Do examiners write comments on exam scripts?

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DS has done well in his AS exams. He got an A overall in Geography with an A in one paper and a C in the other; in Biology he got a B overall with an A in one paper and a C in the other. I'm wondering about getting photocopies of the C papers back so he he can see if it's worth getting a remark (at the time he thought both of the C papers had gone as well as, if not better than, the A papers). But I was also wondering if he might learn anything from the scripts if the examiner has written any comments to explain where he has lost marks. Does anyone know if they do this?

I doubt it - examiners work volume - there is no reason for them to write comments if they never expect the candidate to see the script.

Years since I marked in England but, no, we were not allowed to and we do not in Scotland. Something to do with the scripts being public property. We can tick or cross and put numbers only.

With the board I mark for, I am required to write a summative comment using the terms of the mark scheme to show why I've placed an answer in the bad I have. No idea if this is common to all boards though.

band not bad

A lot of marking is on-line now.

I used to mark AS and A-Level English for AQA and we had to write a summative comment at the end in relation to the assessment objectives and the positives of the candidate's work. That was a few years ago though so things might have changed.

Comments are written, but these are not aimed at the candidate and differ to the marking done by teacher. Teachers' marking aims to show pupils how to improve. Examiners marking just aims to show where the candidate has met certain criteria from the markscheme,so to justify the mark given. Any comments will usually be phrases lifted directly from the markscheme. Often a code is used, which is recognised by examiners, such as An, for analysis, Ev for evaluation. Your teacher can explain these.

Exam scripts are not marked with the main purpose being to inform students. They do have to be transparent though, because schools or pupils can request them back, but it is likely you would need your teachers in put to fully appreciate what is being said and particularly what is missing and needs improvement, as this is what is NOT commented on...examiners have to mark positively, meaning they comment on what IS there, not what is missing.

Anyone getting a script back, needs to copy it themselves, give the copy to the teacher to look at I. Advance and then arrange to talk it through with the teacher. Unless they do this, it is not very useful.

And incidentally, I would never allow pupils to put in for a resit unless they have got their script back and talked it through with me.....what is the point in resisting if you do t know where you went wrong before?

Chocolate Wombat - that's really helpful thank you. I don't think he's planning to resit either but I thought it would be useful for him to look at the script himself and with a teacher if for no other reason than to learn by his mistakes. If he can see where he didn't get marks then he can work out why with his teacher.

Geography is his main subject and what he wants to do at uni - or something related. He go 115 (A) for paper one - which he didn't feel had gone at all well because it was 'weird' and there was a mistake in the resource booklet relating to the first question which threw him. He got 53 (C) on the second paper which he felt had gone really well. He managed a low A overall but is obviously going to have to work extra hard to maintain that A next year and anything he can learn from his performance at AS - and why it wasn't as good on the second paper as he thought - can only help.

Similar with Biology - both papers 'very good' but an A in one and a C in the other..