RE remark - missed 9 by 1 mark

[Darbs76]

Ds2 did his RE exam one year early, as did the whole school. He was predicted an 8, got a 9 in mock (based on the previous year marking) and got an 8 yesterday. I was absolutely delighted but my heart sunk as I knew he wouldn’t be happy with that. Why does he put so much pressure on himself? His Dad and I have never put pressure on him, he did so much revision, the PS4 was redundant for weeks and he couldn’t have tried harder.

So we have asked school about a review and they agreed as 1 mark off. What is the likelihood? He is aware it could go down, but he would need to drop by around 20 Marks by the looks of it for that to happen.

We are trying to speak to him already about expectations for next year, how all 9’s is unrealistic and ultimately in about 10yrs time no-one will even care what grades he got, certainly no-one would question if he had 8’s or 9’s. That said I’d love him to get a few 9’s.

Just venting really as I really hate this new numbering - a B for example is now a 6 which doesn’t sound anywhere near as good. Why the 9? As if A star wasn’t high enough without a strong A star being introduced. It really piles on the pressure for kids like mine.

Thanks for listening

[Bouledeneige]

I'd only do it if it was important. Having said that my DD went from a B to an A with one of her A levels as she was two marks off it and that did feel like it was worthwhile. But that was for an A level. I don't think I'd bother with a GCSE unless it was Maths or English and affected A level or future choices. But not from 8 to 9.

Also will it set a precedent? He may well need to learn to accept getting lower grades than he hoped in future.

[Ligresa]

They don't cast a new eye over it. They just check there's no mistakes in the adding up.

[catndogslife]

ligresa that's the clerical check. It's not just adding up but making sure that the number of ticks equals the number of marks, that all sections of the paper have been looked at and marked (including extra sheets of paper). There is also a check made that the correct mark for each paper has been entered correctly onto the marks database.

[costacoffeecup]

I was one mark off an A in my chemistry a level and didn't get it remarked which was probably a mistake in hindsight. If he's really bothered I would do it but as people have said it's really irrelevant in the long term.

I got all A stars in my GCSEs 23 years ago. You can imagine how relevant that is to my life now

[Maydayredalert]

@Ligresa this is all of the actions you can ask AQA to take. You'll see that a clerical check and a remark are completely different things.

filestore.aqa.org.uk/admin/results-days/AQA-W-POST-RESULTS-FEES-FLOWCHART.PDF

[Modestandatinybitsexy]

Working for an exam board in the exam review department I would recommend going for it if the mark is at the upper end of a grade boundary.

It's almost impossible for the grade to go down and there's a chance a different examiner would award an extra mark. Some boards don't even charge if the grade improves.

I don't think it's pushy, I think if you can afford to lose the money on the gamble of a better grade then why not? As long as your DS knows you're proud of him and you're just trying to work the system to get the best out of it for him. FX for you!

[Darbs76]

Fifthtimelucky - the money is absolutely nothing to do with it. I suspect his dad will pay for the review anyway. DS is not motivated by money, his dad is offering him cash for results not me, but it’s not for persuading him to study hard and do well. He doesn’t need that. The sole motivation is he wants a 9. He worked hard and feels a bit cheated he’s only 1 Mark off hence hoping a review will see an extra mark awarded. As far as we can see we have nothing to lose. If your children were desperate for a review if one point away would you all say no? It’s his decision anyway, he can sign and pay the teacher independently of us agreeing.

[Darbs76]

We know it won’t make any difference to his life in 10yrs time, but it does right now. If it’s changed to a 9 I know he will be over the moon. If it stays an 8 he knows that’s a great mark anyway. We have celebrated his 8 and no pressure from us for 9’s. We are not pushy parents at all. He’s naturally bright but super competitive. He really wants to be up there with the top achievers in his school next year and we will support him with that. If he’s not he knows we are super proud of him anyway. It’s worth a shot for his one peace of mind to know he tried

[Propertyfaux]

You know your child, some people responded to what they read in your OP. But that is just a snapshot and up for interpretation. Originally I read that this was a child stressing to be a perfectionist but from further posts that seem not the case.

[Fifthtimelucky]

I had the same concern about him stressing to be a perfectionist, given the comment in the OP about the PS4 having been 'redundant for weeks'. And if this is the case this year, with only one GCSE to worry about, I hope he will manage next year when obviously there will be a lot more exams and the stakes will be much higher.

[coconuttelegraph]

To answer your original question about whether the grade is likely to change, that's obviously an unanswerable question, no one can tell you that, how could they, each paper is a unique item unaffected by anything else. You pays your money and you takes your chance, there's nothing more than can be said.

[Darbs76]

Maybe it was the way I wrote it. I assume most kids will stop playing PS4 in the run up to exams? He studied hard, but no more so than other kids who want to get those top marks. He’s definitely not a perfectionist - he’s very into sport too and continued playing for his 2 football teams around exams, just stopped playing fortnite in the evenings (which I guess most kids do - whether by choice or enforced by parents in days before exams)

[MelbaToast]

I wouldn't pay the re-mark. If the examiner thought he was a 9 candidate he would have found the extra mark. 8 is really good for a subject he's not going to pursue at a level.

