AS script returned - school not particularly interested.

[mrsrhodgilbert]

Dd1 didn't do as expected in the summer but was only 4 marks off the predicted grade. Through school we got the script back and last week she showed it to her old English teacher (different ones this year). I thought the teacher would spend a little time looking through it with her, 10 minutes maybe. Not so, just a quick 2 minute chat before a lesson to say it will be easy to make up 4 marks next summer, not to worry. Is this normal? Thanks

[MammaBrussels]

It's difficult for the teacher to make any helpful comments without the mark scheme as without this they wouldn't know how the marks were to be awarded. Very often the mark schemes aren't available until a long time after the exam.

[eatyourveg]

£12?? Ours is £9.25. Different boards must have different rates. Wish you could put the mark on the UCAS form rather than the grade so they can tell if you were closer to the upper boundary or just scraped in.

[mrsrhodgilbert]

It only cost £12 to have a copy of the script so not a fortune. She wanted to see where she had gone wrong and to speak to her teacher about it. It's encouraging to hear that 4 marks is nothing to get worked up about. She already knew about the examiners comments on the website, time for me to back off.

[TeamDamon]

No - 4 marks is neither here nor there in an AS subject that a student is continuing to A2. As a teacher, I certainly wouldn't bother asking for the script back. Under-performing by two grades is a very different matter.

The examiner's reports are on the websites now for the exams taken in summer - at least they are for OCR English. They are very useful indeed.

[noblegiraffe]

She had one....there really might have not been much to say.

I'm just wondering why the OP paid a fortune to have the paper sent back. Did the school recommend it? At 4 marks off, I just can't see it being worth the money.

[goinggetstough]

AS exams are building blocks for A2. So a debrief on an AS paper is not a waste of time especially in english.

[webwiz]

Examiner's reports are usually available as soon as the results for that paper are out so the summer ones are on all the exam board websites. They can be an entertaining read especially when a question has been messed up by most of the candidates!

[noblegiraffe]

It is important to go through past papers, but before the exam, not after. If she resits, and she may not need to, then she could do the post-mortem as exam preparation.

[mrsrhodgilbert]

Going, thanks for the tip about the examiners comments on the exam. I have never heard of that and it sounds very interesting. Presumably they won't be available until after the mocks for this summers paper. Will look out for them though. The teacher did say something about the grade boundaries having been tightened up again and she would have got her grade last year. We have parents evening next week and one of her new teachers is Head of English, a word with him might be useful.

[goinggetstough]

I expect MrsRG is hoping for more than a few extra marks if her DD resits or even for A2s where she would hope she was more securely in the next grade band. So it is no different to the other scenario.
IMO it is so important to go through papers and past papers. Obviously your DD can't do this herself as she won't have the marking guide as these are often not released until next year as teachers use the most recent exam for mocks. My DS found it useful to look at the examiner's comments too on the exam. This is usually on the past papers part of the exam board website and really highlights what they are looking for.
Good luck to your DD for her A2s.

[noblegiraffe]

2 grades is slightly different to 4 marks. 2 grades will need hard work to make up. Sometimes grubbing around on a paper for an extra 4 marks isn't that productive.

[eatyourveg]

We are getting an AS script back for ds1 who was 2 grades off his prediction. When I asked the teacher if there was any mileage in asking for it she agreed and said that she would go through the paper with him to see where he lost the marks. She is also going to spend time each week during ds1's free period going through it meticulously so that by the time the resit comes, he will hopefully be back on track. Guess its in her interests too to get him a decent grade.

[gingeroots]

Well ,to my mind she might as well have done .
Feedback on something as important as this shouldn't be given when the recipient isn't expecting it .
I presume the teacher was too busy - in which case they should have explained this at the outset .
Education at my son's school had become very much a tick box exercise .
It leaves one powerless - the school say they're offering xyz , get an outstanding ofsted .
But when you scratch the surface you find a different reality .
One example would be stressed and overstretched teachers .

