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Original poster

AS remark History - how often does it make a difference ?

39 replies

orangetulip · 13/08/2015 15:06

DS (and his teachers) very disappointed with result. Predicted excellent grades, as happened for everything else, but 68 UMS for history module.
School advise remark - but really how often does it make a difference in Hisotry ? Hoping quite often, as I guess it's fairly subjective....any advice appreciated on those who've been there.. thanks ! It's Edexcel...

OP posts:
stonecircle · 13/08/2015 18:36

As you say, essay-based exams are subjective so more likely to see a change if remarked. We always have a few grades change at our school following remarks. There's always a danger grades can go down of course - last year we had a student who had an essay-based paper remarked and it went down 2 grades!

His best bet is to get a copy of the paper (NOT the original) and ask a teacher to look through it and advise whether or not to go for a remark. At the very least he might identify some issues which might help him in the future.

Original poster
orangetulip · 13/08/2015 19:15

thanks for this stonecircle - mark 30% less than practise papers - quite ridiculous really... so we have been bold / reckless and asked for remark without seeing script. other paper lower than expected but not so wildly different, so have done the sensible thing as you have suggested, and will see what school think before decideding. THis whole business is making me completely loose faith in the system..

OP posts:
DoctorDonnaNoble · 13/08/2015 19:38

Last year we had an RS student go from a D to an A on a remark, I hope you get the news you want.

FuzzyWizard · 13/08/2015 19:44

Which paper was it? How did the rest of his class do?
I'm an A Level history teacher. Mistakes definitely do get made (just today I've advised a student to send off for a priority re-mark) and grades do go up. I'm assuming he was securely into the grade he is on? If not you do need to be aware that his marks can go down as well as up and I know a local school about three years ago had a straight-A student get a C... Sent of for a remark and it went down by 18 UMS.
That being said that sort of case is relatively unusual and I'm assuming if it were to go down he would want to resit it anyway?

It isn't that unusual in edexcel history to see fairly large differences in marks between papers IME. The two AS papers are quite radically different in terms of skills and technique. Some students perform much better on unit 1 than 2 or vice versa. If there is a significant pattern within the school then there could be an issue with the way they have been prepared or the way their essays have been marked.

Original poster
orangetulip · 13/08/2015 22:16

thanks DoctorDonnaNOble for the encouragement - lovely to hear that story but we won't assume miracles ! Yes FuzzyWizrd, very securely A, which is why it was such a surprise ...shocked to hear about the A student getting a C and then 18 UMS worse on remark - like I said it makes you lose faith in the system - even if student had a bad day and got a C how can it possibly be SOO different between different markers - shocking disparity and makes you wonder whether the whole thing is a charade reflecting whether your marker was having a happy day or not, rather than the quality of the child's work...

OP posts:
FuzzyWizard · 13/08/2015 22:35

What the exam board told the school was that because the answer was lucid, well written and clearly written by a bright student the original marker was too generous and gave too much benefit of the doubt. Once the teacher saw the paper they agreed that the answer was actually not really answering the question asked at all and lacked substance. Bright student but just had a bad day. I seem to remember that they said they did much better the following year.

travertine · 13/08/2015 23:16

So glad you have posted this op. My DD is going for a remark. A all year then a D today. Has gone back over her notes and just can't see why. (A on Vietnam D on Tudors) not sure if everyone studies the same. If it is what it is then okay. But it's not just us then.

DoctorDonnaNoble · 14/08/2015 06:45

I'd also request a photocopied paper back. This will help if the mark is upheld as most teachers will be happy to go over it with the student and discuss what went wrong and how to avoid it in future.

sunshine75 · 14/08/2015 07:29

I mark A Level history for a different exam board. It is def worth getting a re-mark. The past couple of years have been chaotic - not enough markers, dreadful online marking systems and lots of mistakes made. I'm advising some of my students to pay for re-marks. If the mark is changed then you get your money back.

LIZS · 14/08/2015 08:22

Interesting , Ds has same issue on the edexel paper. Good A on Russia, low d on Henry viii sources. Completely unexpected , he'd been getting 20+ out of 25 each question in practice papers and still doesn't think he struggled on the day. School are requesting a copy in case there is something obvious, like pages unmarked or his answer deviated from question , before a remark.

