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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:
ShalomJackie · 08/09/2018 15:46

HappyLurker there is a 10 point drop thisbyear above which lead to dropping down a grade

TheFallenMadonna · 08/09/2018 15:50

There won't be any consideration given for not seeing questions.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 08/09/2018 15:50

Very pleased for those whose DC have gone up a grade through remarks but just warning that it's by no means a given.

suze28 · 08/09/2018 15:50

@Thomasinaa If she's 1 Mark into her grade boundary, I really wouldn't ask for a review of marking. They make it very explicit that marks can go down so I'd be concerned about that as she's only just into the 6 grade.

HappyLurker · 08/09/2018 15:53

Yes, I saw that too but what I wondered was whether the drop was the result a remark of both papers? I think the AQA Eng Lang papers are worth 80 marks each, so effectively a 10 mark (or 9 mark drop in the case you mentioned @tararabumdeay) from an available 180 marks? Or was the drop just from the remark of one paper?

ShalomJackie · 08/09/2018 15:57

Thomassinaa - had she not done any practice/past/sample papers as they would be the same format and she should have known how many questions she needed to be doing. A review is to check what is there has been graded correctly and added correctly. Special considerqtion needs to be asked for at the time of the exam - eg for illness, bereavement etc. Sorry to be harsh but it is not available for a candidate who just messed up in the day.

tararabumdeay · 08/09/2018 16:14

Happy Lurker. The 9 mark drop was over two papers November 17 series.

Original grade was 3 and remained so as the grade boundaries are much wider below the desired 'pass' grade 4. 20 marks between 1 - 2 - 3; 10 marks between 4 -5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9.

HappyLurker · 08/09/2018 16:25

Thank you for clarifying tararabumdeay. A very big drop but at least the student didn’t drop a grade.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 08/09/2018 16:47

Part of the problem is that many people don’t understand that the procedures have changed. Papers are no longer remarked, as such: the original marking is reviewed and if it is found that the original examiner applied the mark scheme incorrectly, or there has been a clerical error, then changes are made. But they really don’t care if Candidate X is just 1 mark off the higher grade - they’re not going to try to find that extra mark. If Candidate X’s answers have been placed in the wrong band, however, then they will make the change.

I’m actually not surprised that a paper can go down by 10 marks as it suggests the examiner conducting the review was doing their job properly and found that the original examiner had not applied the mark scheme appropriately. This IS likely to lead to a significant change as one or more answers had presumably been placed in completely the wrong band for the reviewer to have to change them. This could lead to a significant shift in marks.

JCQ have made the changes to the process in an attempt to stop just the sort of speculative requests for remarks that are being discussed here - where there’s nothing to suggest that the paper has been incorrectly marked but students/parents are hoping for the extra mark to be magically found somewhere.

LoniceraJaponica · 08/09/2018 16:57

"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"

DD has just done A levels. One boy in her year had a remark for one of his subjects (I can't remember which one) and jumped up 20 marks from a C to an A!

I find the marking very worrying if this can happen.

TeenTimesTwo · 08/09/2018 16:57

But the original papers would have been marked by a variety of markers wouldn't they? I thought they split English per question? So to go down 9 marks indicates more than one examiner banding incorrectly, doesn't it?

Oneteen · 08/09/2018 17:16

Teentimestwo not necessarily if its a 30 mark question which it could be in English... for example it could be marked in 27-30 band and drop down down to 15-18. Hence why it is so important for the DC;s to understand the marking scheme ...

CeeCeeMacFay · 08/09/2018 17:43

Yes it was this year IGCSE physics edexcel

CeeCeeMacFay · 08/09/2018 17:44

We found out on Friday, put in for it on exam results day

CherryPavlova · 08/09/2018 17:45

LARLARLAND I know someone who works in exams.

PattiStanger · 08/09/2018 17:49

Superglue - I'd expect maths to be one of the subjects least likely to change as there's little scope for the marks to be wrong and no judgement calls (at least not in the papers I've seen)

I can see how an essay subject could be marked differently by different people.

