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Original poster

Has anyone ever had a successful GCSE re-mark?

81 replies

Sparklegeek · 22/08/2013 11:30

DS1 (Year 10) got his GCSE Science result this morning. His one A grade combined with 3 A grades on the component subjects to give him an overall A Sad He is absolutely devastated as he needed 360 UMS for an A & got 359. (NB - he goes to a very high-achieving grammar so despite us insisting he has done fantastically he is gutted).

So the question is - is it worth going for a re-mark in the hope a different examiner would award that extra point he needs to hit the A* boundary? Obviously I realise he could lose points as well, but I'm assuming as he's at the very very top of the A grade boundary it wouldn't actually reduce his overall grade in that event.

But is it even worth doing? Should he just accept what he's got & leave it? And does anyone know if schools pay the fees or do the parents? (Not an issue - was just wondering).

I feel so bad that he feels like this when he should by rights be celebrating his A.

OP posts:
urbancupcake · 22/08/2013 16:18

andadietcoke Really???? Thanks so much. He got 6a's and it's a shame that becomes the focus. Thanks so much. will let them know.

urbancupcake · 22/08/2013 16:24

andadietcoke Really???? Thanks so much. He got 6a's and it's a shame that becomes the focus. Thanks so much. will let them know.

ITCouldBeWorse · 22/08/2013 16:28

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cathyandclaire · 22/08/2013 16:30

DDs written AQA German was moderated down from a comfortable A to a low B giving her an A overall (her listening and speaking rescued her) just missing an A...it kind of makes me lose faith in the German staff at school, how could they have been so far out in their assessments? Wonder if it's worth a remark but stressed out by the Mrs Wobble story !

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 22/08/2013 16:36

Remarks need to be in by 20th September - it is a universal deadline.

secretscwirrels · 22/08/2013 16:38

cathyandclaire that sounds familiar as well. Last year DS had a French CA moderated down from A to C giving him an overall A instead of A. His teacher had given him full marks for the paper so he didn't re-sit it like the rest of the class as he didn't see how he could improve it. Hmm.

IamFluffy · 22/08/2013 17:02

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lotsofdirections · 22/08/2013 17:05

I am a senior examiner for Eng Lit. When I was at the weeks meeting earlier this month, English Lang were in the room next door. We were told(informally) that nearly 50% of markers in Eng Lang had to have their work checked fully/marks changed so if we had any near the borderline at our schools to bung them in for a remark.

alreadytaken · 22/08/2013 17:31

some schools will pay for a few papers to be remarked as they are keen to keep their grades up. Sometimes a whole class may have their papers remarked if the school think the results were generally low. Although science papers are perhaps less likely to change I would certainly pay for a remark for anything one mark off an A*. Going down a grade is unlikely and mistakes in marking are quite common.

tapdancingmum · 22/08/2013 17:40

Would you go for a remark in English if you were 4 marks from an A?

lljkk · 22/08/2013 17:45

I think it depends what he hopes to get out of it, no? Does he badly need A* for whatever he wants to do later in life?

imho, £20/paper is cheap at the price.

Workmate's DS got a paper regarded from D to B, so certainly worthwhile sometimes.

canutesauntie · 22/08/2013 18:25

Thanks for the replies all, didnt mean to sound huffy, blame the stress! We will go for the re-mark as I think he wasnt far off. He has just gone off to the all night post results campout in the woods and is far more cheerful. I think its time to start on the cider!Wine need a cider emoticon

IGuessIHadYourLeavinComing · 22/08/2013 22:32

OP, my DD had the EXACT same thing happen to her this time last year when she was in Y10. She needed 360 for an overall A* in AQA Core Science and got 359. We requested her Chemistry and Physics papers be remarked (at a cost of about £25 each I think) and they came back unchanged - so for us, it was a waste of time and money, but I don't regret taking the risk at all.

In fact, my DD has just had her Y11 results and was one UMS mark off an A* in English Lang, so we're probably going to get that remarked. Also my DS was two UMS marks off a B in A2 Geography, so might as well go for that as well.

