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Original poster

English GCSE remark : expert objective advice needed!!

602 replies

Piggywaspushed · 28/08/2017 19:56

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.

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Notanothergiraffe · 14/09/2017 07:55

Wow gettingtheoughtheweek that is amazing. Well done to your DS.

We have thought about it lots and are going to go for a remark for DS's paper 1. We are hoping the risk of him going down 7 marks is minuscule (and would result in him getting a level 2 for that paper).

Fingers crossed 🤞

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 14/09/2017 08:13

At some point we will get a lucky break :(

I am trying to channel some mudita for everyone else!

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Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 14/09/2017 08:14

Even children that don't belong to me aren't getting good news this week : I must be a curse.

I requested 5 remarks for the A level subject I teach . One went up a grade (first one sent off ) and the others have either stayed the same or not gone up by enough for a grade change.

Booooo.

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Gettingthroughtheweek · 14/09/2017 08:27

piggy Sad - that's not fair when you started the thread (and set me wondering whether it was worth a remark at all...)

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 14/09/2017 08:38

Just found out a student I picked out as being like my DS and then should be remarked (whose mum works with me) went form a 5 to a 6 so it shows my instincts are right! Thrilled on her behalf and pleased with myself but now my HOD is taking the credit. Boo again.

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Teddygirlonce · 14/09/2017 12:00

Lady Luck isn't on our side this week for sure Sad. Just heard back from school. We put in two papers for review - one Lit. and one Lang. The former didn't change at all (so still missing one point to go up a grade) and the latter went up by two points but still two points off going up a grade). GRRRRRRR!

Teddygirlonce · 14/09/2017 12:09

I'm going to sound stupid now but we were advised to put in for reviews - is this the same as a remark?

DS is going to be very disappointed...

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 14/09/2017 13:59

The review is the first part of the process. If the senior examiner thinks the mark scheme has not been appropriately applied, or a clerical error is found, the paper is then remarked.

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Teddygirlonce · 14/09/2017 14:04

Thanks @Piggywaspushed. So I am now in the same situation as you (sort of) - DS is still 1 mark off a Level 7 in Eng. Lit and now only 2 points off the same grade for Eng. Lang. with two papers to still potentially review/remark.

What would you do? Remark or draw a line in the sand. The problem is that that's another £77 to spend which makes for a costly investment for potentially nothing...

Hmmmm

Cafeconleche · 14/09/2017 14:47

Teddy what a dilemma. £77 on top of the money you've already spent is huge, but presumably (someone can correct me on this...) if they both go up a grade you'll get all your money back? With AQA it really seems like Russian Roulette. With my DS, over 3 weeks since I requested the marks per question for Language and Lit I still only have the total scores for each paper. 7 marks off the grade above in both, tho paper 1 for Language 1 mark off a 7. But until I can see the breakdown of the scores I can't make a decision and only have a week left to do it. His lovely English teacher is trying to find his scores per question but his name does not appear in that section + it's as if he doesn't exist. WTAF? DS typed all or part of his exams and I have no confidence in the system after (what appears to me) a catastrophic failure on one of his science papers - 4/60 in his favourite science, sent off for remarking, came back the same score. They're now trying to find out if the typed component of the exam (90% of it) was ever even marked. 4/60 suggests he did little more for an hour than write his name. He told me he finished the exam and was pretty happy with it. I'm not sure how I'd be coping with the stress of all of it without MN threads like this and virtual friends like piggy for starting them!

Allthebestnamesareused · 14/09/2017 15:36

Yes as an invigilator that would suggest to me Cafeconleche that his diagram which presumably he might have labelled or drawn in a booklet has been marked and that the typed element hasn't been!

Cafeconleche · 14/09/2017 16:05

That's what I thought Allthebest. The school got the remark back last Tuesday but didn't bother to tell me about it until I called yesterday to find out if there was any news Hmm Angry. DS is at a new SFC so his old school are not particularly bothered. I, on the other hand, am utterly drained by the whole thing at the mo. Luckily DS is really happy at his new college and I'm trying not to involve him too much the (my) drama of it all. I just want to make sure that he gets the results he deserves - whatever they may be.

tararabumdeay · 14/09/2017 17:31

I can not access the points per question breakdown for students who typed some or all of their scripts. Don't know why but it was like that last year too.

