The Scottish appeals system is not fit for purpose.

[Googlybear21]

In comparison to England where students can pay to get a copy of their marked papers, apply for a remark and have it back in days, not months, Scotland's appeal system is dire. I understand that the ability to pay may factor into this, but it feels more like the exam board saying that they are always right, but how can anyone ever know?

Surely it should be possible to have a copy of your own work and marking, such as happens at University. Even a FOI request can't get you that How many students are told not to bother? Why does everthing have to be such a closely guarded secret? SQA did a trial giving schools access to marked scripts and then nothing more happened.
It all feels very backward.

It is backward - as is everything about our education system that is touched by the hand of the SNP.

It’s not really even an appeal system. They don’t remark it. They just count the marks again. And they don’t take circumstances into account like illness, bereavement etc. Fecking SNP

Well the illness / bereavement is taken into account when the exam is sat so ought to be built into the initial grades, but yes it is very different from when I was at school when if you did better in your prelims than the actual exam you were pretty much guaranteed to get an upgrade.

I thought the old appeals system was unfair.
Special circumstances are available for the situations Agnesmcdoo mentions.
What would a pupil do with it if they got the exam paper back?

Yeah it’s a bit shit. Mine missed a B by one mark in one higher last year (English) and an A by one mark this year (different subject). If we could get his paper remarked there might have been an extra mark, especially in something like English. Of course there may not have been an extra mark to be had but he might have had more of a chance than under current system.

It is a bit rubbish as it means literally everything hangs on the one exam with no account taken of previous performance.

In many subjects there is also an element of coursework - an assignment in History, a folio in English. That can be up to a third of the final mark.

Unfortunately, on two occasions with my DC the coursework (that their teachers checked and gave feedback on) scored less than envisaged. Both got an A on exam only and a B when coursework taken into account. But of course, no idea where they went wrong as we couldn't see the marked assignment.

They could use it as a useful tool to learn from their mistakes. If it's not useful to see a marked paper, why do University do it and it is available in England. Or why do teachers mark work and give it back...should they just give the YP their mark but never show them how that was achieved?

I just got an email at teatime from the head of dept saying dd was on the cusp of an A and asking if she would like to appeal. Is it a waste of time then? Have never even looked into it before.

Agree it's so useful to read over your past papers to see how and where you fucked up, god knows that helped me through uni as a mature student.

I think it's worth a shot, but they emphasise it is a mark check and not a remark. There are people here whose DC have had success, so I would go for it

I suppose I'm thinking that it's done and dusted then - teachers give feedback on work but that's because they haven't finished the course. Even if you are going on to do the same subject at the next level up, the assessment isn't carried out the same way in many subjects

Coursework - unless done in class - is easily scammed by middle class parents. It driver the attainment gap wider.

This suggests it's more than just counting up:

If you do appeal your grade, a senior marker will carry out a marking review of your Qualifications Scotland-marked assessments. This means that they’ll review your answers to all questions and assignments marked by us. They check that the marks awarded by the original marker are in line with the marking standards agreed at the markers’ briefing and with the marking instructions.
In addition, they also check that:

• all parts of your Qualifications Scotland assessments have been marked
• the marks given for each answer have been added correctly
• the correct result has been entered on our system.

Please note that after being reviewed, your result could stay the same, go up or go down.

@Liggety absolutely agree, but I was thinking more assessments done throughout the year within class.

They do actually. My son didn’t sit his English Higher as he was seriously ill. The school appealed and he was rewarded with an A.

Is the difference between England & Scotland not that A-levels are a 2-year course, so you have one chance whereas with Highers you can, in theory, try again in S6? So emphasis in Scotland is on trying in S5, but having a second chance?

Maybe I’m completely wrong though.

Unfortunately because University places are capped, many competitive courses require all grades to be attained at the first sitting in S5.

6th year is advanced highers.

Where have you been OP? Others on this board have argued this for years, it won’t change.

To be fair - most people are oblivious to the appeals system unless one of their offspring are affected.