When do you ask for GCSEs/IGCSEs to be remarked???

[loveyouradvice]

Hi ... I'm new to this.... DD just done a mix of IGCSE and GCSEs

I know that remarking papers is happening lots now but don't really know or understand how it works.... I think I have heard that if you are near the top of a grade and would have expected to get the grade above, it is worth a remark as it might nudge you up a grade but is very unlikely to nudge you down one.

But having said that I'm not sure pupils get marks and grade boundaries when they get their results in August, just later in September?

Really great if someone could explain how it works and what the timescales are....and whether it is worth doing...

I had sort of imagined the school would make it really clear and that the odds were we would be asking for one or two, unless the marks all seemed right

You only have a short window from results day to mid/end September iirc . Remarks now are less likely to result in a grade adjustment as they are really a clerical exercise to check the adding up and that no marks were missed out rather than a complete reassessment. It is also possible the grade will go down. If the grade changes, the remark fee is refunded.

For dd1:
She gets results in August and you can ask for marks for each paper and see how far away from the boundary you are.

As a rule of thumb, you want to really be within a couple of marks off the boundary, or think there's a mistake AND be confident you won't go down.
So we appealed one where she was 1 off the next mark (and did go up 2 marks) but not one where although we thought she might well go up (English which was badly marked last year), she was only 4 marks off going down further.

It also might depend on how much it mattered for the next stage. If she'd gone down 1 grade on the English then she couldn't have done further maths as they only let that as a fourth subject and you had to get 6+ on English to do 4. But she doesn't want to do English and got an 8 in the other English so it isn't important.

Time scales are quick, and depend on what you want doing and which exam board and your school.
We wanted to look at one of her papers (history, where she'd scored low on one paper she usually scored better on) and had I think to get the application in by midday on the Friday (I think the exam board was Tuesday)

You can choose between:
Seeing photocopy of the paper

Recount (where they check each question has been counted and check the adding up of the mark)

Full remark.

You pay per service and per paper so if you want History 1 and History paper 2 remarked then you pay twice.

Sometimes doing one type precludes you having another done, I think, but I'm not totally sure.

I think there was a remark thread on here after last summer, probably worth having a look. There were some people ended up pretty much experts by the time they'd finished!

we paid for a remark, and the marks went down. we were prepared for that though, and still thought it was worth a punt.

When the results come out in August, you will be able to decide then whether to ask for any papers to be reviewed. However, as LIZS says, papers are not re-marked, as such, just reviewed to make sure that the original examiner applied the marking criteria correctly. If a clerical error was made, or the mark scheme was not correctly applied, then the mark can be changed. If the second examiner simply disagrees with the original mark in a subjective sense, the mark will not be changed.

The rules have been changed to try to stem the huge tide of re-mark requests which were being done for the reasons you suggest - “just to see if the mark can be nudged up by one or two”.

Marks can go down as well as up ans on some.papers for some subjects the grade boundaries are now so close that instead of going up a grade you may actually go down a grade.

Sounds like a minefield....

We don't get marks and boundaries until going back to school (6 or 7 September) - though obviously the grades when everyone else does in August.

Do we have enough time - for ANY examining board and BOTH GCSEs and IGCSEs - to review then and decide what we ask for? Or is this too tight which I think it might be?

What do other schools do?

Marks will be on the printout of grades, or school can access the breakdown, and grade boundaries are released online the day before Results Day.

I'm an examiner, remarks are done after results day. Marks are on the results print out.

DSs school give a print out showing the marks for each paper and the grade boundaries as well as the child’s grade on results day. They also include instructions on how to apply for re-marks.

DS1 had an A level re-marked last year to try to find the 1 mark he needed to go up a grade and secure his 1st uni - no luck. DS2 had a re-mark on one iGCSE and went up 3 marks to go up to an A*

So, I have mixed results but I would do the same again.

Are you really only be given grades not raw marks? If so, the exams officer will definitely have them on results day so I would ask.

It depends on the exam board what post exam services they offer. If you ask for a remark, the grade/marks will not be adjusted if more marks are found but the new mark is still within the marking tolerance range.

Last year Dd was 1 mark off a 5 in maths, and 2 marks off a B in Science.

School sent it for a remark, and it came back as still 1 mark off a 4 in maths, but 1 mark off a B in science

I spent quite a lot of time and money getting DS's Eng. Lang, Eng. Lit and Geography remarked - he was 1-2 points off higher grade in all three. He gained some and lost some points so didn't change grades. Wouldn't advise doing it again TBQH.