GCSE Support - the results are in

[SheilaFentiman]

Continuing the threads we had going during revision and waiting for results day!

DD’s school is a comprehensive. They had all the marks on the sheets and a teacher with all the grade boundaries in front of them who advised anyone who asked on how close to next grade they were.

They had a form for remarks and if you were a mark off they advised you to take it and hand it in at the exam office. They paid if you were just one mark off. They’re not a particularly pushy school..so it isn’t just grammars or selectives. however they certainly weren’t advising it for more than a mark or two

Similar situation here although ours did improve a bit since a new head took over just before covid. Also a lot of subs/turnover across the key areas of Maths, English and Science. I've never asked for an exam review before and DS is my 4th and youngest child.

Maths had such a high amount of subs through his entire time at school I did get him a tutor from Jan - June. To be honest without that input I think he could have easily ended up with a grade 3 rather than the 5 he got. If I had realised the schools prediction for English was way off I would've probably got him a bit of English tutoring too.

Really it was from reading here that I thought why the hell not ask for the review. If it was more than 3 marks away and he discrepancy between predicted and actual grades not so massive I probably wouldn't bother.

I'm not doing it for any other subject because although others are lower in some cases than what he hoped everything except Eng Lit makes some sense.

I'm still not sure whether to query dds music result. I'm sure she said whatever the teacher had marked at school was already a 7/8 so still struggling to understand how she got the highest mark of the year with a 5 and the majority of the class failed.
Got to say music this year has been a total shit show with different teachers, teachers not bothering to turn up as other things were more important and not starting music theory till 3 weeks before the exam.
She did say the head of music looked like he was going to explode when she picked her results at.
She's a 4/5 kid so this was going to be her sure thing top mark!

Not sure if it helps or hinders your decision but I requested the AQA Biology scripts as my daughter was 1 mark off the next grade.
Thought I would have a look and then pass to her teacher to assess.
Now, whilst my A levels were a number of years ago, my interpretation is that her paper is missing a lot more than 1 mark! Its actually shockingly poorly marked and whilst in the the overall scheme of things it makes no difference to my daughters overall results it does make me cross that they didn't mark her work with suitable care and attention..

We are not bothering with a remark of the Biology. DD got a perfectly good grade (with a lot of hard work) and she is rightly proud of the effort she put in. She went up two full grades from her mock result and is very pleased, as she should be. She'd have been perfectly happy to have gone up one grade! The school hasn't pushed her to go for a remark, just said she can if she wants to. So no snowploughing here either.

With regards to AQA Biology DS got a 7 but was predicted 8/9 but we aren't bothering for a remark as its got him into the A level course.

How quickly did yours come through? We filled the form in on Thursday but not heard anything yet. I was assuming that given it’s the holidays and also a bank hol today it would be a while but so,e people on here seem to have them already.
slightly concerned about where they will go and whether DD really is checking the school email!

Thank you so much for your kind words, it’s been really tough for him. and hasn’t helped his low self esteem. It took us the whole day to finally get him a place on a level 2 course. He’s already done a level 2 in his chosen subject so we had to find a different one. We’ll see about a tutor, as being a single parent, an extra year in education will be tough financially.

Scripts should come back very quickly - they're mostly just downloaded.

Thanks v much. Do they go to school or direct to candidates from the board?

From the board to the school who then have to pass them on.

There's no direct link between the board and the candidate. It's why everything is done via the centre.

Thanks v much

@Rowgtfc72 Music was my girl's sure fire best mark too ... our Music teacher says the subject was marked harshly nationally for some reason this year. Her result doesn't make sense, though - I've read the exam board's website and marking structure. She wouldn't have the grade she should have got but should still be better than what has come through!

No problem :)

Has the teacher looked at the papers? It is always worth a look if something feels off.

It's a BTEC - three sections - 2 were moderated externally last year at Level 2 Distinction; the 3rd was examined and has come back as Level 1 Distinction, which is considerably below what was expected BUT her overall mark is a Level 1 Merit - even putting the info for the 3 components in on their website marking widget, it should be a Level 2 Pass. This would make it approx a GCSE 4 whilst it's currently approx a 2 ... and should have been about a 5/6. I have requested a review.

Torres10 · Today 20:52

Not sure if it helps or hinders your decision but I requested the AQA Biology scripts as my daughter was 1 mark off the next grade.
Thought I would have a look and then pass to her teacher to assess.
Now, whilst my A levels were a number of years ago, my interpretation is that her paper is missing a lot more than 1 mark! Its actually shockingly poorly marked and whilst in the the overall scheme of things it makes no difference to my daughters overall results it does make me cross that they didn't mark her work with suitable care and attention..

Wow! Do you think her grade will go up??

@beansoup are the units weighted unequally?

The 3rd component is 40% of the total - however the marks for all 3 sections added together mean a lower score in one can be offset against higher performance in the other 2. It will probably come out that it's right but it just feels off. I'm not someone who makes a fuss usually just I can't get my head round a final result that's lower than all 3 outcomes! :)

Weird. Hopefully someone who know s how it works can help!

This is concerning. I wonder if the answers have to be very precise to gain that mark, as in they have to march exactly the criteria. Sometimes an answer can be right but not whats on their marking scheme.

Did anyone else have a surprisingly low grade for AQA History? Dd has been at a secure 7 but scored a 5. She was 5 marks off a 6. Long shot but we’ve submitted 2 papers for a review.

We submitted one History paper (AQA) for review on Friday as it was 2 marks short of a 9. Both DS's History teacher and also the head of dept viewed his scripts and both agreed that one paper was harshly marked and should have gained at least 3 more marks. Both are examiners so should have a good feel for this. We heard today there is no change in his marks - no issue as his 8 is a fab mark (predicted a 6/7), but it does seem a very quick response from the board.

DS got an 8 in his mocks and was getting 9s on some practice papers. He came out with a 7 in the real thing. Lower than he'd hoped but probably not enough to think something went badly wrong. He did say at the time one of the papers he'd found unexpectedly difficult compared to the past papers he'd done.

@SirSidneyRuffDiamond reviews take place over the weekend like exam marking does. It's all online these days.