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Original poster

Results from GCSE remarks?

132 replies

3076Worb · 06/09/2018 13:09

Just making final decisions about which to get remarked and heard some shocking info I wanted to share. (I realise marks can go up and down.)

A student who was 1 mark off a higher grade in English GSCE (AQA) has just got the results of the remark of paper 1 and has gone down 10 MARKS! She has now dropped a grade and has a tough decision about whether to get paper 2 remarked or not.

I was advised with being only 1 mark off a higher grade (around 10-11 marks between each grade) a remark was 'a no brainer'. School have now said, with this shock of 10 marks down, they have suggested no remark. There are saying it seems the boards are being a LOT tougher this year (esp. after getting so many marks wrong last year, with the new system, they want to show they have now got things sorted).

Has anyone got results from THIS year's GCSEs remarks yet?

OP posts:
WhatHaveIFound · 06/09/2018 13:18

DD had one of her 3 Geography papers remarked and found out yesterday she'd gained 4 marks. Since she was 2 off the next grade she moved up a grade so we're very happy with the result.

She was 4 marks off the next grade up on English Lit but decided not to go for a remark as it's not one of her A level options.

Astronotus · 06/09/2018 14:28
  1. A drop of 10 marks seems excessively harsh.
Original poster
3076Worb · 06/09/2018 14:43

I know, school were really shocked. Awful considering they had quite rightly advised the student to get a remark, as she was so close to the higher grade. I know that nobody had expected her to drop a grade!
After the high amount of grade changes last year, it seems AQA have toughened up as a result of all the criticisms last year of how they could get so many marks so wrong.

OP posts:
TeenTimesTwo · 06/09/2018 14:57

This is why 3 years ago we didn't ask for DD's English Lit to be remarked, it was 2 below a B, and 18 above a D, but no way were we going to risk the pass!

That said, I thought they were meant to do a 'review of marking' this year and that marks were only meant to be changed if they were clearly off? A 10 mark difference downwards sounds ginormous.

catslife · 06/09/2018 14:58

Yes it's possible for examiners to be a bit too generous, but a difference of exactly 10 marks sounds more like a clerical error or data entry error to me.

noblegiraffe · 06/09/2018 15:12

The review is supposed to come with an explanation of a change in marks isn’t it?

Going down a grade is pretty shocking - you always say it’s a possibility but never think it might actually happen if they’re so close to the upper boundary. Did she lose a pass?

AQA in particular got in trouble last year with Ofqual for being too lenient with their marking reviews and not implementing the new rules properly so they’re obviously well on the case this year www.tes.com/news/aqa-admits-breaking-rules-exam-re-marks

Oneteen · 06/09/2018 15:33

DD was 1 mark from HG in two subjects...

One subject the school may have made have an error - HOD investigating....there is plenty of leeway- 19 marks above lower grade boundary, 60% of the work was coursework (so not sure of the process in terms of reviewing especially if the error has been made by the school ). Its unlikely that DD would pick up an extra mark from written exam 74/80 which was already high considering DD said the exam was weird!

The other was French where DD was 1 mark off an A, DD is not fussed about having a review and said in her mind a B was a fair reflection of her French ability.

I suppose there is always going to be this situation - I know on her Eng Lang she was spot the grade boundary so I guess its swings and roundabouts...obviously if the HG boundary is important then go for it....DD has taken the positive attitude that at least the grade differences show she has a real passion for sciences which she is doing at A Level.

ShalomJackie · 06/09/2018 19:13

As it is a review they would check the addition and it is possible that 10 marks may have been an addition error initially, or a data entry error.

Also they do not fully remark - they check the bandings.

so in an 8 mark question the bandings could be 0, 1-3, 4-6, 7-8.

So it is possible if the original marked it as a 6 but the checker though it should be in the 1-3 category she would drop 3 marks on that one quesion alone and it doesn't take long for marks to drop if they have been banded incorrectly on a number of questions.

bookienh · 07/09/2018 10:48

Gulp. We submitted remark request for AQA English Language yesterday, also one mark away from the next grade. Am now terrified.

Remarks that move that many marks is a sign of poor initial marking. It's very possible that AQA is trying to scare people off remarking, but to me it just reveals that they are still not on top of their marking quality (apparently their marking last year was poor as well). If the initial marking is high quality, than a remark should only move you a few marks. Unless there is some kind of clerical error.

3076Worb - do you know if the person in question asked for a copy of the script? They may want to review if it was done correctly. I believe there is some kind of appeals procedure?

