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Secondary education

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

GCSE Results Day 2017

979 replies

justmumof1 · 21/08/2017 06:45

Hard to belive that I was here 5 years ago sweating it out for the results of his secondary school offer!

Only a few days now bwfore the GCSE results come out. DS is starting to get nervous....as am I!

OP posts:
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TheFallenMadonna · 25/08/2017 15:24

Ah! So that's what the letter there means!! I was wondering too.

MsHarry · 25/08/2017 15:25

I'm off to to buy DD2 school shoes now. Help! If I hear anything back from DD1's teachers re AQA marks then I will post back here. Thanks all so much, I've learnt to much and will at least be better informed by the time DD13 gets there. Smile

MsHarry · 25/08/2017 15:26

so not to

booellesmum · 25/08/2017 15:28

JumpingJoey -
A girl in my DDs class got 999 and 7 A*.
I'm very impressed.

SoPassRemarkable · 25/08/2017 15:31

The letter next to English language relates to the grade for an oral assessment they had to do, which doesn't count towards overall grade. So merit, distinction, etc.

troutsprout · 25/08/2017 15:32

Dd has 8.5 under a heading 'points' for her gcse music exam ( she's in year 9 so only took 1 gcse this year)
Anyone know what this means / what they are for please?

MaisyPops · 25/08/2017 15:37

potentially helpful update
On some teacher group chats I'm on, some schools have got marks allocated to questions students didn't study on AQA English.
E.g. the student has a mark of 29 on the question about a text they didn't study.

Now it's not unheard of for students to attempt the wrong question, but not in thr numbers some friends have said and they sure as hell wouldn't have got decent marks on it.

If there are any massively unexpected results (not 'we're not happy about missing out on a 9') then it may be worth asking the school to have a look at the question/mark breakdown to check if the candidate has been marked for the correct literature options and then asking for a 'review of marking'. It could be an admin error e.g. just typed the correct poetry score in the wrong box, but it might be a bigger issue.

Obviously, trawling through online markbooks is how we love spending our holidays. Grin

MaisyPops · 25/08/2017 15:39

I've learnt to much and will at least be better informed by the time DD13 gets there
Haha! You think it'll be the same when DD13 gets there. Ah, foolishness. There'll have been some more reforms by then.

A few years back they cut the weighting of controlled assessment 3/4 way through the course for one cohort after we'd already spent weeks on it.Angry

AlexanderHamilton · 25/08/2017 15:44

I would have said it's the points used to calculate attainment 8 but 8 is the highest so 8.5 doesn't make sense unless it was a double weighted btec.

TestTubeTeen · 25/08/2017 15:54

Am I the only person who just looked at the Results list, has no idea what the numbers in the columns to the side mean, had no idea where to look for grade boundaries, or why that might be an advantage in advance of the results?

I can see why anyone who got a very uncharacteristic mark (low) with no apparent explanation (e.g student admitted to falling asleep during most of the exam) would be keen to get a review, but am I missing something by not poring over and analysing all those columns and numbers?

troutsprout · 25/08/2017 16:01

GrinI've no idea either testtube .. but I'm curious

Elendon · 25/08/2017 16:02

booellesmum I enquired too and was told it was not worth it. My brother does marking in exams and has been informed that the criteria for regrading is now very strict. (I'm glad I didn't pay).

ASDismynormality · 25/08/2017 16:22

booellesmum. How did you request the remark? DD missed out on an A in biology by 1 UMS point.

thegreylady · 25/08/2017 16:25

Dgd has A* in En Lit
A in French
B in Maths, Eng Lang, Biology, Philosophy and Art
C in Physics and Chemistry
She has got into her school sixth form to do Eng Lit, French, Philosophy and Art.

ProfessorLayton1 · 25/08/2017 16:27

Just thinking this..
Would the examiner who is remarking have access to the candidate's mark from the other paper ( some subjects have more than one paper ). Would they be aware of by how may marks that particular candidate needs to go up or loose a grade?

MaisyPops · 25/08/2017 16:36

am I missing something by not poring over and analysing all those columns and numbers
No. This sort of religious pouring on results day happens almost every year, just with the reforms and changes to the top grades it's noticably worse.
The major issue to me is that we will be going through things as a department when we get back. It's only made 10 timea more difficult if you get loads of emails and calls from parents saying 'i want a remark because they got an 8 not a 9. I want a remark because they got lower in literature than language and my child says the paper was good'.
Would the examiner who is remarking have access to the candidate's mark from the other paper ( some subjects have more than one paper ). Would they be aware of by how may marks that particular candidate needs to go up or loose a grade
Firstly, the step is a review of marking, not a remark (getting slightly frustrated at the amount of people still talking about being 1 mark off and getting it remarked - not you just it's repeatedly coming up).
IF, there is an issue in the review such as the mark scheme not being applied (not a difference of opinion!), then it can go to remark. The remark is a blank remark. No info. Just a senior examiner and the mark scheme. The mark could go up or down.