Am I right in thinking this year that papers aren't actually remarked, the impression I've got on here is that it's more of a clerical check.

TeenTimesTwo · 08/09/2018 18:27

one That would be some incorrect banding though!

I'm much too risk averse to do remarks. I think I would only apply if original mark was a fail less than a 4 (so nothing to lose) or maybe if the achieved grade was at least 2 down on the expected.

Alwa · 08/09/2018 22:42

One of DDs friends got Edexcel Economics A level remarked this year and went down 9 marks.

No grade change but pretty shocking, was 1 off an A previously.

Nettleskeins · 08/09/2018 23:51

teacher put dd's Eng Lit paper x 2 AQA in for remark as she received a 4 and was predicted 6/7. Her twin brother got an 8 on the same paper and he was in the remedial English class Shock So we aren't having his paper remarked, obviously Grin but it was very odd.
I've said to the teacher that if she goes down to a 3, it just shows how mad the marking is, so I'd happily risk it, but she is only 2 marks off a 5 at anyrate. Received a 6 for English language, and usually Eng Lit is easier for her to ace the marks in, as it was very very rigorously taught.
So we will see.

Nettleskeins · 08/09/2018 23:57

I thnink the difficulty comes with a run of okay marks, when you were predicted just slightly higher across the board...do you bother to remark all of them just in case? At the moment it is a bit of a lucky dip. Where dd had a 6 we didn't bother questioning the mark (except in Maths and Science) once she had a 7 we certainly didn't question the mark. But a student with a [unexpected] run of 9's would probably pick up on a mark lower than 8 as worthy of a remark, just in case, yet statistically it is no more likely that they are definitely going to get a 9 than it is for my dd, who was predicted a 7/8. But because it is the odd one out, someone might choose to remark.

CherryPavlova · 09/09/2018 08:41

Predictions are just that - predictions and no guarantee of grade. A number of schools inflate predictions for all sorts of reasons. Others deliberately set hard mocks to ‘shock’ youngsters into hard revision to boost scores.

Witchend · 09/09/2018 08:48

It does seem that last year loads went up, sometimes by miles. This year a number seem to be going down by a number of marks. Makes you wonder if something was said last year about too many going up, so they're being tough on remarks, which they shouldn't be.

CherryPavlova · 09/09/2018 09:02

My understanding is that following last years boundary changes new measures were introduced to improve the marking and QA systems. This has led to significantly fewer changes to grades overall.

Increasingly, this will lead to greater equity across poorer state schools, grammars and independent school pupils. At the moment independent and grammar school pupils are much more likely to apply for reviews and more likely to improve their grades. Some schools ask for over 30% of papers to be reviewed whereas your average Hastings/Gt Yarmouth comprehensive pupils can’t afford to do that.

There are no remarks they are all reviews of marking to check new rules applied fairly.

Madcatperson · 09/09/2018 09:51

Yikes, my DD English lit gcse paper 2 is in for a remark - having read the thread I'm now a bit nervous for her! She got much lower in paper 2 (equivalent to a 4 in %) than paper 1 (high 6/low 7) and thought paper 2 was much her strongest subject so was surprised at the result. Predicted an 8 but who knows how much predicted grades are worth even though this was in line with her classwork all year. Hopefully she won't drop 10 marks! Isn't there a further appeal process this year for reviews of marking at aqa? Is that because of last year's rap on the knuckles re their review process?

Original poster
3076Worb · 09/09/2018 16:53

I only know a trend seen at my son’s school and was interested to hear about others - that’s why I posted.

I think most people ask for a remark when they are VERY close to the grade above (& by default, many marks away from the grade boundary below), so would expect any small variance that comes back, as a result of a remark, would either tip them over the grade boundary above or stay at the same grade. Remarks should not be coming back with such large differences (10 marks from 1 paper, and the grade boundaries are 10).

OP posts: