Advice on IB remarks (English SL & Extended Essay), please?

[newnamenewnamenewname]

Are there any IB teachers/examiners out there who could give advice on whether it is worth going for a remark?

DS has just got his results, 37, narrowly missing his offer of 38 at his first choice, Imperial. Even worse, he is on the upper boundary for the scaled mark in both English and the extended essay. If he'd got one more mark in either he would have met his offer, and he would have got 39 if he'd got an extra mark in both. So close and yet so far...

The boundaries in English for a level 5 were 56 - 67. He scored 67. He was predicted a 6. Is it worth asking for a remark in the hope he goes up to a 6?

I'm particularly nervous about asking for a remark of the extended essay as it seems a bit like the marking is very subjective. He was predicted an A by his teachers but got a C??! Again, he scored 22, the grade boundaries were 16 - 22 for a C. He got an A in TOK so a B in the EE would gain him an extra point. He's been looking online and he's worried about asking for a remark as there seem to be a few reports of students who were predicted an A (and got overall marks in the 40s) but ended up with an E or a D in the EE and vice versa. Certainly at his school there seems to be a lot of EE marks going up or down a grade or 2 from what was predicted. His EE was in History, if that has any bearing. He got a steady 6 in HL History (4 marks off a 7) so his history essay writing is pretty competent.

Any advice?

His insurance offer is 35 so it wouldn't be the end of the world if he lost marks. Is that even possibly a risk if his marks are on the upper boundary, though? It seems unlikely but I'm not confident that it couldn't happen with the EE...

My experience (as a teacher) is that marks are unlikely to move. Is the EE not already double marked as well? When we have got papers back previously to look at marking comments, we have had two sets of marks on an EE.

Sorry about the marks though. How very frustrating. Hopefully somebody with more relevant experience (I'm Science) will be able to advise.

Thanks, Madonna. It is very frustrating. And very confusing as to how his teachers could be so off the mark with his EE prediction. The history department at his school is excellent as well (and quite tough on marking!) so even more surprising...

What does the school say? I think there is not the same culture (not sure that's the right word...) of querying IB marks as there is GCSE/A level.

DS is at a big IB school although he actually sits A levels. I've posted the link below because the HT particularly mentions that they are expecting quite a few results to change in the next few weeks. So remarks do happen and can change things. I hope your DS gets what he needs.

www.kcs.org.uk/senior-school/news/ib-results-2017

We're in the same position - missed out by one point on English and Theatre Studies. I've been looking online and if you are really close to the boundary (like one or two marks) you have a 40% chance of the grade moving up. I think it's worth a try, although she seems resigned to her second choice.

None of her friends seem to have done as well as predicted - one failed completely. Two have got their first choice university, despite having got five points less than required. Another missed out on her first choice by one mark and is waiting to see if they will accept her.

We're waiting for the school to call us about it tomorrow.

I've had a bit of a search online and OSC (who do a lot of IB revision courses/guides) have a blog that says they've analysed the stats and 40% of remarks go up a grade when the result was within 1% of the upper boundary and English is the subject with the highest rate of success for remarks so maybe there's a chance.

I guess we'll see what the school exam's officer advises tomorrow.

Thanks for that, cake!

Looks like you found the same site as me, Mrs Klugscheisser! Let's hope your DD and my DS are in the lucky 40%

Good luck!

No advice on the remark as such but is it worth your son calling up the admissions tutor at Imperial and asking them if they'd consider accepting him on a slightly lower grade? Its not like he was miles off!

The results at DD's IB school seem
a lot lower than usual this year, but everyone who missed their grades (some by as much as 5 points) seems to have been accepted into their first choice university (including DD1 - yay!). We looked at the mark sheet for her subjects, and one of the internally marked papers, which was graded internally as a 6, was downgraded to a 3 by the external marker. I can understand it dropping to a 5, or maybe a 4, at a push, but to drop so much? The school has been doing the IB since the 1970s, so it's not as if they don't know what they're doing re grading assessments.

We have much more success with re-marks in the IB than we do at A Level.

The drop from 6 to a 3 was also for one of the papers in SL English. (DD1's mark was also the same as your DS's - right on the grade boundary. The rest of the marks were 6/7 grade, which is what she was predicted.)

Thanks for everyone's helpful posts!

We had no luck with the EE remark. The school has appealed the moderation of the English for the whole year but there is no news on that yet. However, we have had the happy news today that DS's first choice have accepted him despite missing his offer