As noblegirrafe says - teacher didn't refuse to look at script or give feedback .
Theoretically nothing to complain about . But personally I would think the teacher may as well not have bothered in first place .Except that would have left her/him open to criticism ,so motions gone through and student feels unsupported .
I totally understand that the teacher is probably too busy to offer more - but she should have said so at outset .

[noblegiraffe]

But the teacher took the script home, looked at it and talked to your daughter. She didn't refuse!

[mrsrhodgilbert]

It would seem that all this is dependent on the goodwill of the teacher then. I assumed that said teachers would be to happy to spend a short time sorting out a few students at what is such a critical time in their education. It probably was a case of just a few points here and there in this instance.

However the school are very keen to get every last grade squeezed out of the kids. I have to admit to a bit of a sigh about the comments on overtime and 4 extra hours. My dh does not have working hours, he is expected to do the job, whatever it takes. Yes he is rewarded for it, though not so much in the current climate, but he takes calls late at night, weekends, on the sunlounger on holiday and he can't just say no. Not if he wants to retain his job. I'm sure he is not alone.

[mnistooaddictive]

No I am not, but actually anyone being asked to work unpaid overtime does have a right to say no. Teachers work many hours extra and sometimes you have to say no. You honestly cant give time to every student who asks for it every time. Teachers are also entitled to breaks GGT. A "convienient moment during the school day" means either during break time which is only long enough to go the toilet and grab a drink or lunchtime. As teachers are usually now banned from drinking hot drinks anywhere but the staffroom, giving up a breaktime means you dont get to go to the toilet all morning and dont get a drink either when you are talking most of the time.
You also dont know the circumstances of that teacher. What they are dealing with and how many other srudents had asked them for help. If you want one to one then you pay for a tutor.

[thereinmadnesslies]

Could it be that the teacher thinks that your DD would be better focusing her attention on this year's work - surely they would have said if they felt a remark or resit was worth considering, and if she was 4 marks off the predicted grade it doesn't sound like anything went catastrophically wrong.

[gingeroots]

and you're not seriously suggesting that being regularly expected to work unpaid overtime is unusual or confined to teaching are you ?

[gingeroots]

If the teacher had arranged a time to see the student I would expect them to either keep that appointment or rearrange another .
Not catch someone on the hoof ,passing by .

If the teacher does not have the time to look at the paper and discuss this with the student ,then they should politely explain this .

This is common courtesy and the standard of behaviour that is expected from students at school .

[goinggetstough]

Sorry but I agree with Ginger I would be annoyed too. As this is an AS paper the student is still in school/college and I would expect them to go through a paper when they had time.
In answer to mnist lots of professions work overtime for no extra pay, we do and we too are on a pay freeze. No one was suggesting that this should happen after school but at a convenient moment during the school day.

[mnistooaddictive]

ginger - why are you furious. This isnt actaully part of a teachers contracted work. If they dont want to give up their time for free, they have that right. How many other professions are reguarly expected to do extra unpaid? When working I used to do at least 4 hours every week on things like this but with the current pay freeze and pensions hit I can understand any teacher who doesn't feel they should give any more.

[gingeroots]

As far as what happens in other schools - I would not be surprised at all if this had happened at DS's school .
Furious ,but not surprised .
Hope your DD is not too put off and keeps on perservering .

[senua]

I find the teacher's attitude bizarre. Don't they do practice questions as preparation for the exam, in order to learn from their mistakes? Surely this is, effectively, a practice-paper-with-bells-on: she wants to learn from her AS paper in order to improve her A2 result.

If the school can't/won't give specific, personalised help then perhaps a tutor is the best bet.

[noblegiraffe]

How long I would take to go through it would depend on how much there was to say. If odd marks were just being dropped here and there for different things, there wouldn't be much to say at all.

[mnistooaddictive]

It isn't case of other schools but other teachers as there are no policies on this kind of thing. It sounds to me as if there was no one thing, just across the board weaker performance. If the teacher could have said you need to ..... Then she probably would have done.