and if there are any discrepancies in paper marks which might warrant a review. People will be willing to look at scripts in the next few days and advise. Admin will be working to submit requests for reviews from yesterday onwards. Guess what…kids in those schools and colleges get more reviews of marking and more increases in grades.

But if you’re in a school or college where you have to push a bit and wait a bit to get the boundaries, breakdown if marks between papers and possibly someone to look after scripts…..do it. We support our kids through their studies and exams. This is the last push that finishes the job off for lots of kids. And so many miss out, because they and their parents don’t understand it or don’t want to put in the small amount of effort needed at this stage.

@MesaVerde the mark can go up, stay the same or go down. Most people wouldn't risk a review if they aren't a mark or two from the higher border but it is possible to go down a grade or more and students have to be prepared for that outcome. Every year a significant number of papers we have reviewed come back a mark or 2 lower, although I haven't yet seen a grade change from this as my school is very cautious with the advice given.

This

In finance and law graduates are often recruited before the student has graduated. A’level results are part of the recruitment process.

I agree that schools or colleges don't make it particularly easy. Last year DD's college charged a £10 per paper admin fee just to get papers returned. She was one mark off a higher grade in one subject and I was all for putting in for a review but she was adamant that she didn't want to. She had her uni place and wanted to move on.

It still slightly rankles with me but I'm also of the view that the opportunities that she grabs and the work she puts in at uni are more important than one a level grade (I'm pretty sure the law/ big four etc graduate schemes will never be on her radar).

A level results really do matter after UG. I work in ITE and the main condition for PGCE is a grade B or above in A level maths. Many postgrad courses have conditions like this (especially in facilitating subjects) and with AI skimming CVs I suspect it may make a difference with employers when nuance is not taken into account with applications.

Have a look at the papers and see.

Dd had one of hers remarked (FM) which was 2 marks off because she got them back and could see that they hadn't marked one question, which gave her 3 more marks.
She also said on one of the other papers there was one question where they'd given her 4/4 but she thought the last mark they gave was a bit dodgy so if she'd put that one back in she might have gone down one mark! (although overall it would still have taken her up)
Looking at the papers meant she put it in thinking that it should go up, but it didn't matter, and saved on the cost of remarking 3 papers if it hadn't changed.

What is ITE? My Dd thinks she might teach after her degree and all the PGCE courses that she has looked at require a 2.2 degree in a relevant subject. I know that maths is the most popular a level but the majority of students won't have done it, let alone got a B in it.

ITE is initial teacher education but I presume the pp means B at maths A,level if you are training to be a maths teacher.

Obvs for other subjects it's not needed (I have QTS and don't have maths A levrl).

I would get the remark. She might need to declare her A level results for a job.

We have put in a marking review for both papers for one of DS’s A Levels, which was one mark off an A. I just felt it would be advantageous in his future career and it was very unlikely to go down to a C. Uni place is confirmed (needed CCD, got ABB).

Many / most big law firms absolutely want to see A level results for vac and grad schemes. And as others have said if they are recruiting blind as to university name, the A levels can act as a proxy of academic ability when universities vary so much in rigour. Some firms may have a min requirement like AAA or AAB. Absolutely get the remark.

I'm helping ds find a grad job by trawling through Indeed (I know he should be doing it himself but I volunteered to check one site for him) And occasionally grad jobs do specify A level grades. Above an A or above a B. This is for tech jobs. Most don't but some do. For internships it would be even more relevant