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.

I agree with you, of course it's a C and so is a pass.

The school are saying they want him to resit in case in future a 4 is judged differently and as not a pass. It's all very annoying!

If he gets less than a 4 in the resit does that override the 4 he got in June?

No, it’s not overridden, he just bins the lower certificate. BUT he does have to enter all exams on UCAS.

When the new GCSEs were set, the 5 was suppposed to be the pass rate in the future, with required resits, but this all changed in March last year. Justine Greening said that a 4 would be the accepted pass now and forever.

Obviously anything can change in the future and a 5 would be better than a 4.

DD wants to put this behind her but I'm so confused on her AQA music GCSE. Her performance and composition elements, worth 60%, were teacher assessed as 3 9s and and an 8 but she shows a 4 overall for her GCSE grade. There were multiple failures on her 'inadequate' school's part with regard to the course, but the numbers just don't add up to me. This was her lowest GCSE and will be studying music performance where she has an unconditional offer at a specialist college. Any suggestions?

Were the performance and composition grades brought down on moderation?
I would ask the school for a breakdown of marks for each component (they will have this).

Thanks, I emailed her teacher yesterday asking for this but no response. Just would be flabbergasted if he is that far off in his assessment.

Try emailing the exams officer instead of the teacher, they should be in school.

Thanks, the school advised to go to the teacher first and don't seem to have an exams officer.

They will have an exams officer. Someone has to be incharge of exams

Thanks Noble

Thanks Noble. Really kind and helpful of you to give up time to post on the GCSE threads.

@noblegiraffe
Is it worth getting aqa English language remarked? Dd got 72 marks which puts her at a 4. Her school require a 6 to do media studies, but would consider a 5.
Is 4 marks possible with a remark or is that too many?
Thanks.

Sorry neddle, I’m not an English expert, but there was someone on another thread with an AQA English remark that went down 10 marks and dropped a grade. If she got a 4, then that’s raising the possibility of a fail.

You might find that the school would consider a 5 if it was a high 5, so reviewing and going over the boundary might not help anyway.

Maybe some English teachers could advise?

Belatedly reporting back because I have to tell someone - we got the result of the paper remark where DD was 4 marks below the boundary, and she went up by 13 (thirteen) marks!! I think they must have skipped a question.

Not a teacher but am involved in the administration of reviews of marking. This is only anecdotal, a view of what has happened in 1 school this year so take from it what you will. We are a big centre and put in requests for reviews of marking across a range of boards for different subjects. Including GCSE AQA Eng Lang and Lit.

So far, this year, AQA are just not changing marks at all. Almost every single AQA review has come back unchanged. Now there are a fair few we are still waiting to hear about but in comparison to other years, far fewer are changing, particularly AQA.

At 4 marks off, we would probably advise not to bother unless you think the marks were way under what was expected and there is a possibility of a whole question being missed during marking or similar. Though I believe teachers can access marks per question so would be able to spot if a question had been awarded zero marks.

Deadline for requesting a review is Thursday so you only have a day left to decide.

Sorry, just realised you asked the question some time ago. Did you go ahead ? If so, was there any change in mark?

We've just gone up 9 marks (and one grade) on one AQA English lit paper (paper 2).

That's great news Martha. Yes looks like something drastic must have gone wrong in the 1st marking.

Does make you wonder though, how many others are wrong, that will never know because they never get reviewed.

Why do we have to go through the whole reviewing and remoderation process, it should be right in the first place