Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

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:
BorrowedThyme · 03/09/2023 19:20

Sausagesandpeas · 03/09/2023 18:05

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.

Show quote history

so are you saying she got 0 and she should have got 6?

BorrowedThyme · 03/09/2023 19:21

How much are you paying the tutor to review the exam paper, out of interest?

Hmmph · 04/09/2023 15:38

Out of interest, how long does it take to get the paper back? (Not a remark, just the getting the paper back to look at part)

Digimoor · 04/09/2023 17:16

Our papers were back within a day or two

Hmmph · 04/09/2023 18:03

Thank you!

Lurea · 05/09/2023 09:08

My daughter was a 1 mark off an 8 in math and she just got the good news that 2 marks were found in the remarking. She is very happy!

StressBless · 05/09/2023 16:06

Does anyone know what is a normal adjustment to coursework scores when it’s moderated? One element of my DC’s coursework was marked at 16/20 by the school but then reduced to 10/20 when moderation of the marking took place - it has pushed them into a lower grade boundary.

I know we can’t appeal that but wondered how common it was for such a big drop. Scores were reduced for all students, not just theirs.

BorrowedThyme · 05/09/2023 16:10

StressBless · 05/09/2023 16:06

Does anyone know what is a normal adjustment to coursework scores when it’s moderated? One element of my DC’s coursework was marked at 16/20 by the school but then reduced to 10/20 when moderation of the marking took place - it has pushed them into a lower grade boundary.

I know we can’t appeal that but wondered how common it was for such a big drop. Scores were reduced for all students, not just theirs.

It is completely normal. The school is only grading the course work compared to other course work from the same school, not the national grade boundaries

Lampzade · 05/09/2023 16:13

Littlemissprosecco · 02/09/2023 20:59

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

Show quote history

I agree
i know several people whose English Language marks jumped by up to two grades

Hepherlous · 05/09/2023 16:14

We had edexcel maths paper 1 remarked on advice of school as he was 2 marks off 7 (which he needed to do A level). Script requested Thursday, came back the same day and was reviewed by school maths head who found 3 extra marks and recommended exam board remark. Request to exam board made Friday and result came back Sunday. Very quick but only one mark increase so remained a 6.

user4750 · 05/09/2023 16:31

Dcs school only advise a review if a child is 3 marks or fewer below the grade boundary. Otherwise they say it’s rarely worth it. They are not looking to find marks, they are looking to see whether the mark awarded was outside of a reasonable award.

Idolovetobebesidethesea · 05/09/2023 16:48

StressBless · 05/09/2023 16:06

Does anyone know what is a normal adjustment to coursework scores when it’s moderated? One element of my DC’s coursework was marked at 16/20 by the school but then reduced to 10/20 when moderation of the marking took place - it has pushed them into a lower grade boundary.

I know we can’t appeal that but wondered how common it was for such a big drop. Scores were reduced for all students, not just theirs.

It depends on the school though. DP is a teacher. They have a large amount of coursework in their subject. When they internally moderate as a department, one of DP 's colleagues (thankfully now left) always had over-marked by at least 5 points and often over 10. She would always argue she was right but they always had to moderate her scores down. The department has almost never had the marks changed in external moderation - and DP thinks that's because their internal moderation is so good. But if the (ex) colleague was alone or with other generous markers then they would get marked down a lot (DP says it could make at least 2 grades different sometimes).
(DP is quite proud of the fact that they have never had one of their own coursework marks changed.)

ignoreignoreignore · 06/09/2023 12:03

We had remark of OCR History as was 2 marks of the next grade.
The remark says 2 questions were marked wrong- 1 went up 4 marks- 1 out of 5 to 5 out of 5.
The other went down 4 marks so no change overall! All fine and glad we did it but does make you wonder...

bendmeoverbackwards · 08/09/2023 23:58

Lampzade · 05/09/2023 16:13

I agree
i know several people whose English Language marks jumped by up to two grades

Show quote history

Was that this year @Lampzade ?

dutysuite · 09/09/2023 13:02

Same issue with moderator down marking, it has caused my son to drop two grades. We’ve found it really difficult to get any answers as to why this has happened. We’ve been told we can request the scripts but it won’t tell us why the moderator decided to take so many marks off the NEA. Apparently it’s happened across the department.

MrsHamlet · 09/09/2023 13:07

dutysuite · 09/09/2023 13:02

Same issue with moderator down marking, it has caused my son to drop two grades. We’ve found it really difficult to get any answers as to why this has happened. We’ve been told we can request the scripts but it won’t tell us why the moderator decided to take so many marks off the NEA. Apparently it’s happened across the department.

The centre will have a report from the moderator which explains why. It won't be about individual candidates, but about the pattern of marking.
Generally, I would expect a moderation downgrade or upgrade to be across the whole cohort because the centre marks are consistently out of tolerance.

StressBless · 09/09/2023 14:01

dutysuite · 09/09/2023 13:02

Same issue with moderator down marking, it has caused my son to drop two grades. We’ve found it really difficult to get any answers as to why this has happened. We’ve been told we can request the scripts but it won’t tell us why the moderator decided to take so many marks off the NEA. Apparently it’s happened across the department.

It’s so frustrating isn’t it? My DC completed the coursework to the standard they were told was high quality and then to see it downgraded so much and have such an impact on the grade seems unfair and we’re pretty powerless to get answers.

Sweetnhappy1 · 23/08/2024 15:50

@Sausagesandpeas How did this go for you last year?

TheLemonDreamer · 27/08/2024 15:10

Digimoor · 04/09/2023 17:16

Our papers were back within a day or two

Is this for AQA?

Newlease · 28/08/2024 08:46

Anyone have any experience on Drama re review/remark? I was wondering if it’s worth trying, but this has nothing to do with the subjects DD choose for ALevels or further.( but she is worried about uni applications)

Smartiepants79 · 28/08/2024 08:50

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.

But how does this even happen?? Are the markets not moderated? How is it possible to have been wrong by 3 or 4 whole grades???

Summertimer · 28/08/2024 09:04

DS has minor disability and types almost everything. GCSEs in 2022 and the only one lower than a 7 was Maths which was the only one involving using a pen. School contacted us to say there should be an application for a remark. We paid, they handled everything else. It went up to a 7.

To those saying marks don’t go up and it’s not worth it. In 2022 lots of friends of DS got remarks and most went up. Additionally, the son of a friend went up 10 marks on an A Level remark this year.

Lampzade · 28/08/2024 09:08

Summertimer · 28/08/2024 09:04

DS has minor disability and types almost everything. GCSEs in 2022 and the only one lower than a 7 was Maths which was the only one involving using a pen. School contacted us to say there should be an application for a remark. We paid, they handled everything else. It went up to a 7.

To those saying marks don’t go up and it’s not worth it. In 2022 lots of friends of DS got remarks and most went up. Additionally, the son of a friend went up 10 marks on an A Level remark this year.

Marks go up
Some years ago my dd was given a 6 in her English Language exam. She was shocked because she thought that she did really well
I was advised by a poster on MN to ask for a review. DD’s mark went up to an 8
Other kids in her cohort were also under marked and their grades went up by two grades
Also, if someone is two or three marks away from the next grade up , it is worth seeking a review

JaffavsCookie · 28/08/2024 11:21

Marks can indeed go up, they can also go down, which is why is worth getting the script first to check if it is worth it, and also looking at the grade boundaries and where your dc’s marks lie in relation to those.

MrsHamlet · 28/08/2024 12:37

The vast vast majority of reviews go nowhere.