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Original poster

GCSE English language and Lit - anyone got surprisingly low grade?

30 replies

hobobulate · 25/08/2016 11:50

dd got her GCSE results today- she did brilliantly but SHE is is really disappointed and in floods of tears Sad
Her main disappointment is her English language and English Lit - se was really expecting an A for both and has got As - yes I know this is still brilliant - BUT the marks for a couple of her papers were surprisingly low - she got a C in one paper, and B in 2 others. All her coursework has been A, her school assessments and past papers have all been A*. She worked really hard, and felt the exams went OK so is really shocked about the grades.
School have said all English marks have come back low and they are going to look into it. Obviously we are just telling her how brilliantly she has still done - but just wondering if anyone else has noticed a bit of an odd grade/mark for English (board was WJEC)
what are our options - can we ask for her scripts to be returned to school to see what happened? Any point asking for it to be remarked?
I'm so sad for her. She has done so well, but is still so disappointed in herself.

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noblegiraffe · 25/08/2016 11:57

If you get the script returned, you can't then ask for a remark. I imagine the school will put a load in for remarks themselves but they may avoid ones where there's a chance of going down a grade.

Themoleisdead · 25/08/2016 11:58

Did other people in her year get low results ?- This happened to DD the whole year had their papers remarked and everyone's went up. DD to an A*. Speak to the school for advice

baringan · 25/08/2016 11:58

Yes dd got a B and was expecting an A. She got a d in one paper. She's not worried though just relieved she doesn't have to retake.

Original poster
hobobulate · 25/08/2016 12:38

ok, I didn't know you couldn't ask for a remark if script was returned - but suppose that makes sense now I think about it.
Yes, apparently the whole years results were lower than expected for English (language and Lit)
Having looked at the marks.UMS etc for both in more detail I now realise that she was actually quite close to the boundary of a/b so there is a chance she may go down a grade with a remark Shock which would totally devastate her. It is just so odd that all her marks for 2 years have been comfortable A* and then she gets a C in one paper and Bs in the others.....Hmm
The headteacher has said they will meet with English department to look at the situation - not sure when we might hear anything though....

Turns out this is more stressful than A level results last week......

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Original poster
hobobulate · 25/08/2016 12:42

baringan I wish DD wasn't bothered tbh. We've told her it doesn't matter, that A is obviously still a brilliant grade, but she is so upset.Sad

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catslife · 25/08/2016 13:16

hob Check with the school. There are some changes on GCSE re-marking this year, but my understanding is that some exam boards are now offering script return for GCSEs prior to remaking. My dds school does WJEC English and this appears to be on the list of exam boards (and subjects) where this service is available.
The other change in remarking is that grades are only going to be changed if the examiner has made a mistake, not if 2 examiners have different opinions/interpretations that are still within marking guidelines.
Hope that helps

boys3 · 25/08/2016 13:24

same issue here OP, not just DS2, who like your DD got very good grades still but might have expected even better, but across full cohort at the school.

CointreauVersial · 25/08/2016 13:35

DS was predicted a C in both, and ended up with D in Lit and E in Lang.

Thank heavens the school also put him in for the English iGCSE, which was much easier, and he got a C (highest mark available), so no retakes needed. Phew.

noblegiraffe · 25/08/2016 13:36

catslife that's interesting, JCQ still say A-level only on their documents.

Do you have a link to the list of exam boards/subjects which will be doing this?

NicknameUsed · 25/08/2016 13:55

DD got an A* for English language in her mock and a B in the exam. Loads of people in her class got lower than they expected.

Icequeen01 · 25/08/2016 14:02

Same here! DS was expected to get a B or possibly A grade in his two English papers but surprisingly came out with C for both. His teacher was waiting to speak to him and said the school are considering asking for a remark of papers as grades have been so low. DS met a friend who got all A's and A*s apart from in English where he got two C's (he was predicted an A).

DS was quite shocked when he came out to tell us his results but I think he's ok now. He needed at least 6 B's to stay on at 6th form and he got 7 plus one A so he's happy he gets to stay on. Sadly his friend got 11 C grades and will have to transfer to another school or college. His poor face as he walked out to,tell his mum. Heartbreaking.

GasLightShining · 25/08/2016 14:03

Cointreau Exactly the same results my DS got when he took them. I spent the whole two years querying at every parents evening whether it might be a good for him to do foundation as opposed to higher and got told that everything would be ok. He took functional skills the first year at college and this year GCSE so hopefully he has passed. He has got into uni with the functional skills so at least it's not the end of the world if he fails.

OP - speak to the school and see what they say. I would be twitchy if she is borderline A/B. Grades can go up or down on a remark

Mouseinahole · 25/08/2016 14:16

Yes dgd got A in Lit and B in Lang (est A)

catslife · 25/08/2016 14:51

I am sending you a pm noble.

Original poster
hobobulate · 25/08/2016 15:05

Thanks all. It was wjec she did for English so that is useful info.
She's gone out with friends, I'm hoping when she comes back she will be happy with what she's got but we will see. Will also wait and see what school suggest, as it does seem to be a problem across the whole year.

