Special considerations and review of marking

[Zebee]

Due to a flare of my daughter’s illness it is likely that she will be eligible for special considerations in her GCSEs this summer - likely to 3%. However school are saying that if special considerations are applied then you can’t have a review of marking if you feel that the paper has been incorrectly marked (or added up). So it seems you have to apply for special considerations and then hope that the exam board don’t miss pages when marking or other errors that can occur. Does anyone have any information that this isn’t the case - just need to decide what the best course of action is.

From the 2023-2024 JCQ guidance:

6.2 After the publication of results, late applications will only be accepted in the most exceptional circumstances and must be submitted before the deadline for reviews of results for the respective examination series. A member of the senior leadership team must produce compelling evidence to support a late application. An application for special consideration must be submitted before pursuing a review of results.

I'm not an examinations officer, but my reading from that is that having had an application made for special consideration does not preclude applying later on for a review? Otherwise, surely, this would be the place to spell out that one can have one or the other, but not both?

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Guide_to_spec_con_process_2023_24_FINAL.pdf

Eta, I can't see a reference to 'special' or 'consideration' in the guidance on Post results services.

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Post-Results-Service_June23_FINAL.pdf

https://www.aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/special-requirements/special-consideration

Thanks for that some additional information that I hadn’t found. I can’t see any reason why you can’t do both but obviously school has much more experience than me so wanted to see if there was anything.

Reviewers of marking only see the script and the original marks. They have no other info so they wouldn't know about any Special
Consideration - which is mathematical rather than anything else.

You can't usually apply for Spec Con AFTER results though, which is what that refers to.

I can’t see how it would be acceptable to not allow special consideration candidates the option for a review of marking

No it doesn’t seem to make sense which is why I was querying it. Think we shall just have to cross that bridge if we have to.

@Zebee the overwhelming majority of scripts are marked online these days, so the marks are added up automatically by the computer programme. Similarly, examiners can't submit a script unless there is a mark on every page to say it has been seen. With my board, it's ^ for blank pages. It's a real pain when a candidate has written two paragraphs on an additional twelve page booklet, but it prevents errors.