Original poster
3076Worb · 07/09/2018 16:56

Not sure how the school are progressing on the case, though asking about it, seems this is a VERY rare case, so I would assume they are taking some action. I agree that it seems more likely down to admin error than assessment judgement.

We've decided to get 1 paper remarked in English Lang, see how we go with that, then decide if a remark of the second paper is needed.

AQA got a lot of criticism from OFQAL last year, esp. for English (re not following strict regulations around the remarking procedure). This would suggest that it wasn't the original marking that was at fault, but the way the remarking was done (giving out grade increases too easily). Seems the process may have gone wrong again for this poor girl and it seems from my research over the last couple of days, is an isolated incident. However, there is a definite trend this year of more 'no change in grade' than previous years.

OP posts:
LARLARLAND · 07/09/2018 19:29

How do you know there is a trend for grades not to be changed this year? Not a single statistic about reviews has been given yet.

I also think that the major problem with marking is that the exam boards pay £4 per paper. Many examiners are saying this is leading to serious errors.

Cherryburn · 07/09/2018 19:33

Yes, £4 per paper, c£40 per paper for a review. Not sure how that works...

PattiStanger · 07/09/2018 19:42

There is an element of double standards here.

It seems like it's not about getting the correct grade as parents are only prepared to accept a grade going up.

If a grade does down they are angry yet, assuming the revised mark is the correct one, that is the grade their child deserves. You can't have it both ways.

CherryPavlova · 07/09/2018 19:59

AQA have undoubtedly tightened up their quality assurance processes but there’s still scope for human error in the marking process.
Overall, very few students drop grades. The trend analysis has not yet been released and is still at internal review stage.
There were 21, 000 review of markings (about 4% of all papers sat) in that paper with an average change of 0.4 marks. This year 74.7% had no mark change. This compares with over half having mark changes last year. AQA provides and marks over 8 million English papers. Very few drop grades.

LARLARLAND · 08/09/2018 13:38

How did you get access to this figures Cherry?

CeeCeeMacFay · 08/09/2018 13:41

My ds had Physics reviewed as he was 1 mark off a C. There was no change to paper one but they found an extra mark on paper two so he went up a grade. It was the only one he failed so we felt with him only being one mark off it was worth a try.

LARLARLAND · 08/09/2018 14:14

Was that this year Ceecee? How long did the remark take?

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 08/09/2018 14:30

DS, last year, was between 1-3 marks off the next grade up in three subjects which really mattered to him (he was actually in a similar position for virtually all his subjects). We had all three remarked (at great expense) and his grades didn't change in any Sad. Indeed, he went up a mark in a couple of papers and down a mark or two in others. Not only was I almost £360 worse off but there had been an expectation of at least one upgrade which caused further disappointment for DS when it didn't happen.

tararabumdeay · 08/09/2018 14:33

AQA English Language. Five back all no change in points awarded. Six more to come. The ones we've got have taken about 10 days.

Last year one came back 12 marks increase and another 9 marks decrease.

All the above borderline grade 3/4

Supergluerules · 08/09/2018 14:41

DD had her 3 maths papers remarked as she was one point off the next grade. We thought it was reasonable to think one point could be found across three papers, but it came back the same. Exam board was Ed Excel.

suze28 · 08/09/2018 14:46

This makes very interesting reading as our DD was 1 mark off the next grade boundary for AQA RS, so we're going for a review of marking. It's one of her A level subjects so a potentially higher GCSE grade will look better.

Oneteen · 08/09/2018 15:14

I'd like to think that the schools would review the marking on Edexcel papers (because they can access the exam papers) before asking for the parents to pay for a review ...its harder for AQA.

HappyLurker · 08/09/2018 15:23

Was the 9 mark decrease last year across the 2 English Lang AQA papers @tararabumdeay? Quite a big drop!

Supergluerules · 08/09/2018 15:28

@oneteen I wasn't aware of that? Will remember for next year....thanks Smile

Thomasinaa · 08/09/2018 15:42

My Dd was predicted a high grade in RE half GCSE. But apparently some questions were printed at the back of the bundle, after some spare sheets. She had lots of time, but only noticed these at the last minute, only time to scribble a couple of lines. Several other pupils missed them completely. Dd v upset, as really needed a high grade. She got a 6, 1 point off a 5. Was predicted an 8 or 9. Would a review be likely to sympathise and put her up a grade?

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