AQA GCSE English reviews

[WhereAreWeNow]

Quite a few of us in the big GCSE results thread are looking at getting AQA English reviewed.

Starting a new thread in case anyone wants to share updates about the review process or have a bit of a moan about AQA!

DD got 8s and 9s in mocks and all classwork. She's an avid reader and writer and she knew the texts inside out. She felt the exams went well. But she got a 6 in Lang and a 5 in Lit. School is definitely asking for Lang to be reviewed.

Unfortunately that is less like than really bad marking over a couple of questions.

Reporting for followers of this thread:
English Lit for DC - no change
English Lit for DC's friend - went up by 20-odd marks (!) and went up 2 grades

DS just got his English Lit back, 5 marks up on paper 1 which changes his grade from a 3 to a 4.

Made up as now he’s passed all his GCSEs.

It was paper 1 for DS also, went up 4 marks and changed from 3 to 4. I can understand this more than the changes by 10-20 marks, it must be hard to mark the lit papers as its not a set answer. Ours said error in academic judgement and the 4 marks was on just one question.

Hard to get consistency yes, but I've seen clearly full mark responses (review agreed) given half marks. That's incompetence not subjectivity.

Hi everyone - such a nerve wracking process! Hope those of you who are waiting for results are doing ok.

Anyone else had their Paper 1 English Language reviewed? My son is 1 mark away from the next grade boundary. He is panicking (and so am I) that the grade might drop enough to take him into the lower grade boundary.

Has anyone had marks drop? I do hope not - we are still trying to work our how many grades it would have to drop by to enter the lower grade. Is it 10 marks between each grade? There is so much conflicting information out there with how inconsistent the making has been this year. It is hard to predict what the outcome will be.

Please assure us that it is very unlikely to drop that many (10??) marks! Thank you!

HoW long did it take for you the get it back please?

We are still waiting - my son's friend got their after 9 days.

Up to 20 days

Reporting for followers of this thread:
DS went from a 5 to a 7!!!! AQA language

I almost took the advice of a teacher on here and didn’t get a review. So trust your gut!

That’s brilliant news 👏🏻 . We are still waiting for English language to come back - dc completed the consent form on the 9th! It’s the only one we are waiting for now. I’m thinking it isn’t going to change. RS came back with no change in grade. Maths and Biology have both gone up to a grade 9 following review. He was one mark off for both of those.

That’s wonderful but worrying isn’t it! How can this be fair on the students!

I think it is a bit worrying yes, especially for the English where some people are reporting huge increases in marks. It was also said on here that grades very rarely change but I decided to go with what dcs teachers thought. His maths and biology teachers were scarily accurate. They both said he looks like he had two ‘missed’ marks and he actually did gain two marks for both subjects at review. The English language teacher hasn’t made any predictions, just said she wanted to send paper 1 back (aqa).

I’d be interested to hear what the deal is with those who were predicted 4s and came out with 8s. I know a couple like that and obviously they won’t be getting remarks.

I never thought of that- you’re right though

Are there many in that position??

In dd’s friendship group there were 3 with odd AQA English results. Friend 1 got all 7s and above except for a 5 in English Language. Remark pushed it up to a 7. Friend 2 was always predicted 3s and 4s so wasn’t staying on at sixth form. I asked dd how they were getting on at college and she said that she had switched courses because she had ended up with a 7 in English Language. Dd was thrilled for her and commented how amazing it was to get that from the bottom set. Friend 3 was always worried that they weren’t going to pass and would have to resit in y12. Said they were lucky with the questions and got an 8. Obviously they could have put loads of extra work in to exceed their predicted grades

That is fantastic- congratulations! Do you know how they are reviewed- is it one examiner looking at all sections or are they marked by several examiners as in they all review one section each? I heard they are marked by several examiners in the first place - wondered if the same process is applied during a review if marking? Thanks.

@Lyla78 for AQA Eng Lang several markers mark the first paper. Several different markers do the review.

Really? I thought 1 marker, marked the whole of paper 1?

I taught two boys who I would have said would be lucky to get a 4. Over two years I didn’t see any work significantly above this grade. Both nice lads who worked hard but English wasn’t their strength. Both came out with a grade 7! Yet a girl I would have bet my house on getting a 9 came out with a 6 in English Literature. Some crazy, crazy marking this year.

It’s very unlikely to drop. I think the percentage of marks that go down is very low (1% maybe?) That being said, I’d ask you to think carefully about it. Say he was expecting a 6 and got a 7 but he’s 1 mark off an 8, I’d advise you to ‘stick’. If he was expecting a 6 but got a 3 then less to lose. Also, if he’s happy with his grade and can do what he wants at college/sixth form then does it really matter?

There’s always crazy marking
I’ve had some I expected would get 4s who came out with 8 but they never applied for a review

I have been following this thread and wanted to share the outcome for DC.

AQA English Lit - 4 extra marks after remark. Grade moved up to 7.
AQA English Language- 6 extra marks after remarked. Grade moved up to 6.

Predicted 8/7

Great news @MybrilliantLina

I think it's a scandal how bad the marking is. God knows how many kids have missed out on places at 6th form because of a dodgy English mark?