Year 11 GCSE exam support thread 3 - the exam weeks

[HSMMaCM]

New thread for those of us starting the exams.

Keep calm everyone.

funamb, same board here and exam and I said the same thing - it's done, get on with the next.

DS said maths (Edexl iGCSE) was fairly easy. Then he said there was no question he couldn't do but worked out how to do it after the exam.

So, I am as clueless as I was before he said anything!

Hello - first time poster on this thread & was hoping someone on here has the answer!

Here goes- my ds (16) had his English literacy exam on Monday & came back home quite happy with his attempt.Except after leaving the exam & talking to a few other students he discovered in one of the sections it asks to just answer one question out of a list but my son answered two.I reassured him that at least he answered one he just did one extra!

Today he had his ICT exam & before they started an invigilator reminded them to read the questions thoroughly because several students didn't in the English exam & they had failed

Is this right - has my son automatically failed his exam because he answered more than he should?

I very much doubt it but I've not studied the rules. I bet the rules for your son's board are on line so just look them up to check. Normally if people answer say all 5 of a choice of questions instead of 1 of 5 you are just marked on the one you did in most exams.

Sounds like a totally inappropriate thing for the invigilator to say.
I would guess that they mark the first answer and ignore anything additional after that. I have no idea if that is what happens though

Thank you for your swift replies
I'm not too pleased the invigilator said this just before an exam as it distracted & worried my son that he couldn't concentrate on the test in front of him!
He may go to school tomorrow & have a word to his English teacher.
Your replies have calmed me down thank you

Taken from GCSE Guide 2015:

"Will I know the examiner who marks my paper?

No. Many examiners are full-time teachers as well, but they are not allowed to have any links to the school for which they mark exam papers. So there is absolutely no chance that you will know the people who eventually mark your exam papers."

So the invigilator is talking complete rot! The papers won't even be in his school anymore and he certainly won't know who's passed and who's failed!

They will take the first answer. His grade will be a bit impacted because he had less time to write, but he will definitely get marks.

not sure that is quite true, gin, in our experience.

Angelto5, so sorry your DS and the others in there had to suffer that thoughtless comment by the invigilator What an idiot!

DD has been "banging it out" (revising Eng Lit - Poetry) with her mate since 9am this morning apparently. With a break for lunch and just now a trip to Starbucks for Happy Hour.
Seems a lot happier than last night, thank God!

We need Noble Giraffe! Someone run off and ask her would you?

Found this for English people tomorrow. All seems sensible.

uctclive.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mission-gcse-2015-8-examiners-are.html

They certainly won't fail students for answering too many questions!

The AQA website says this: "I answered too many questions
If in your exam you were asked to answer two out of three questions and instead you answered all three. Our examiners will mark all three questions and your final marks will be awarded based on the two highest scoring questions out of the three you answered."

www.aqa.org.uk/student-support/for-students/managing-stress

Exam scripts are scanned and marked on screen these days. Markers don't mark a full paper, they mark lots of the same question. There's absolutely no way that an invigilator would be able to tell if a student had passed or failed.

New thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/2384583-Year-11-GCSE-support-thread-4-more-exams

Thanks noble - always there with a solid nugget ...

I wonder why our dc have been told that they take the first answer in that situation. Maybe it is a different exam board?

OCR would also take the best answer. Can't find Edexcel's advice but I'd imagine all the exam boards have to take a consistent approach.

New thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/2384583-Year-11-GCSE-support-thread-4-more-exams

Littleham the first answer is marked when pupils write down 2 answers to the same question (sometimes they forget to cross an answer out).
I am fairly sure that Edexcel also take the highest mark. In practice though now exams are marked on-line the examiners don't have to make a decision. All questions are marked and the computer system automatically corrects for this if too many questions have been answered.

Ds is back and happy with the poetry paper. The comparison was something to do with how bravery is portrayed which he said was fine because he's studied conflict and the unseen he was able to write 'loads' about and was writing for the whole 75 minutes. Nothing about sex though.

He's working tonight then going to have a lie in and bit of relax before ramping the revision up again.

Hey you two, everyone else has decamped to thread 4 already. Just in case you were wondering why it was so quiet!

Doh! I did wonder why there was little post exam dissection going on

See you over there...