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Original poster
hobobulate · 25/08/2016 15:07

Yes , I think it would be risky Gas lighting. I'm not sure how to tell her that though without pointing out her A was in fact only just and A which will make her feel even worse. It's just so odd it's English which was one of her best subjects.

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NEScribe · 25/08/2016 17:15

Yes - my daughter is extremely upset. Teachers predicted A or hopefully A* in both lang/lit and she has B grade in both. A teacher friend has said we should def ask school to get lit remarked because she was close to A boundary but in one lang paper she got way less than expected which has reduced her overall mark into B. Exam board is AQA.
I have read online that results this year are lowest for many years due to changes. Very upsetting for the students taking them.
Check her results with the online individual boundaries for each paper. If it's coursework then often the problem is that staff were a little "kind" with their marking and this has been changed after sampling by exam board.
DD was really ill for last of her science exams. GP said she should be admitted to hosp but she insisted on taking the exams. We submitted a GP letter and school said it was passed on for special consideration. The results don't mention that - school is not at all interested but how on earth can we be sure it was TIC ? Apparently the markers weren't told (stupid!) and after marking it goes to a special considerations panel. Am I being unreasonable to expect her marks sheet to show it was considered? How can we know that it was?

Jaimx86 · 25/08/2016 17:24

AQA exam board here. The grade boundaries have stayed the same this year and our results have gone up dramatically. Best English results the school has had. Still sending those papers 1 or 2 marks off a higher grade for a remark though.

catslife · 25/08/2016 18:25

NEscribe What you have described for special consideration is standard procedure and the school should be able to check for you whether this request was approved and how much was added on. It's usually a fairly small percentage though (guidelines on JCQ website).
It isn't stupid that it isn't passed onto individual examiners as all papers are anonymous (the names etc are not known to on-line markers) and can be marked in the same way. OK your dds situation was only one exam, but some cases for Special consideration will be more complex and involve more sensitive personal information. Using a separate panel will therefore keep this type of information confidential.

knittingwithnettles · 25/08/2016 18:37

Son wants to do English for A level and received B for Language and C for Literature. B is okay (good really) for him but he really needed another B, and it is surprising because he knew the set books backwards. Another AQA. Have to ask teachers tomorrow what the breakdown is, it is not shown on the paper just that he got 40 UMS for both coursework and exam combined. He was doing Foundation so that complicates matters, teacher said his coursework should pull it up to B when I first queried a few months ago. Maybe grade boundary on coursework changed too, and it was originally high B then turned into a low B.

I do wish the teachers would explain it all to us BEFORE we get the results so we don't have to do the detective work and feel all at sea and consult Mumsnet. I live in fear of asking other people what their sons got for English and hearing streams of A's and A*. This is the first I've heard of lower grades.

Original poster
hobobulate · 25/08/2016 19:07

Sorry to hear others struggling too. We're going into school tomorrow for sixth form interview, so will try and speak to someone from English dep then. DD is feeling more positive about things, but is just genuinely really shocked. She got A in her coursework for both language and literature. All year she's been getting A in her assessments, getting full marks more than once. She knew the books inside out. And yet she got B for both literature papers, and a C in one language paper. Every other paper, in every subject she got A or A* and English was meant to be one of her best subjects.
She had picked English Lit for A level and is now questioning bit. Thinking of changing to history which she got 98% in overall.
I must admit it is a really odd result for her.

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StepAwayFromTheThesaurus · 25/08/2016 19:18

Ds1 was WJEC combined lit/lang and he got a D. He'd been predicted a C and got that in his mocks but it's a D in the exam. A C in the controlled assessment and DS in the exam papers. Luckily his school are letting him resit in 6th form.

flowersandsunshine · 26/08/2016 00:43

Same problem here as OP but only in Eng Lang. Board was OCR. Anyone else had similar things happen with this board?

From what she said, others at her school had underperformed expectations too. So looks like there is a more general problem.

NicknameUsed · 26/08/2016 07:52

DD got an A and A in her mocks, an A for her coursework and has been getting A*s for her classwork, so she is disappointed with her B. Her UMS mark was 230. Is it worth it getting this looked at again?

Original poster
hobobulate · 26/08/2016 10:41

nick what board did she do? You can check the grade boundaries on line and find out what UMS she would need for each grade, that will give you an idea how close she is.

Just been into school and they have already sent off one of Dds English language papers for remarking. She got A* in coursework, A in one paper, then C in the paper gone for remarking. They said they have looked at a breakdown of the marks on line and it just doesn't make any sense so they put in for a remark straight off. So we will have to wait and see on that one.
They haven't looked at the literature yet, so will meet with English dept when they go back and take it from there.
My nerves are totally worn out! Anyway, she has enrolled in sixth form and kept her choice of English Lit for A level . She is feeling more positive today and focusing on her Art more - which is her main subject and she did fantastically in that.

Good luck to anyone still trying to sort out odd grades etc...

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