How does GCSE remarking work? Calling out to Noble Giraffe, all teachers, exam markers and experienced parents - Love to create definitive guide for all!

[loveyouradvice]

Hi ... I'm feeing mightily confused about remarking GCSEs... it sounds like a minefield, varying from Board to Board - and incredibly complex. Hoping together we can create a definitive guide - especially since some schools spell it out, and with others (like ours!) its all smoke and mirrors.... with late timing, as they don't give them the actual marks per paper unless they ask when they return to school in September. We're a mix of Edexcel, Cambridge, Educas and AQA.

Given Im expecting we'll probably to want to do at least one or two - unless it's really clear and straightforward, this would so help me - especially regarding timing....And I suspect I'm not alone!!

My understanding from reading posts this year and last is ....

1.Edexcel are brilliant as they post copies of students papers online which teachers can easily access and they are also quick in remarking - so approaching them in September still gives us plenty of time. Does this include a mark per question, or do teachers have to request separately?

1. Others - all others? - only send you copies of papers if you request and it is slow and by post?

1. There is a range of things you can request - four I think? - marks per question allocated, a copy of the script, a practical check the marks have been properly added up, and remarking of just one paper or more. And bizarrely I read with some boards if you request a copy of the script you can't then request a remark???

1. Remarking is now a checking that the original marks scheme has been properly applied. Ie looking at marked script, and seeing if marks have been appropriately given to each question, and then adding them up? (Previously it was a full remarking i.e. paper looked at from scratch by new marker)

1. There is a margin of error - e.g. 4% - where if their remark hasn't varied more than this, they don't change anything (even if it takes them over a grade boundary). Is this "margin" the same for every exam board? And is it a fixed percentage, over the TOTAL of the papers, or for each paper?

1. There are deadlines for each part of the process (e.g. viewing paper or remarking) - are these the same for each board, or different?

1. The marks themselves - am I right in thinking the school has these for each paper as soon as they get the GCSE results? And that they have to ask if they want to see marks for each question - and this is possible for each exam board?

1. I think GCSEs and IGCSEs from the same board are treated in the same way, but am not sure...We're doing a mix.

And then strategies in aiming to get the right mark, without falling down a grade which is always a risk:

• Only getting papers remarked if 2 or 3 marks from next band up... especially as with 1-9 system means grade boundaries are much closer together than previously
• Looking at paper first? Then asking?
• Asking for remarks for "worst" papers - and then only more if it seems likely its a good idea
• With Edexcel, because they are so quick, worth waiting to see what happens with others from your school being remarked if you aren't sure whether to do it or not

How long does everything take? And how common is both remarking and results changing? Reading posts on these boards it seems that they frequently do, even with the new systems.

Huge thanks to anyone with any knowledge or thoughts ! Looking forward to hearing them.

Key dates here.
Edexcel - teachers already have access to GCSE scripts
OCR and Eduqas - you can request copies of GCSE scripts to decide if you want a review of marking, deadline 30th August, script to arrive by 6th September
AQA - don’t currently offer a copy of GCSE scripts to decide if you want a marking review. A copy can be requested for teaching purposes, but will arrive after the review deadline.

I don’t know where you got point 5 from btw. Marking is reviewed. If there is a marking error (i.e. the mark scheme has been applied incorrectly) then the mark for the paper will be changed. If this takes the student over a grade boundary then the grade will be amended. If the grade is changed, then the fee for the marking review is returned. The marks don’t have to change by a certain percent to be amended.

Great ... really helpful and clear. noblegiraffe

Do you know if the scripts have the marks written on them i.e. for each question? or for each paper?

And thank you re margin of error.... a couple of people alluded to it and it did feel strange .....

Yep, the scripts will be copies of the marked script, so annotated.

If you spot that the marks haven’t been added up correctly or a question hasn’t been marked, then you go for a clerical re-check of marking.

If you think the marking is duff, then you go for a review of marking.

