Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

GCSE reviews news

69 replies

Sausagesandpeas · 02/09/2023 16:52

I know there are a few of us who have requested reviews of GCSE papers or thinking about it so thought it might be useful to have a place to share news.

We have got scripts back for both English Lit and Lang for DD and her English tutor is having a look to see if a review is worthwhile. She was predicted a 9 and got 9s in mocks and came out with a 6. Once he’s had a look, we’ll make a decision.

Also got scripts back for Chemistry and I’m sure a 6 mark calculation that has been scored 0 should have been awarded some marks (and she’s only 1 off the boundary) so will have a closer look at that later.

OP posts:
NedSchneebly · 02/09/2023 18:18

We’re reviewing for DS too - physics (1 mark off) French (3 marks off) and English - predicted 9, but got a 6. Have to get the forms back by Thursday!

Original poster
Sausagesandpeas · 02/09/2023 20:22

Gosh that’s a quick turnaround. Better check the dates for DDS school

OP posts:
jolaylasofia · 02/09/2023 20:37

i'm an exam officer. Just be very prepared for the scores to stay the same or even go down. Very very rarely do they change them.

mmmmmchocolate · 02/09/2023 20:53

@Sausagesandpeas have you actually seen the papers? I emailed the school and they just said that if I wanted to go for a remark, I just had to pay the £40 per paper to go ahead. No option for a teacher or myself to see the paper beforehand.

I don’t really want to part with £200 if things are unlikely to change.

Littlemissprosecco · 02/09/2023 20:59

jolaylasofia · 02/09/2023 20:37

i'm an exam officer. Just be very prepared for the scores to stay the same or even go down. Very very rarely do they change them.

But that’s simply not true! My DS had two 4s last year, for English lang and lit, school weren’t happy, asked for review. two 7s !!
you can’t blame people for trying/ checking

Original poster
Sausagesandpeas · 02/09/2023 21:08

Yes, it’s free to get a copy of the papers but school have to request it on your behalf. We were advised to get the papers first, have a look and then decide whether to review or not.

OP posts:
OvaHere · 02/09/2023 21:40

I'm not sure what's happening with ours. Eng Lit grade 5, was predicted a 7, got an 8 in mocks.

I spoke to the exams on the phone on results day and they agreed it was worth looking at as he was 3 marks from a 6 so she thought it was low risk of being downgraded to a 4.

They emailed me the consent form and I returned it same day. I've not heard anything since but I suspect nobody was in school last week. I didn't ask for it to be a priority review because it hasn't affected college - although it easily could have done if he'd done a tiny bit worse on some other subjects.

He needed a min of 3 x 6s or above and just scraped that. We were both confident he'd comfortably get a 7 in Lit prior to results day which would count towards his offer giving him leeway on subjects he wasn't as good at.

I guess I might hear something next week. I don't know if school is planning to request scripts and look at them because that wasn't discussed nor was the cost. It was literally, you might have a case here so send the form back asap.

Littlemissprosecco · 02/09/2023 21:42

It took quite a while for us to hear. A good few weeks I seem to remember

OvaHere · 02/09/2023 21:46

To add, really it's about working out if something went wrong and if he does go up to a 6 then it's a bonus. If it turns out he just performed below par when it came down to it then fair enough. Even that would be useful info because it means he's going to need to work on his exam technique in essay subjects for A level.

OvaHere · 02/09/2023 21:48

Littlemissprosecco · 02/09/2023 21:42

It took quite a while for us to hear. A good few weeks I seem to remember

I expect it will as I did stress that other than meeting the deadline it wasn't urgent as some will be so they'll be doing those first.

Hmmph · 03/09/2023 07:54

We weren't going to - good results and a place in 6th form- but my child found the grade boundaries by paper.

In the subject they have always excelled in, they got expected marks in 2 of the papers and a really poor one in another which dragged their mark right down. My child said the exam went really well and, as they have done lots of practice papers, I believe them. The mark looks very wrong (way more than a mark or two). They didn't finish early in the exam or anything.

Added to this, I googled this paper for this exam subject and found an advert where the exam board were struggling to recruit markers for it. Which makes me a bit suspicious.

Struggling to get hold of school, but hopefully can tomorrow and can request the paper and see if there is a page that hasn't been marked or something. If there is, we'll obviously ask for a remark. I have prepped my child for the possibility they might have messed up and we might just need to leave it...

I think it's worth taking a look at though.

Newbutoldfather · 03/09/2023 09:44

It has become a bit of a game, especially in private schools. When the marks are given, if a pupil is close to an upper boundary, you request a remark, as it is very unlikely to go down and sometimes a couple of extra marks are found, which pushes you over the boundary.

Of course it is pretty unfair on schools which don’t have the time to analyse every mark in detail and parents who don’t find the £50 a pop remark cost to be trivial.

Newbutoldfather · 03/09/2023 09:47

Of course, when a script has been egregiously under marked , requesting remarks is a good thing.

I saw this once in Drama where a bunch of 4s and 5s got marked up to 8s and 9s, not so much in the more mainstream subjects, especially Sciences and Maths.

catndogslife · 03/09/2023 16:21

Sausagesandpeas · 02/09/2023 16:52

I know there are a few of us who have requested reviews of GCSE papers or thinking about it so thought it might be useful to have a place to share news.

We have got scripts back for both English Lit and Lang for DD and her English tutor is having a look to see if a review is worthwhile. She was predicted a 9 and got 9s in mocks and came out with a 6. Once he’s had a look, we’ll make a decision.