ASDismynormality You don't. You can't say "we were 1 mark off so we want a remark". This is EXACTLY why the board have stopped doing remarks and have switched to 'review of marking' .
Someone is always going to be 1 mark off. My friend was 1% off a first in her degree. It's life.

MaisyPops · 25/08/2017 16:39

For what it's worth, i liked having the ability to put acripts in for remark. But in recent years it's got ridiculous. Some schools were putting every D script within x marks of a C in and then you had the parental request ones because 'they were close'

It started to become 'remark because I didnt like the result' rather than 'remark because there may be a real issue here.

ASDismynormality · 25/08/2017 16:41

MaisyPops. Thankfully DD is still able to take Biology at A level and stay at her school so it doesn't actually matter.

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 25/08/2017 16:42

ProfessorLayton - no, the examiner has no access to any other component marks.

ProfessorLayton1 · 25/08/2017 16:44

Thanks Maisypops..am just trying to understand the process that's all.

When you say a marking scheme ( as a person with science background can't get my head around this in English) how do you achieve that in English - is there a strict guidance to the person who is marking the papers?
So when you ask for a remark - someone checks these rules are applied and also checks them clerically ( all questions are marked and correctly added)

ASDismynormality · 25/08/2017 16:46

TestTubeTeen. I looked further into the results as DD is planning to take A level biology was predicted and A could have got A* but got a B. Apparently B grade students struggle with the A level so wanted to see how far away she was from A, now I've seen it's so close (1point) I'm not too worried.

MaisyPops · 25/08/2017 16:46

ASDismynormality
That's good. I really wouldn't worry about it.

I feel a bit like lack of information is causing quite a lot of stress and anxiety that isn't needed.

I sometimes worry that a little amount of information + not understanding yhr system (understandably because it keepa changing) risks the circulation of misinformation. E.g. people on here saying their schools are going to do remarks and then others read it and complain their school isn't doing remarks etc.

noblegiraffe · 25/08/2017 16:51

Maisy I think it's wrong to suggest that parents shouldn't ask for marking to be reviewed if close to a grade boundary because marking is sometimes inaccurate, mistakes are made and even with a 'review of marking', some people are going to gain an extra mark which will put them over a grade boundary.

In maths, a remark has always basically meant a 'check for errors' because the mark scheme is pretty objective. That's why in maths it's pointless to send a paper back if you're more than a couple of marks away from a boundary because they don't change that much. However they do sometimes change.

The real problem with 'remarks' or 'reviews of marking' is that wealthy parents or schools can afford to send back swathes of papers and benefit from errors being picked up. Schools should use PP money to do the same for the papers of disadvantaged kids who may similarly benefit.

Obviously it's probably not worth bothering to go from a C to a B in a subject that will never be used again, but in a core subject near a key boundary? Absolutely.

ProfessorLayton1 · 25/08/2017 16:53

Agree with you MaisyPops - it would have been better if the parents were informed adequately, would have avoided a lot of anxiety.

Once again I am very happy with my Dds results but have found the whole exam system mid boggling and just trying to understand it. Thankfully my Dd2 is only in primary school so don't have to go through this for some years..

Wonders if GCSE is so much confusing.. what will happen to me for A levels

MaisyPops · 25/08/2017 16:56

ProfessorLayton1
No worries. It's quite a big change thia year even for us!

When you say a marking scheme ( as a person with science background can't get my head around this in English) how do you achieve that in English - is there a strict guidance to the person who is marking the papers?

  • before i explain, i am simplifying the objectives etc for clarity

Each question has assessment objectives which look at certain areas and then descriptors (simple, clear, perceptive)
So, for example language paper 1 Q 2 is analysing language (words, phrases, sentences, devices like similes).
The marker will have done training on what each band looks like (what a simple response looks like, clear etc...)
Then thry'll go through and identify where the candidate has answered the question, where the relevant ideas are, have they used examples, have they used subject terminology etc.
And then based on best fit it goes into a band.

Langauge paper 1 q3 looks at structure (e.g. narrative style, sequenve of events, development of themes, use if flash backs etc)
And the examiner will do the same as Q2. But if a student has talked about Language on q3 then their comments aren't relevant to the question so they don't get marks.
So when you ask for a remark - someone checks these rules are applied and also checks them clerically ( all questions are marked and correctly added)
Yes.
They'll check that if the examiner has said it is band 2 that it fits the criteria given / makes sure that if the examiner has sais theres no terminology that there really is 'no terminology'.

On literature, students get capped at band 2 if they don't talk about the whole texts. So if an answer has been capped at band 2, a review would check that there's definitely no whole text comments.

What the review doesn't do is say 'it's a band 4 but personally i'd move that from the bottom of band 4 to the middle'.