Just to add you may not get a breakdown of marks for each paper on Thursday - AQA's reformed A Levels certainly don't any more although teachers and and exam staff can access these through eAQA, though not usually on results day as the website crashes! They can also get a mark by mark breakdown using ERA but these are not always available, especially if special circumstances, and are pre-moderation results,so may not be accurate - one year they were all 2 grades higher than the student received as the whole cohort had been remarked by chief examiner after "irregularities" in the original marker's scripts. No point wasting money on a remark that definitely won't change! School is not under any obligation to give this information to you, and are likely to be very busy with sixth form entry from both internal and external candidates so don't get your hopes up

For AQA teachers can see what mark students got for each question for free, but not what they wrote. ( you need to ask for a copy of the script for that)
It takes forever though to look at all the marks for student x though as you need to click on each sub part of a question and scroll theough all the candidates from your centre ( even if you have already identified the ones you teach)
Marks are only changed ( in science at least) if the mark scheme has been incorrectly applied eg 6 mark question, 4 bands 0, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
If on remark the senior thinks it was worth 4 but had been given 3 then no change, however if it had been given 5 then a mark would be deducted.
You can lose marks on remarking, really important not to forget that.

Rosie you can download the marks into excel by going into the downloads section and ticking the include marks box. Much easier than looking at one question part at a time!

Now that’s a useful post, cheers peodar 👍

I'm genuinely interested, why do you think before even seeing the results that you "will probably want to do at least one or two"? It wouldn't even occur to me to ask for a remark, because as soon as DD has enough to get her into 6th form (which she will) the grades are fairly irrelevant. I would only consider it is she got a 4 in a subject she had been predicted a 7 or 8 in, not if she got a 7 instead of an 8.

We may not want to... but I keep hearing that a high percentage of remarks do actually go up, if they are near the margin.

I know that it will make a difference to her, especially if it is her A level subjects where she wants to do well ... and she may be applying for competitive things which take her GCSEs into account.... So I guess keeping options open.

And most of hers will still be A-C so quite a big difference seen between a B and A for example - whereas I agree on 7 and 8s which don't feel that different

I had thought it would all be easy and straightforward and the school would just tell us but I've realised it isn't so I thought I should ask now....

So I am hoping I won't need the info - but thought it would be useful to know ahead of time (which it has proved - thank you everyone, and especially Noble Giraffe, who've contributed)... and I also thought others would find it helpful as I imagine there will be parents seeking this information on Thursday.

[https://www.cife.org.uk/article/getting-remark-a-or-gcse-exam/]

Is this any use? I think it makes a valid point about that fact that only 18% change grades, both up & down out of all those who apply. That actually gives me more confidence in the initial validity of the marking.

Personally, I would rather that DD accepted the grades given on Thursday & started college without uncertainty, unless the query related to passes in maths and English. She's been tense enough for the past few days without holding onto the vague hope of going up a grade only to gave it snatched away again weeks later. As long as her grades are sufficient to access her chosen courses, it's what she does next that matters, not revisiting previous exams. My views may be clouded though because I'm a professional exams tutor, paid to get students through their post grad level papers!

We received the following information from school about "re-marking" GCSEs:

• Each Exam board offers slightly different services and each has their own cost.
• There is no such thing as a remark, all that will happen is the marking is reviewed, i.e. your work will not be remarked, they will simply check the person has applied the mark scheme appropriately.
• Grades are not changed if there is a slight difference of opinion between the marker and the reviewer; it must be clear that the original marker has not followed correct procedures and as a result there is always mileage in viewing your script before applying for a review of marking.

The cut-off dates appear to be the same for each board. You need to contact them by 24 August for a priority review (is much more expensive but may be useful if you need to sort out 6th form places) and 17 September for a normal review.

Everything crossed for tomorrow!

Does anyone know how long it takes for remarking? School told my daughter this morning that they were getting one paper remarked as she was 2 points off the next grade. This will determine whether she can stay at 6th form so am obviously worried about this.
Thanks

Placemarking. DD is 2 marks off a grade boundary in one subject - but it’s not a crucial result: the 7/8 boundary on a subject she’s not taking for A level. If it was Edexcel it sounds like it would be worth looking at the script and checking the arithmetic, but on AQA it looks like it’s a remark or nothing, so I guess we’ll leave it.

And there’s another AQA one which is four marks off - a big ask but it’s her worst grade and it would make her UCAS look a lot cleaner if we could get it up to on a par with the rest...She was taken ill in the exam so I have no qualms at all about playing the system to screw an extra grade out of it.

barcode markers are already hard at work reviewing so if you got your application in today it will hopefully be turned around quite quickly.

