How close to the next grade up would you have to be to justify a re-check?

[ALevelBNotLevel]

Just that really.
For Maths and Biology my son is 10 and 12 marks off an A and B respectively.

Is it worth getting them rechecked?
I know they could go down as well as up.

Im not in the UK but work in education. Are you able to view the paper before you decide whether or not to get it rechecked? In our system, the papers will not be recorrected but mistakes will be checked for, for example a miscalculation or awarding the wrong marks (4/4 instead of 6/6 for example). Its worth looking into if its the same in your system!

That sounds like a lot of marks off. How many marks would they have to lose to drop a grade?

we had one of DS’s English gcse papers remarked as he was 4 marks in total off the next grade. One paper was really good and one paper was awful. We had the awful one remarked and he got enough extra marks to go up a grade. It was worth it to us as he would have had to drop more than 10 marks to go down a grade. If your DC is 10 marks off the higher grade do check it whether the risk of dropping a grade is worth it.

It would be very unusual for a paper to change by that many marks. I’ve asked for remarks for 2 of my pupils - one is 1 mark off the grade above and the other is 3 marks off.

for maths the grade boundaries are quite wide (so 30 marks between each grade ish) so it’s less risk I guess of them going down.

I don't think there's much chance of increasing by those numbers in the subjects you name.

Others (usually Eng / humanities not STEM) are much more subjective to begin with so if the mark scheme has been applied incorrectly it can make a much bigger difference, but even then in either direction so it's more of a risk.

If you have the cash to spend, and especially if you see the marked responses and think there are some problems, it could be worth it.

Thanks. How do you see the marked responses?

You can request scripts. What is your motivation for a remark? Is he missing a uni place?

Request the script.
Ask the school if anyone is able to review the paper and take it from there.

It’s a review of marking not a remark; so they aren’t awarding new marks afresh to each question but deciding if the mark awarded is reasonable, so this reviewer may have awarded a different mark but can see why the first marker gave it the score it did and the mark doesn’t change. It’s really only clear and obvious errors that are amended. For a science/maths paper you’d be too far away to reasonably expect a grade change.

2, 3 at the very out side. I’m sure someone will come along and say they had a review (and that’s what it is, a check on how the paper was marked, not a remark as such) and it went up 8 points but that is very exceptional.

Its worth it if your son/ daughter feels surprised at the grade, and i’ve seen some scores increase a lot. Yes maybe less so for subjects like maths, but those marking can and do get it wrong, so for peace of mind, worth doing.

No more than 3. And don’t dismiss the likelihood of them being marked down, not up, which is just as likely to happen

It's free to request them via the exams officer at school.

I would not request a re-mark for anything more than 4 marks as it's so unlikely to change.

My son was 1 point off an A*in Economics at a Level, having been predicted that as well. He requested it be looked at again on the advice of his teacher. When it came back he had dropped a point was mow 2 points off.

I wouldn’t consider it for anything more than a couple of points - the odds of it being marked so badly that it’s 10/12 points lower than it should be (especially on subjects with a clear and absolute correct answer) is very, very low.

edited because the 2 stars I put changed the text to bold!

My daughter was 3 marks off English language and the school refused to assist, she lost the place she wanted at Sheffield unfortunately.

I’ve been advised 2 marks is worth review but not more as you’re only going to gain 1-2 marks, more is so unlikely so not worth it. Dd did ALevels this week.

My daughter has asked for a chemistry remark for 1 mark, but we didn't bother for maths at 15 marks off.

We had some of DS's remarked two years ago as he was one , two and three marks off of the next grade up. It cost a fortune and not one paper came back changed.

We were also warned that grades can go down on a re mark.

Two years on and everything has worked out really well for him even with the disappointing grades but I still remember how stressful it was at the time.

Agree, it hasn’t held my daughter back, she gained a First and is halfway through a Masters. But it was so stressful at the time!

You really need one paper to be an anomaly. If you review more than one you may lose on one what you gain on another so no change overall.

Not at all at those levels unless you get the papers checked and discover an obvious error like a long question unmarked.

I would say unless obvious error 3 is the maximum it's worth taking a punt on if you have the money to waste, but really I'd say 1 is the most you're likely to find if you can't spot anything.

Dd's done I think it was 3 appeals. All have gone up.
In each case she asked for the papers and saw a definite error and put that paper back in. They were for 1, 2 and 3 marks. All went up at least 2 marks.
She also got papers back for 3 or 4 other subjects that she was close and concluded that there was no point.
That's why you get a little bit skewed when you get statistics of numbers that went up. Because they'll be self-selecting.

For 10 and 12 marks out, there's a good chance that they're as close to the lower boundary as the higher, so have an equal chance of going down.