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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Need to cancel a remark urgently

53 replies

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 18:06

My son got 1 mark away from an A* in his English literature GCSE and an English teacher I spoke to on results day said he would put in for remarks. He has since told me he put both of his papers in. I've now found out by looking at raw to ums converter, that he got full ums in 1 of the exams so need to have the remark cancelled for that 1 paper. The exam officer won't reply to any of my emails, so I'm very concerned. I rang a AQA but they said it has to go through exam officer. I'm not sure what else I can do.

OP posts:

GloriaHotcakes · 26/08/2015 22:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lifesalongsong · 26/08/2015 22:12

I don't know how close it was but a family member had a remark for her daughter and it stayed the same so not always guaranteeed to to up. This was 2 years ago

Original poster

Majaso12 · 26/08/2015 22:45

My eldest didn't have any luck with his GCSE or A level remarks.

I'm so concerned about it being remarked now because he's done so much better in that exam than I expected and another examiner could mark him completely different. My eldest son's history teacher told me about someone's going down a lot in a remark, enough to go down a grade. If my son does just get the 1 literature paper remarked he would have to lose 20 marks to go down a grade which is very unlikely.

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Laura7010 · 27/08/2015 14:47

The exams officer has to cancel the remark on the aqa system, it can be cancelled I've requested one be cancelled myself. They cannot simply 'send off an email to AQA' if they are not in work then they most probably cannot access this system. The grade will not go down to a B if it was one mark off an A*. A level papers are given priority at this time to allow for uni places etc... GCSE papers won't even have been looked at yet, it will be weeks till you hear anything so I bet it can be cancelled on the return to school.

Original poster

Majaso12 · 27/08/2015 15:13

The Exam Officer said she's not working until term starts which is the 3rd, so I've just got to hope it doesn't get remarked before then. I don't want the one I do want to get remarked to go up one mark which is all he needs to go up a grade, but the other paper I don't want remarked to go down 1 mark.

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thunderbird69 · 27/08/2015 16:23

At my DS's school they have said that an appeal cannot be made without a signed request form from the candidate. A parent cannot request it nor a teacher. Bit odd that they have just done that without any approval.

Someone on another thread has said that they've had a GCSE re-mark back already

Original poster

Majaso12 · 27/08/2015 16:42

They never get the pupil to sign for a GCSE remark, they did though for my son's A level but they said it was because he was 18 so I couldn't ask for the remark on his behalf. I am annoyed that the English teacher put both papers in for a remark without checking his marks on each paper, I didn't agree to that.

I rang the Local Education Authority today who have emailed the school, for the attention of Exams Officer and English department. They haven't emailed them back though the last time I heard. I didn't want to have to do that, but felt I had no choice. I did email the Exams Officer 1st to let her know I was doing it and gave her a bit more time to respond. She seems to think she can't cancel the remark even though I've told her I rang AQA and they said she can.

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Original poster

Majaso12 · 27/08/2015 16:43

AQA told me to ring the local Education Authority.

OP posts:

GloriaHotcakes · 27/08/2015 16:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

Majaso12 · 27/08/2015 17:04

The Exam Officer said it has been put in for remark. I hope his remarks haven't already been done.

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lifesalongsong · 27/08/2015 19:10

I know it's a bit of a game but am I the only one who is slightly uneasy with the fact that you are so keen to accept a remark that increases the grade whilst so desperate to avoid one which would make lower the mark.

It could be interpreted that you don't actually want the mark to be correct and are willing for your son to have a grade he didn't earn if that comes because one of the papers was overmarked.

Original poster

Majaso12 · 27/08/2015 19:15

Why would I not want the mark to be correct? I don't want to risk getting a paper remarked that's already at full marks because he could lose say 1 mark in a remark. I am hoping he will go up 1 extra mark on the other paper as he would then go up a grade.

OP posts:

Original poster

Majaso12 · 27/08/2015 19:33

I've just seen an earlier message asking his exam board and ums.