LIZS · 14/08/2015 08:47

He's now told me I'm wrong . One was out of 40 the other 20. On the basis of his ums he scored low 30s which would have fitted with his practice papers for the 40 marker. He types his script , is it possible a whole answer went astray?

camptownraces · 14/08/2015 08:57

In answer to OP's question, and based on a sample of one, the remark made absolutely no difference to the grade, it just cost us £50.

DS went through clearing on results day, secured a place which wouldn't have been available 3 days later. By the time the result of the remark was back,it wouldn't have made any difference anyway.

MissMillament · 14/08/2015 12:58

My DD had her history AS remarked last year and it went up a whole grade B to A. So definitely does make a difference to some people. I agree with stonecircle though - get the paper back first and let the teacher have a look to see if it is worth doing.

FuzzyWizard · 14/08/2015 14:39

LIZS- it's possible for a question to go missing... Using edexcel results plus either he or his teachers should be able to see how many marks each question was awarded- if one reads 0 then you know something's not right. I'd say it's not likely but definitely possible so worth checking. I think it's worth remembering that each exam rests on just two essays. Mistakes in History exams can therefore be quite punishing in terms of marks lost. The grade boundaries are also quite narrow which adds to this- So on the Tudor sources paper you only need to get 88% of the marks to get 100 UMS but to get 50 UMS you actually need 50% of the marks. If you were heading for a low A on a paper you often only have to drop 4-5 marks out of 60 to fall to a high C.

LIZS · 14/08/2015 15:22

Thanks fuzzy wizard that is helpful. At what point would a school have access to the mark breakdown by question? Some other subject papers have come back already so hoping this won't be strung out. Don't want to be clutching at straws for too long!

FuzzyWizard · 14/08/2015 15:53

I can see mine on results plus already. If your son has a results plus login he should be able to check himself.

qualifications.pearson.com/en/support/Services/resultsplus-direct.html

If not a teacher at school should be able to check for him.

LIZS · 14/08/2015 15:58

No he doesn't have access. I would have expected his teacher to have already checked it but things would have been pretty hectic!

DoctorDonnaNoble · 14/08/2015 16:18

Many teachers don't come in at all during the holidays so may not even be aware of the results yet (don't understand that myself!), access varies school to school as well. Due to a previous data breach I would only get to see question scores if a student had their paper back and showed me. But that is OCR, not Edexcel.

LIZS · 14/08/2015 16:29

Teacher was in yesterday and suggested recalling the script to get to the bottom of it. Guess we won't hear before Monday now.

Original poster
orangetulip · 14/08/2015 18:54

Thank you all for your contributions - it is worryingly reassuring to know there are a few of us in the same boat... and good to know that there is a chance they would increase on a remark (or decrease I know) ...as travertine says, if it was that score really it'd be ok (ish!), it's just the suspicion of things being wrong that makes it hard to accept... we will see and I will update on outcome - also those of you in similar situation, good luck and do let us know what happens!

OP posts:
chocolatespiders · 14/08/2015 19:05

My daughter got a C in History and thinks she was 2 marks off a B - she would like to ask for a remark. Does it cost?

mateysmum · 14/08/2015 19:11

We have gone for a remark on 1 history AS paper. DS got the top mark in the school on one paper and the bottom on the other and doesn't think he did anything particularly wrong. We are getting the script back too, so that even if the mark remains he can learn something and then decide whether to resit. Fingers crossed.

Good Luck OP

LIZS · 14/08/2015 19:13

Ds reckons it is £40 ish for a remark unless it changes.

travertine · 15/08/2015 00:17

Think ours is £33 for a remark, matesymum we are doing it for the same reason as you. Let's hope we all update and see what the results were.

basildonbond · 15/08/2015 07:41

LIZS it's perfectly possible for a whole page or even a whole paper to go astray when they've been typed

When ds got his GCSE results his RS was a C - he'd got high A*s in 3 papers and a U in the fourth. His school queried it and it turned out the pages had got detached at some point after leaving school (everything checked before sent off) . Because he'd typed it there was still a copy of what he'd done on the school computer so that got sent off and his grade went up - it was all a bit chaotic though ...

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