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Secondary education

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Original poster

Is it worth getting papers remarked?

29 replies

flexiblebenefit · 25/08/2022 10:26

DD has been very unlucky with grade boundaries. For 4 subjects she's missed the next grade up by 1-2 marks.

I'm thinking of having them re-marked- realistically though do grades ever change?

OP posts:
LightandMomentary · 25/08/2022 10:27

Yes, they do, but make sure that there's no chance that they could go down too, because that also happens. If you can afford it, given that, why not.

TeenDivided · 25/08/2022 11:21

It's a 'review of marking' not a remark.
So If the first examiner's marks are reasonable even if the second disagrees, they stay. Some subjects are more likely to change than others.

OneForestOne · 25/08/2022 12:18

DD has been offered a remark in English Lit as she missed an 8 by 2 marks. She's already got her college place based on the 7 so not sure whether it's worth the risk if it could go lower?

Stormchaser1502 · 25/08/2022 12:26

Dd got a 4 in eng lan despite being predicted an 8! She got an 8 in lit. The school are asking for a remark

SoupDragon · 25/08/2022 12:29

According to DD's school, the boards have stood firm on the grades given for A levels so far. They've not had any changed I don't think.

we have a similar situation with one of DD's grades being on the cusp of a 7. She isn't bothered.

clary · 25/08/2022 12:47

I totally see why you might want to challenge it but having been through this three times, I genuinely don’t think it’s worth the bother, unless the lower grade is stopping them moving forward (such as a 3 in maths which is one mark off a 4).

ds2 was one mark off a 7 for comp sci, I asked him and he said not worth it; he thought he was going to get a 5 so was very happy with a 6! He’s at uni now and his GCSE CS grade is utterly unimportant.

(not saying GCSE grades are unimportant in general btw - I do know that they are and atm look vv large)

ThePenOfMyAunt · 25/08/2022 13:10

Csn I ask how you find the mark? DS1 results were uploaded to his school system, his certificates will be posted. I've asked about getting 2 papers but no idea what mark he got.

SoupDragon · 25/08/2022 14:07

Our school includes them on their print out of results, along with a sheet showing the grade boundaries.

catndogslife · 25/08/2022 14:22

What do the teachers say?
It depends on the exam board and subject, but it's often possible for teachers to review the marked scripts online and then advise a review of marking if they find any errors.

ThePenOfMyAunt · 25/08/2022 14:22

Ah thank you. I think they are on the school upload, I just hadn't twigged what they were as labelled as equivalent.

MrsHamlet · 25/08/2022 14:24

Can I reiterate the point about it bring a review not a remark. OFQUAL changed the rules in 2016 (I think)
A review considers whether there had been a clerical error (so marks added up incorrectly), a misapplication of the mark scheme (a right answer marked incorrectly) or an unreasonable mark awarded.
Reviewers are not looking for extra marks; they're checking to see if the mark awarded is a reasonable one. The old days of going for a remark because you're one mark off are no longer.

SoupDragon · 25/08/2022 14:31

The old days of going for a remark because you're one mark off are no longer.

That's not quite true as the "review" does sometimes throw up extra marks.

MrsHamlet · 25/08/2022 14:34

Yes, but taking a punt - as we used to do - and spending £60 or whatever in the hope of one extra mark is much more risky. People definitely need to have someone with expertise look very closely at the papers first.

Bobbybobbins · 25/08/2022 14:35

As pps have said it is much less likely to have marks changed under the new review system. Think we had 1 changed in 2019 out of 10 or so applications.

Sodiumchloride · 25/08/2022 14:37

Some subjects there’s no point like Maths.

English an science are worth getting reviewed as some of the questions do have tolerances.

be aware marks can go up or down but if close to the boundary unlikely to go down.

You can also request a copy of the paper and have one of the school teachers look at it.

Sodiumchloride · 25/08/2022 14:38

*unlikely to go down enough for a grade change

superram · 25/08/2022 15:26

You only get your money back if the difference is enough to change the grade and it’s not cheap. If it’s one mark off a 5 in maths or English then I would but otherwise I wouldn’t bother.

Original poster
flexiblebenefit · 25/08/2022 16:20

The school are quite keen she does it. She missed an 8 in eng Lang by one mark, an 8 in geography by 1.2 mark, a 7 in RE by one and a 6 in biology by 2.

Apparently as they are subjects which don't have exact right or wrong answers the school thinks she should try. She's in to do what she wants though so I'll think about it. Thank you.

OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 25/08/2022 16:24

From an English point of view, the fact that there's no right or wrong answers actually means that the question of "reasonableness" may mean that you see less movement.
Remember that there is no automatic grade protection: marks can go down as well as up.

Exasperatednow · 25/08/2022 18:54

We're thinking of it for English language (Aqa). Ds got 8s/9s in everything else and a 5 in this. 2 marks off a 6. But I'm worried about the possibility of it going down. X

Stockpot · 25/08/2022 20:44

I do think it’s worth it.

DD had an A level moved up a grade. Just asking for 1 of 3 subject papers to be reviewed led to 8 extra points and put her over line.

She had met her uni offer, but it meant a lot to her personally. She had worked very hard and really lived that class teacher and felt she had let them down.

Wigeon · 25/08/2022 21:12

DH is a senior A Level examiner for one of the big exam boards. He’s currently reviewing lots of appeals for one of the papers in his subject, and yes, a few of them have been marked sufficiently incorrectly against the mark scheme that the student may well go up a grade boundary. Quite a few, no change on appeal, and o think he had one today which went down in marks (but not by much and I’m not sure if it would have affected the candidate’s overall grade).

So yes, appeals do definitely result in changes of grade sometimes.

pinkroseapp · 25/08/2022 22:39

Exasperatednow · 25/08/2022 18:54

We're thinking of it for English language (Aqa). Ds got 8s/9s in everything else and a 5 in this. 2 marks off a 6. But I'm worried about the possibility of it going down. X

Same here, DS has got a 6 for English Language, 9 for English Literature despite prediction was 9 for Language and 6 for Lit. We will be emailing to school tomorrow to request the script and see if worth to request a review.

Themsmedaps · 25/08/2022 22:57

Are the school offering to pay or expecting you to? Remember the price of a review of marking is per paper and approx £40 (depending on the board). Each of those subjects has at least 2 papers so the cost will soon add up.
AQA and Edexcel script returns are free, ask your exams officer to request them for you - they will be able to access them instantly once they have the student's permission. You can then ask the subject teacher to look at them and see if they believe there is any prospect of the marks increasing. Sometimes they go up a few marks, sometimes they go down a few marks, so you don't want to request both papers and find that an increase in marks on one paper is cancelled out by a decrease in another.
Most of the time they come back with the same mark.

VeryTiredParent · 29/08/2022 10:18

Just to say WJEc scripts are also free at the moment.