Also got scripts back for Chemistry and I’m sure a 6 mark calculation that has been scored 0 should have been awarded some marks (and she’s only 1 off the boundary) so will have a closer look at that later.

I am a Chemistry tutor with examiner experience. It's perfectly possible to obtain zero marks for a calculation question. If your dd had made a mistake in step 1 e.g. had the equation the wrong way round that loses all the marks even if the method on later steps is OK.

BackT · 03/09/2023 16:32

We have been looking at this today. DC is 4 marks off a 7 in Physics, and 5 off a 7 in Biology and Chemistry.

Not sure if it's worth trying for a remark?

Newbutoldfather · 03/09/2023 16:45

@BackT ,

How far are they above the next grade boundary down? Remember, it is possible to lose as well as gain marks.

That would be quite a lot if marks to ‘find’ in the sciences. Even the wordy questions are fairly objective to mark.

BackT · 03/09/2023 17:31

@Newbutoldfather thanks for the reply.
In physics DC has 116, which is 14 above the lower boundary.
In chemistry DC has 108, which is 17 above the lower boundary.
In Biology they have 99, which is 13 above the lower boundary.

So I think should be relatively safe?

BorrowedThyme · 03/09/2023 17:34

Sausagesandpeas · 02/09/2023 16:52

I know there are a few of us who have requested reviews of GCSE papers or thinking about it so thought it might be useful to have a place to share news.

We have got scripts back for both English Lit and Lang for DD and her English tutor is having a look to see if a review is worthwhile. She was predicted a 9 and got 9s in mocks and came out with a 6. Once he’s had a look, we’ll make a decision.

Also got scripts back for Chemistry and I’m sure a 6 mark calculation that has been scored 0 should have been awarded some marks (and she’s only 1 off the boundary) so will have a closer look at that later.

You don't understand how it works - "finding" a mark in a calculation will not make a whit of difference - it is well within the tolerance

Does the tutor actually have the mark scheme? Are you paying them for their time?

BorrowedThyme · 03/09/2023 17:35

Hmmph · 03/09/2023 07:54

We weren't going to - good results and a place in 6th form- but my child found the grade boundaries by paper.

In the subject they have always excelled in, they got expected marks in 2 of the papers and a really poor one in another which dragged their mark right down. My child said the exam went really well and, as they have done lots of practice papers, I believe them. The mark looks very wrong (way more than a mark or two). They didn't finish early in the exam or anything.

Added to this, I googled this paper for this exam subject and found an advert where the exam board were struggling to recruit markers for it. Which makes me a bit suspicious.

Struggling to get hold of school, but hopefully can tomorrow and can request the paper and see if there is a page that hasn't been marked or something. If there is, we'll obviously ask for a remark. I have prepped my child for the possibility they might have messed up and we might just need to leave it...

I think it's worth taking a look at though.

All exam boards advertise for markers every year, there is always a shortfall. I don't know why that would make you suspicious

BorrowedThyme · 03/09/2023 17:36

BackT · 03/09/2023 16:32

We have been looking at this today. DC is 4 marks off a 7 in Physics, and 5 off a 7 in Biology and Chemistry.

Not sure if it's worth trying for a remark?

with those gaps, more likely to go down than up

JellyBabiesSaveLives · 03/09/2023 17:57

From @Circleoffifths link, about 12% of reviews result in a grade change (doesn't say whether it's up or down).

Original poster
Sausagesandpeas · 03/09/2023 18:05

BorrowedThyme · 03/09/2023 17:34

You don't understand how it works - "finding" a mark in a calculation will not make a whit of difference - it is well within the tolerance

Does the tutor actually have the mark scheme? Are you paying them for their time?

Show quote history

Yes I’m paying the tutor, yes she is an AQA exam marker for English (Lang paper 2 this year) as well as a current Secondary English teacher, yes I understand exactly how it works - I am not looking for a mark, we are looking at papers to see why the awarded grade was so wildly different to the predicted and mock grades. More than happy to be told my DD just didn’t do as well this time but it doesn’t hurt to check.

The comment about one mark referred to the calculation in a chemistry paper which was awarded 0 out of a possible 6. This has now been confirmed (by head of Chemistry, unpaid as it’s my sister in law) as being completely correct so certainly not within the tolerance so it will be going back for review.

OP posts:
ittakes2 · 03/09/2023 18:40

Newbutoldfather · 03/09/2023 09:44

It has become a bit of a game, especially in private schools. When the marks are given, if a pupil is close to an upper boundary, you request a remark, as it is very unlikely to go down and sometimes a couple of extra marks are found, which pushes you over the boundary.

Of course it is pretty unfair on schools which don’t have the time to analyse every mark in detail and parents who don’t find the £50 a pop remark cost to be trivial.

we have twins - my daughters private school don’t even give you the marks just the grades to deter parents asking for teachers to assess them. The teachers email when a child is close to the boundary - but no offer to check just pay for the reassessment as they assume we can afford it.
my son’s free grammar school teachers offered to check his paper which was 1.8 marks below a grade (the odd number was due to an uplift as he broke his hand a few weeks before exams).

Newbutoldfather · 03/09/2023 18:54

@BackT ,

Given the grade boundaries, they are almost certain to stay the same, with a very tiny chance of going up. Papers are really carefully marked these days. I have rarely seen them move more than a couple of marks.

No downside though, other than the cost.