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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.

OP posts:
scootinFun · 25/09/2017 16:28

Fingers crossed for you Piggy

Decorhate · 25/09/2017 17:12

Haven't seen the letter myself but ds says he's been told his Lit went up by 11 marks so has gone from a 5 to a 6. He is still convinced his Lang should have been better but school thought was too risky.

Notanothergiraffe · 25/09/2017 18:32

That is great news decorhate Grin

Teddygirlonce · 26/09/2017 05:52

Decorhate that's brilliant news. When did you put the remark in?

Decorhate · 26/09/2017 06:17

Dropped the form off during the holidays Teddy but think Exams Officer didn't submit it until the 4th or 5th

Teddygirlonce · 26/09/2017 06:34

Gosh that was a very long wait Decorhate but worth it in the end. DS's first two papers reviewed took a full fortnight to 'process' but hoping the other two don't take so long...

Although I'm beginning to think luck isn't on our side... Got DS's weakest Geography paper back from a remark and he'd gone down one point tipping that overall paper grade to a B. Thankfully the overall grade didn't go down from an A though. So that's £38.50 down the drain :-(

Problem is that we're generally only hearing the success stories on this thread, so getting a bit of a skewed view, methinks.

Decorhate · 26/09/2017 07:50

Maybe, but I work at a school & haven't heard of any grades going down after a remark there.

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 26/09/2017 08:26

Does anyone know is there an actual time frame?

Lit went in on the 5th (possibly not sent off til 7th) . Same day as lang which came back ages ago.

OP posts:
Teddygirlonce · 26/09/2017 08:43

Thought it was 20 days maximum, Piggy? Can you check with school that the remark result has not got snarled up in the system somewhere?

Monkey2001 · 26/09/2017 09:29

Decorate - great news!

Teddy - as we were OCR, I got my son's biology papers back before submitting for review, and his weakest paper really was his weakest paper, but the middle scoring one had scope (50/50 chance) for the extra 3 marks he needs. Still waiting.

Piggy - yes, Board has 20 days from when the school sends it in. I am also wondering whether our exams lady is sinking under the volume of e-mails. Fingers crossed!

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 26/09/2017 10:54

I thought 20 days, to. wasn't sure of that was days or working days.

Last email I got from exams officer was a bit snarky so I don't like to disturb her again!

OP posts:
Teddygirlonce · 26/09/2017 11:24

Monkey2001, unfortunately most of DS's GCSEs were AQA so not that scope for looking over the papers. Would that we could have done so.

Piggy, I do feel for you. I was beyond impatience with the fortnight's wait for the first two of DS's papers' results to come back. And now I'm counting down again (just over a week down the line).

I do find it odd that some remarks are returning within a week and others are taking so so much longer. Know there's an issue with Eng. Lit. ones taking a while but still. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to it!

user1484040234 · 26/09/2017 12:15

We had 4 Physics A level papers marked (AQA). DS was 2 marks off the next grade. First one went up 1 mark (so now 1 mark 0.4 % below next grade), so we had another marked. This went down 2 marks. Due to time, we had the other two remarked together. another went down 2 marks! It does make me wonder how accurate AQA marking is, as 3 out of 4 papers changed marks and this is under the new "review of marking scheme"!

Cafeconleche · 26/09/2017 12:23

Not that I have any skin in the game anymore Sad but could it be that with English Language everyone had to answer exactly the same questions for each paper, whereas with Literature there was a myriad of Shakespeare/novels/plays/poems etc to choose from and therefore there are fewer specialist (re) markers? (Especially in piggy's case where they're having to search high and low for the one person who can review Great Expectations essays as most teachers realised it was an insane novel to choose for GCSE....)

ASDismynormality · 26/09/2017 12:27

I asked for DDs Biology GCSE paper to be remarked as she was 1 point off an A. She gained 3 points so was upgraded to an A. I am very pleased but feel annoyed that there were errors in the marking in the first place.

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 26/09/2017 13:20

café Grin

would that were true but, of course, any old sod can mark lit papers : they are told to read all the texts, so the person marking it (at least I the first instance) may not really know that text very well! Probably works in some students' favours , to be honest.

OP posts:
Cafeconleche · 26/09/2017 13:59

piggy - I'm clutching at straws on behalf of everyone awaiting news Smile

In the mean time I'm sure that 'any old sod' marked DS's Lit P1 as those 2 essays were both marked considerably lower (by about 8-10 marks each) than his dreaded LotF essay. And he was so happy with the questions on P1.

In other news, DS's old school is considering switching from AQA unless they start offering a scripts-on-line service like Edexcel.

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 26/09/2017 14:00

Just spoken to my exams officer who says remarks should be back within 21 calendar days. Not sure what recourse there is if they aren't!

She did confirm that lit GCSE was 'the blockage' and that our school ahs had loads back today. The lit have almost all come back no change so Lord knows what took so long!

OP posts:
Monkey2001 · 26/09/2017 15:18

Teddygirlonce - Sorry, I was trying to say that it is not necessarily the case that the papers with the lowest marks will yield the most marks. I am outraged on behalf of AQA students who were prevented from accessing scripts. AQA is the only one which does not offer this service and it makes the playing field far from level - and it is a pretty dodgy playing field anyway! Even if OFQUAL finds the volume of grade changes acceptable, they should be made aware of the significance of AQA not making scripts available.

Teddygirlonce · 27/09/2017 07:55

Teddygirlonce - Sorry, I was trying to say that it is not necessarily the case that the papers with the lowest marks will yield the most marks.

Hi Monkey2001 no I get where you're coming from. Trouble is that DS scored 100% on the other Geography paper so it had to be the lower scoring one to be remarked.

Virtually all of DS's exams were AQA...

Tapping foot impatiently waiting on those other two English paper remarks...Wishing I'd done them all at the same time now.

Surely today must be the day, Piggy???? Fingers crossed.

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 27/09/2017 08:25

Yup, still waiting.........

OP posts:
Notanothergiraffe · 27/09/2017 10:34

Wow Piggy poor you, you started this whole thread and are one of the last to hear.

Fingers crossed for you today.

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 27/09/2017 10:37

A friend of mine got her DS's Lang back today. Another one who I inspired or persuaded to go for a remark who ahs gone up.

My game face is very much set on 'look delighted'

The school he attends (same one as my DS) advised her to only put in p1 for a remark and this has made me think about the grumpiness that evolved a couple of pages back. If she had just put in p1, he would have dropped 2 marks. P2 was also remarked , however(on my advice...) and went up 7 marks!! So, overall, he has gone up a grade.

OP posts:
Monkey2001 · 27/09/2017 12:01

We are still waiting too. It is almost as bad as results day over again! But Piggy, that sounds hopeful - if the person was at the same school aren't they likely to have had the same marker and if their remarks are yielding gains, that can give you a seed of optimism.

No results in for our school yet.

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 27/09/2017 13:10

I think it's al different markers monkey

Otherwise I would be , yes, as that boy was in the same class as my DS!

OP posts: