Bit of advice/info on a remark needed please.

[NewbiedontknowwhatIamdoing]

Am a single parent (so no one to discuss with) and first time dealing with GCSE results. Any opinions on if I am understanding this all correctly?

So obviously GCSE results in, all good, pleased etc. Having had time to digest them, reading about grade boundaries etc it seems one subject was 359 UMS points and only 1 point away from an A*. Exams officer is like, sure have a review if you want, but no real advice on if I should.

There were four papers scoring 95, 98, 84 and 82. Which papers should I get reviewed? Is a review an actual full remark, is there any other info I can get on what is best to do. Is there anything I am risking/missing?

Hi! As far add I understand, it isn't a re-mark as such, they only check if all of the marks have been added up correctly. I'm sure someone more qualified will be along shortly but that seems to be the case in my son's school.

From your numbers, I'm guessing Science?

You can't have the controlled assessment remarked but in your situation, I'd have the other ones done (so B, C and P or if single science, all 3 units). You see, they are looking for an 'extra' mark. It could of course be on any of the papers. Or, it could go down. Last year I had one pupil who gained 2 marks on one paper, but lost 2 on another

sorry, it was OCR Latin

user1471530109, I realize it could go down but isn't that very unlikely? as they would have to lose 40 UMS to drop below the A boundary.

WhyNotDuckie , I initially thought that but on the sheet is says clerical check £16.10 (which I assumed was just checking the marks) and review of marking £44.90 which I thought was a full remark?

I think the smaller amount is just to get access to the paper, and the more costly option is for the checking that scores have been added correctly. However, as I said, this is just what they do at my son's school, for his exam board, so it could be very different for you. There may well be staff in the school to ask today, or contact the exams officer.

We're wondering about a remark but don't understand the 'adding up' process well enough to figure it out. Could anyone more experienced clarify? Dd has overall B for geography (AQA)(was to be A level choice) - unit raw scores are: Unit 1 62 (an 'a', next boundary up is 67 so too far), Unit 2 43 (a 'd' but next boundary up is only 44 so one mark) and 51 for controlled assessment (next boundary up 53 so two marks but think I understand you can't have that remarked). Would it be sensible to ask for remark for Unit 2? And then do how do they get from the individual unit marks to the overall mark ie if she got one extra mark would that push her up to an A or not? Sorry if daft questions!

Just found out that a review is just "A review of marking is where the paper is checked that the marker followed the mark scheme correctly and it was then all added up correctly."

So not an actual remark but more than just checking the adding up. Seems a lot for £45. Why are people on other threads talking about remarks then, as they dont seem to exist?

Remarks no longer exist. With a review they check to see if the mark scheme has been applied correctly rather than marking the paper again from scratch. If the marker is within tolerance, even if they might personally have awarded one mark more or less for a question then they won't change it.

blueskiesrule, yea I am trying to understand it all as well so not much help. What I did was look up the boundaries on the exam boards web site to find the total overall UMS and boundaries for the subject. In my case it seems 1 more mark in any of the 4 papers would increase the overall grade. But its more likely a single mark on one paper might give a higher grade for that paper but overall not for the entire subject.

I really dont understand why they list grades for individual papers, what the f* use are they. You just need the marks, overall mark and then overall grade. But I am probably thick.

DumbledoresApprentice
Do you think its worth doing reviews of the two lowest papers to see if we can get 1 more mark?

If you can afford it then it's worth a punt. It may not go up but if the grade does change then I think you get your money back.

Thanks newbie, that makes more sense. In our case it seems she only needed 1 mark to go up a grade on that paper, but the UMS for the total subject needs to go up 20! So maybe not...(assuming that's the right understanding & it all does seem unnecessarily confusing..)

Dumbledore, Thanks, will probably take the punt, just feeling nervous. But that's probably the after affect of results morning.

blueskies, that's my understanding as well so probably not worth you paying for a review. Still as to why they give grades for individual papers, just makes results so much more confusing.

marks can go down s well as up, and 40UMS marks may be a very small number of marks on the actual paper.

Thanks Copper, the bands over the 4 papers between A and A* total 23 in raw marks. Would you consider this a large enough margin of error to get 2 papers reviewed (just in the hope there is an upgrade)?