Noble thankyou. School said they were requesting it so hopefully they've sent it already.
One big mess here!

A question for Noble. My son got a 4 for edexcel foundation maths. He was 8 marks off a 5. He's been accepted into sixth form but will have to resit in November.

Head of Maths said request a re mark which we have done. Do you reckon there's much chance of success with that?

Interestingly she also said she thinks the borderline foundation/higher pupils would have done better to have sat the higher paper. Do you agree with that?

And is it really tough to go up from level 4 to 5 in the November resit!?

Thanks

I would say there’s practically zero chance of going up 8 marks in maths - unless there has been a major error like they didn’t mark a page or something, the markschemes for maths are fairly straightforward and I’ve only know marks to either stay the same or go up by 1, possibly 2.
The school would already have access to his paper, so could check the marking themselves for free without you having to fork out the money for a review - I’m a bit surprised they recommended it.

My school had much more success entering grade 4/5 students for foundation last year than higher. I don’t know what it was like this year though as the foundation grade boundaries went up by quite a lot, but that’s because they deliberately made the paper easier. If he did foundation I don’t think I’d switch to higher for November, it’s not enough time to get his head around how much harder it is.

It’s very tough to go up a grade by November - they haven’t done maths since June and forget a lot over the summer. Also they have to get their head around starting college, all their new courses, new friends and they don’t prioritise their resits over that.

If he needs a 5, then he really needs to get his head down now and start preparing. His school can use ResultsPlus to print out his question by question scores for his papers, what his best topics were, what his worst topics were and use those to focus his revision. He’ll have classes at college, but he needs to do a shedload of independent work because they won’t be nearly enough.

Noble and anyone else who might know - if a student gets a surprisingly lower mark (eg 4 from a predicted 7/8, mocks ok, exam ok from their self-reporting) should they go for a remark AND paper request to try and find out what went wrong? Worried that re-mark won’t necessarily flag up problems with incomplete papers etc (thinking subjects like History or English where qs marked separately so scanned blank pages of questions wouldn’t necessarily be picked up).

Thanks very much Noble.
Your view of the school encouraging us to go for a re mark is worrying. I did think 8 marks is a lot to find!

He's staying in the sixth form so at least it's not a new environment but in your experience will they insist on him doing retake after retake until he gets the 5, assuming he does eventually achieve that. He has all entry requirements for the A levels he's chosen except the 5 in maths.

It seems to me he would better off having a couple of resit attempts and then leave it at that even if he only gets a 4 again. Not sure if schools generally allow that.

Lady for reviews they would have one person reviewing the whole paper, not different people reviewing questions so missing pages should be picked up. If it’s Edexcel, the school can look at the paper themselves, or (not AQA) you can order the paper by 30th August and get it by 6th September giving you time to ask for a review as well (it’s sent electronically, you don’t get the actual paper).

shoppers, if he got a 4, there’s no rule saying he has to resit maths at all, that would be an internal sixth form requirement. Students who don’t get a 4 have to keep at it till they leave school as that’s a government requirement, if the sixth form want a 5 it’s up to them how many times they put him through it.

Really he should go all out to get it out of the way in November (results in January), I’ve taught pupils resitting all through sixth form and it’s pretty depressing.

Thanks very much Noble.

It seems to me a couple of attempts is enough to put him through assuming he maintains level 4. I know they have the requirement of a 5 but surely once he's into the a levels they won't kick him out if we suggest he leaves it at a 4? I realise you can't answer for his school but I'd appreciate your view.

If he decides to go to university in the future I'm assuming he could get on a humanities course with a 4 in maths at gcse. Obviously perhaps not a red brick university but a decent one hopefully.

What do you mean he won’t get into a red brick uni with a 4 at GCSE? It’s a C. Any uni who previously required a C at GCSE should accept a 4.

You’ll need to ask the school about what happens if he doesn’t get a 5 in Y12. If it’s in their published entry requirements for the A-level course then allowing him in but expecting him to resit is some sort of individual arrangement.

Dd's French teacher has told us she is 4 points off a Grade 7 (its her only Grade 6) & we should maybe consider a remark of 1 or two papers. I'm not sure whether its worth it. She doesn't need French, has a clutch of other Grade 7-9's but she does feel that she did well on the papers on the day.