After that, I give up!

longingforsomesleep · 22/08/2013 23:48

Am thinking of asking for a remark for DS's GCSE PE paper (aqa). Not because it was a mark or two off the next grade but because the mark for the exam element was significantly out of synch with all his other marks and his perception of the exam. He got 176/180 for the coursework/practical (A*) but 76/125 (or something similar) for the exam. That equates to a C giving him an A overall (which I know is not to be sneezed at!).

He's normally a good judge of his own exam performance and I remember him saying the exam was really easy. Apart from a couple of Bs all his other GCSE modules were A*/A so this one really sticks out. There's nothing riding on it so perhaps I should let it go - if only it wasn't so out of keeping with his other grades and his perception of his own performance on the day.

mindgone · 23/08/2013 00:47

I haven't read all the thread, but I wouldn't bother. He can definitely get the A* next year anyway with those marks. Or he could go up, and still not get the star next year! Have had a few papers remarked, and they have always come back the same. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Original poster
Sparklegeek · 23/08/2013 08:54

Mindgone the thing is, this is a separate GCSE in its own right, not just modules counting towards a final grade next year. Yes he can get another Science GCSE next year & fingers crossed for an A then but it still leaves this year's one at an A (& having worked out what a UMS point equates to, he's actually half a mark off the A. FFS).

OP posts:
nkf · 23/08/2013 08:58

You should be able to find out what marks he got for each of the components. And I'd talk to the teacher before making a decision.

He did brilliantly. Well done to him.

Original poster
Sparklegeek · 23/08/2013 09:03

Thankyou nkf, that's what I keep trying to tell him. Yes I am waiting to speak to the teachers but I guess that will be at the start of term. We do know what he got for each component but the decision is whether to try to gain the extra half mark on his lowest paper (Chemistry at 84%!) or one of the other 2 where he's already scored mid 90%!

OP posts:
glaurung · 23/08/2013 09:49

If you choose quickly and get the paperwork to the school next week, then there's a good chance the result will come back in time to try a different paper if no luck with the first.

andadietcoke · 23/08/2013 10:12

longing DH is a PE teacher and uses AQA. The exam is actually out of 80 and then gets scaled up to a score out of 120. 76/120 would be equivalent to mid-40s (out of 80) in the exam (he's just had a look at the conversions/grade boundaries for you). To get an A* overall, given his coursework/practical score he'd have to get in the late 50s on the exam so you'd be looking to find an extra 10 marks (not points) on the exam, which is unlikely to happen.

The majority of his students were in the mid 40s, so it's not a particularly poor performance and it's not uncommon to score very highly in the practical and less well on the written.

TheWave · 23/08/2013 10:21

longing we have the exact same with in the low 80s out of 120 for the theory in that PE exam (a C) and nearly 100% for practical. Works out to an A overall, obv not bad as such but that C sticks out compared to all her other grades. She did learn the stuff and do past papers says she didn't miss a question or muck it up so I was also going to query this.

TheWave · 23/08/2013 10:25

anda but did your husband's students get the lower marks in PE amongst a load of really high marks in other subjects? As longing says it sticks out for us hence the querying.

andadietcoke · 23/08/2013 10:36

To be honest I don't think he would look at individual students' scores in other subjects in that much detail.

How did she do in the mocks?

He has said that they've tightened up on the marking, and the examiner's report suggests that many questions were answered poorly because students hasn't read the questions properly - for example there was one about the influence of media on sport and students had largely listed all the different types of media that would influence, but hadn't said how they would influence, which was what the question was asking. That question had 8 marks allocated to it, so a few of those could have a big impact on points if they were misunderstood. I know his students said that they found the exam this year quite different to the past papers in terms of the way the questions were asked - they described them as 'waffly'.

The school will be able to tell you the questions your DCs lost marks on, and they'll also know whether there were commonalities across the year group.

RooRooTaToot · 23/08/2013 10:37

I used to temp for an exam board doing clerical remarks in results enquiries. I would first speak to the head of science to get their opinion and I would push for a remark.

Sometimes it isn't a case of finding an extra mark, occasionally the marks have not been added up correctly, or been typed into the computer incorrectly. As he is right at the top of the A band, it would be a low-risk gamble.

Coconutty · 23/08/2013 10:50

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