English Language GCSE re-take November 2012 Question

[FozzieMK]

My DD was 3 marks off a C for the June AQA Eng Lang exam and the subsequent requested re-mark has left us still with a D (surprise, surprise). She has left school now, but following a letter from them I have asked that she sits the free re-take in November. The school have emailed me today advising me that if she does re-sit, the new mark will become the final one. From what I have read on the TES forum this is not the case, it suggests that a certificate will be given for the June exam anyway and that another certificate will be issued for the November sitting. The AQA website is very confusing, does anyone know what the correct answer to this question is?

From the AQA site here:

Q: "Can the student decline the (November) cash in?"

A: "No, they will have to accept the 'cash in', but their previous grade will still have been certificated."

What this means (I think) is that they will get a certificate with their June result on with the rest of their June GCSE certificates, AND they will get a resit certificate with their November result on. For Ucas, at least, students are supposed to declare all certificated results, so would have to declare both, but in some circumstances it may be possible to 'lose' the November result.

The November result will use the best of the June and November results, except that it is subject to the 40% terminal rule, so at least 40% of the total marks must come from the November submission. In practice since few schools have time to redo the Controlled Assessments before November, most candidates will only be resitting the exam, so that will have to count instead of the earlier sitting because of the terminal rule.

So yes, if your dd resits the exam it will be the new sitting that counts for her November certificated result, but she will also have a certificated result from June that can be used as well (or maybe instead in some circumstances).

Thank you glaurung!