English GCSE remark : expert objective advice needed!!

[Piggywaspushed]

Ok, I have been batting this round on a few threads and need to preface this by saying I am an English teacher... but it isn't helping me at all!

DS got a 5 in Lang and a 6 In Lit. Both below (rather generous ) target grades of 7.
We d found out he was 5 UMS marks into 5 in Lang and therefore needs 8 marks (I think) to get a 6. Not normal remark territory and I'd be terrified of him being downgraded.

However, I have now found out his breakdown and it is bizarre:

Language paper 1

1.4/4
2.4/8
3.3/8
4.12/20
5.8/24 + 6/16

Language paper 2

1.4/4
2.5/8
3.5/12
4.6/16
5.18/24 + 11/16 (this is amazing compared to paper 1!)

The last wording is not mine but the HOD.

The discrepancy between P1 and P2 is marked and the section Bs are the real oddity given that they aren't very different tasks. I have checked and he did paragraph. You also need to know his spelling is highly proficient. He has that teenage predilection for commas and probably didn't use much punctuation other than full stops and commas. His handwriting is hard to read sometimes but he does tend to write quite lengthy answers and was (before the exams) quite confident in jumping through the hoops of each question.

I would be interested to hear from fellow English teachers who have no emotional investment in this what they might advise? I'd like Paper 1 looked at - but once seen it can't be remarked.

I know a 5 is 'good enough' but he is a better student than that. In one of his lit papers he missed an 8 by one mark!

Any thoughts gratefully received.

... which will lead to schools putting enormous pressure on students to get 5s - who might be perfectly happy with a 4 ! Sigh.

Ok, so I have finally found that the AQA english paper 1 he scored 30 marks and on paper 2 he scored 48 marks. So a total of 78 overall, the level 4 boundry being 72 and the level 5 being 82.

Would you go for a remark of paper 1?

Do school actually have the marks per question or do they have to request that?

The marks above represent a mid level 3 on paper 1 and a scraped level 6 on paper 2...

I just don't want to risk him losing the 4 he has.

Teachers can access marks per question on e-AQA.

Thanks redsrule - I have emailed back and asked for them.

I assume if looks rather odd to have such a difference in marks across the papers?

Would you get a remark based on the above. Surely it'd have to be really dire to lose 6 marks on paper 1?

School has just replied so far to say that the majority of English papers are coming back unchanged. And that she doesn't have access to individual question breakdowns.

She doesn't (although I bet she does!) but the English department will so you must insist! It's his data so it can't be withheld!

Your DS's marks represent a very similar profile to my DS's , albeit a grade lower, in terms of a mismatch in performance in the two papers.

I put in for a remark. But if we had been risking a 4 , I might not have done.

I have emailed who I think is the head of English to ask for a breakdown of his marks and to ask for their advice.

(After phoning up to check his English teacher has left and then being given the name of another person to contact as Head of English, who it turns out has also left. Third time lucky, fingers crossed)

Ok, even Head of English says she can't access his individual breakdown of marks by question but only averages for the cohort. She is going to look into it and get back to me by the end of the week.

Sorry, this is a bit off topic, but is there still creative writing on the spec for English Language? DD1 had to do some as controlled assessments, but I know CAs have gone now...

Good grief not, I feel like hacking their computer systems and finding out for you myself!!!

You could mention that the mark by mark breakdown is on eAQA fro each and every candidate....

teen assuming your DC isn't a private school and doing iGCSE , then CW is assessed in an exam : English language paper 1 Q 5.

I did put in my initial email "I understand you can access his mark breakdown by question for the English papers on e-AQA."

I thought that may have been a hint but it wasn't enough clearly.

I'll probably end up asking you lot for a step by step guide for her!

Piggy, normal state comp, only in y8 but thinking ahead, hoping I could drop it from my mental list of types of writing she needs to work on. Thanks.

e-AQA/ teacher services/ enhanced mark analysis/ subject/ component/ questions/ marks/ pupils names in alphabetical order.

If they follow those steps they will get there! Simple!

Brilliant thanks redrules, I shall email that across tomorrow!

Redsrule sorry!

Another three AQA English Language reviews in today.

Two no change and...
Another pass! 4 marks up which hits the grade 4 boundary.

hooray!

That's good tararabumdeay!

Can I have some advice please? I have finally got the breakdown of DS's marks by question.

Paper 1 Q1. 4 Q2. 4 Q3. 1 Q4. 5 Q5.16 - Total 30 (mid level 3)
Paper 2 Q1. 4 Q2. 4 Q3. 7 Q4. 7 Q5. 26 - Total 48 (low level 6)

The comment from the head of English was "Interestingly paper 2 is deemed more difficult than P1 and yet DS did much better in every question. I hope the breakdown is of some use - should you require anymore help, please let me know."

They will not give us advice on whether to get a remark and his English teacher is no longer there to ask. She did say usually they advise only doing it if 3 marks under the threshold and DS is 4 marks off but then she also said "1 mark isn't a lot in the scheme of things". He would need to gain 4 marks to go up to a level 5 and would have to lose 7 to drop down to a level 3.

If we just got paper 1 remarked, surely he wouldn't lose 7 marks would he?? I don't want to jeopardise his safe 4 but .....

Help!! Should we just accept the 4 or take the (hopefully small) risk?

OOps - you put your DS's name in there... I've nearly done that several times..

Look at my OP and you will see what a similar profile that is.

I'd say it is trite garbage that P2 is more difficult. For a lot of boys it is the other way around! You should be able to get a more detailed breakdown of Q5 to compare marking of the SPAG element like I did.

But it is the same grounds on which I went for a remark, have to say.

Actually did not our DSs get exactly the same for p1????

Creepy!