[Hoghgyni]

As an aside, straight grade 9s is not the equivalent of straight A*s under the old system. Only 2 people received 12 x grade 9s and no other grades in their results yesterday.

[coconuttelegraph]

The person who marked the exam won't know what the grade boundaries will be, how would they know it's only one mark away? I've seen posts on here that say that exams aren't always marked by the same person ie marked by question anyway so no one knows the total mark, I wouldn't assume theres no chance of it going up.

[Darbs76]

Melbatoast - there were 3 papers. I doubt the same person marked them, so no-one would have known he was one mark short. Might work like that if only one paper but not for 3.

We are going ahead with a review, not sure which paper until the RE teacher reviews his papers. I’ll update on here when we get the review marks

[Yr10dd]

At 1 mark away it’s worth a remark.
We are getting a couple papers reviewed where they are 1 mark away from the next grade (not 9’s!) & recommended by school. University will be looking more closely at GCSE’s given AS are no longer taken and predicted A level grades aren’t that reliable.

[Arewedone]

@Darbs76 we are 2 marks away from a 9 on RS and will request the review ( no longer called remark) will be really interested to know your outcome! Will let you know mine once we receive!

[Darbs76]

@Arewedone - I’ll definitely update this thread with the outcome. Are you having all papers reviewed or just one? School RE teacher has requested ds’s 3 papers so can advise which one to ask for the review on. Should just be enough time to do this before the deadline around middle of September.

[MillicentMartha]

He’s one mark off a 9? I’d go for it, it’s worth a punt. Bugger all the naysayers.

[Powergower]

We are in the same situation. Ds has I think 4 grade 8's which are one mark away from a 9. School got him to sign a consent form for a review before he even got home. If he'd asked me first I'd have said forget the review an 8 is amazing. But school have a policy of requesting reviews of all grades within 2 marks of a boundary and they pay for it.

I'm really interested to see what happens. Ds is delighted with his 8s and if school hadn't prompted him he would not be bothered about reviews, but one of the subjects could be a degree choice so he's fine about it being reviewed and would be pleased with a 9. Let us know how you get on op. I think gcse reviews are not priority reviews so the new mark is awarded miss to end Sept.

[sendsummer]

No problem with asking for a review but generally students and their parents will have to adjust expectations
A stars at GCSE were as much about exam technique from drilling with past papers as ability so as to reproduce the same sort of answers in the exam.
Lots of A stars or 8/9s are also about sufficient. stamina for efffort as well as being an all rounder. 9s require a little bit more perfectionism. I don’t think genuine flair for a subject can be shown in exams until A levels and beyond.

[dennishsherwood]

Seek your school's advice. In 2016 Ofqual changed the rules to make it harder to appeal (see //www.gov.uk/government/news/fairness-at-the-heart-of-proposed-changes-to-marking-reviews-and-appeals-system): a remark can take place only if there is evidence of an original "marking error" - "differences in academic opinion" are ignored.

I think the appeals process is deeply unfair - see //www.silverbulletmachine.com/single-post/2018/10/28/Biting-the-poisoned-cherry---why-the-process-for-school-exams-is-so-unfair.

Ofqual's official statistics (see //www.hepi.ac.uk/2019/01/15/1-school-exam-grade-in-4-is-wrong-does-this-matter/) show that on average across the whole mark range, 66% of RS candidates are awarded the right grade, and 34% the wrong one. You might want to read that again. And, yes, I did say that 1 candidate in every 3 gets awarded the wrong grade.

For scripts marked at or close to a grade boundary, it's 50/50 right/wrong at best (www.hepi.ac.uk/2019/02/25/1-school-exam-grade-in-4-is-wrong-thats-the-good-news/).

But if you can't find a "marking error", I'm afraid Ds2 is just unlucky - like umpteen thousand other students who are being treated very badly.

You might also be interested in the thread "More than 1.5 million grades are wrong" //www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3668923-More-that-1-5-million-wrong-grades-will-be-awarded-at-A-level-AS-and-GCSE-this-year.

If you have a few moments, please listen to the first ten minutes of Radio 4's programme More or Less, broadcast at 4:30 pm last Friday (23 August) //www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007rtv?fbclid=IwAR1lM2qfnxC8A8wB7QQDtNevfJtGmcnuK7-_JTYO-CcD2VV7HiABCH-AeZI

And if you know a good lawyer, have a discussion with her about //www.hepi.ac.uk/2019/08/15/dear-ofqual-%EF%BB%BF/

[MeanMrMustardSeed]

Just came on to say listen to Radio 4’s More or Less from Friday. It was fascinating!

[mathsquestions]

For one mark there’s a high chance of getting a 9. Go for it and pay for it yourselves if you can afford it. Show him you think he’s worth it.