Only one back today - no change (needed three more to go from 6 to 7).

Cafeconleche · 14/09/2017 18:22

Thanks for the info tarara - now it all feels even less like a level playing field than before Sad. Edexcel allow the scripts to be seen on line, AQA does not. Therefore, the only way for me to try to work out how DS had performed across the questions and essays was to see if those individual marks threw up any anomalies. Now I have no idea, for example, how his Lit essays for the Shakespeare and Victorian Novel questions were split. Even with the individual marks it was Russian Roulette - now I'm looking at having to pay £150 to have all 4 Lit and Language papers reviewed completely blind.

Allthebestnamesareused · 14/09/2017 21:57

Cafeconleche - as an invigilator again- I know that unlike the handwritten papers the school has to keep copies of the typed exam answers. If it has gone missing at the exam board the school should be able to prove what he'd done.

Cafeconleche · 14/09/2017 22:09

Thank you so much allthebest Flowers - I've no idea what I would have done without all the information from the amazing people on MN!

Teddygirlonce · 15/09/2017 07:27

Cafeconleche things sound very hopeful for your DS (fingers crossed). What a total cock-up! Let's hope the school can find the papers now. The clock is ticking isn't it?

Yes, I always think of Mumsnetters as the fountain of wisdom, particularly education-wise

I've decided to go for the remarks of DS's other English Lit and Lang papers. In for a penny in for a pound. I will not be very impressed if I've spent £144 in vain though. I cannot believe that with only 1 and 2 points to get for Level 7s, there may not be a change of fortune in the offing.

DF was saying that he thought it would be easier to go back to the system they had in his day when everything was just scored as a %. I think he could be right.

DS's English teacher effectively said that DS's Level 6s don't reflect that he effectively got an A minus in both disciplines.

Sighs...

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 15/09/2017 08:06

My annoyance with Lit is that DS's teacher chose - against the advice and counsel of many parents!- to do Great Expectations, and the taught it pretty badly. This is the paper he got a low 5 for. He hated every bit of doing that book and I really think he was unfamiliar with most of it. The only reason he did even semi OK is that I looked at the passage with him the night before that happened to come up!

In the other lit paper , he got a low 8!

Grrrrr.

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Cafeconleche · 15/09/2017 08:40

It's all seems such a lottery, doesn't it piggy. Different boards, different texts, different questions, GCSE vs IGCSE - and yet one grade as far as schools, unis, employers etc are concerned.

LooseAtTheSeams · 15/09/2017 08:56

People who set Great Expectations as a GCSE text need their heads examining. It's totally unsuitable. Too long and too psychologically twisted as well!

Teddygirlonce · 15/09/2017 08:56

Piggywaspushed a bit like DS's boys school doing Romeo and Juliet and Love Poems.

Mind you, at my all girls school I recall having to read Kim for A Level English which to my 16/17 year old self was so much a 'boys' book and one for which I could muster little enthusiasm. Only now, with a broader perspective and interest in history and current affairs, can I see its merits.

The whole thing is a total lottery.

Redsrule · 15/09/2017 10:23

We have had huge success with our Lang reviews. Approx. 65% of the 30 we have had looked at have gone up at least a grade, one boys came back on Monday with an additional 19 marks on P2 which took him from a 3 to a 5. Lit however have remained unchanged bar 2 which both gained 4 marks to achieve a 9.

It constantly surprises me that some schools teach all pupils the same text regardless of ability. It was also interesting that 90% of all Lit entries had studied either Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet. Our biggest success came with pupils who had done Pride and Prejudice and The Tempest. The boys loved P and P, really getting the satire, and we all enjoyed 6 hours of the BBC version!

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 15/09/2017 10:54

He did the love poems too teddy !

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Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 15/09/2017 10:55

People who set Great Expectations as a GCSE text need their heads examining Grin

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Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 15/09/2017 10:57

I do agree reds that all teachers shouldn't have to teach the same. DS didn't do GE because they all did. His teacher chose it mad woman

At my school, my friend has been banned from doing 'Merchant' and I had to battle to do 'Animal Farm'

Piggy wishes redsrule was her hod

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