It is AQA English literature and he has 179 ums which is out of 200, so 180 needed for A*

Unit 1 is out of 80 ums and he has 66 ums
Unit 2 is out of 70 ums and he has 70 ums
Unit 3 (controlled assessment) is out of 50 and he has 43 ums

OP posts:

lifesalongsong · 27/08/2015 19:56

I understand that you want the mark to be correct but you can't have it both ways.

You are saying that you don't want the paper with full marks to go down, even if that is the correct mark, you only want the other paper to go up.

To me that means you are only prepared to accept the correct mark if it's higher than the original one, you want the 100% mark even if it's wrong - isn't that what you're saying?

cathyandclaire · 27/08/2015 20:03

We managed to cancel an AQA A2 remark so it definitely can be done, our exam office was open though.

I'm surprised they put them both in as there is a significant charge per paper. can you e-mail the teacher/head of department?

Original poster

Majaso12 · 27/08/2015 20:04

I don't think anyone would want to risk an exam at full marks being remarked. I do think it was marked correctly, just don't want to risk it going down 1 mark if the other paper goes up 1 mark as his grade would stay the same. He deserves a high grade in it as he worked very hard and we paid for a tutor to help him as the school had not prepared them very well for literature.

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BlueBelle123 · 27/08/2015 20:38

We have also applied for a remark and our DD had to sign a form to say what paper, exam and board she wanted remarked. The exams officer said that they would not be able to proceed without my DD signature, after all it is her exam and no-one not even the school has a right to potentially alter that result without their consent!

Original poster

Majaso12 · 27/08/2015 20:48

Bit strange that the exam officer has never asked my children to sign for a remark. I was told today by the school that subject leaders will look at marks close to the next grade boundary when they are back in and decide which ones to put in for a remark. I wonder if they inform the child they are putting them in for a remark.

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BlueBelle123 · 27/08/2015 21:13

It does seem a bit at odds that only the child can collect their results and they must give their consent if someone else is to collect them and the school is not allowed to know exactly what each child's results are until after the child has received them and yet as soon as they are known the school could theoretically apply for a remark which alter's that child's result either up or down without their consent!!!! Doesn't seem right to me.

lifesalongsong · 27/08/2015 21:27

Schools know the results the day before the students pick them up.

How do you think they get into the envelopes with letters and other bumph from the school inside?

I know from a friend who is a head of department in a school that she knows all her students results before they do and she also has checked for the C/D boderline so she can speak to the students on results day and get any remarks organised.

I don't know if that happens in all schools but I know they all have the results beforehand.

I was able to request a remark for my child without them being involved, I didn't think anything of it but maybe you are all right and I shouldn't have been able to do that.

Ripeningapples · 29/08/2015 09:54

I've requested a couple of remarks for my dd. Had a very nice conversation with the exams manager, accepted he was the expert and not me. He had a look across the board to see if anything other than the three subjects I was querying came close. He advised to go ahead with two but in his professional opinion the third subject was being marked slightly randomly and he ventured it wasn't worth it. So, we are having two papers each for two subjects remarked. We have to pay and it is a total cost of £172.00. That of course might be refunded if the grades go up. If not, it's a personal hit.

Why can't you just write a polite letter setting out your concerns and wait for a reply. The deadline for remarking submissions isn't until 18th September and as the member of staff isn't in I bet no remarks have yet been submitted. Why would the exams department raise purchase order after purchase order when it could all be done under one per exam board?

I think you are getting in a pickle for pickle's sake here.

Original poster

Majaso12 · 29/08/2015 10:28

His English literature exams had already been put in for a remark, but others I've asked for haven't. I've managed to have one cancelled now, but the deputy head took over in the end as the exam officer wasn't prepared to cancel it. The exam officer doesn't offer doesn't offer any advice over what to get remarked and doesn't seem to know much it seems. She says she can't advise and to ask a teacher.

The deputy head sat down with an English teacher on results day and decided which students were close to the next grade before putting in for remarks. What I don't get is why an English teacher wouldn't realise he had full marks in that exam as he was the one who put in for his remarks.

OP posts:

GloriaHotcakes · 29/08/2015 10:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ripeningapples · 29/08/2015 10:47

I can't believe the school is sending A/A papers for remarking and paying for it when it has no impact on their A-C figures.

GloriaHotcakes · 29/08/2015 10:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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