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.

I haven’t seen the papers, or score on each paper, I just know he was 6 off a grade 6 so unlikely to move up with a remark. It would be fine to have had a 5 in any of his other subjects (except maths and comp science!) but because it’s in english language it just seems to bar him from some of the RG universities (because it suggests his written communication isn’t good enough I suppose). Thank you for your help.

1/2 marks away from the grade above then go for it. The exception to this, for me, is grade 4 - you don’t want a remark to lower the grade at this level. Repercussions are too great. It’s unlikely but it has happened.

@Dragonsandcats he could always resit in November. If that's a serious possibility, get him to ask for the marked scripts now so that he knows what he needs to focus on

She is only 2 marks away from a 9 in maths and 3 marks away from a 9 in physics. Will she be more successful with reviews on STEM subjects (less subjective)?

Less likely, I think. It's either right or it's not.
Someone has to be the "wrong side" of the grade boundary. Those are great grades.

Thank you. He was planning 4 A levels (incl further maths) so I think a resit will be too much. But definitely something for him to consider.

@MrsHamlet Thank you for your advice, I do appreciate it.

@Dragonsandcats no problem at all :)
Good luck to him!

Much bigger weighting on technical accuracy in Language. 16 marks out of 80 on each paper. By contrast, in Literature, there are only 4 marks available per paper. So literature rewards ideas, creativity and engagement with the text more so than punctuation use, sentence variation etc.

Also, students find revision of Literature easier. There is a plot or poem to actually learn. Language is harder as it’s a skills based paper so revision is a bit more of an abstract concept for many.

The texts for English language are also unseen prior to the exam. Some students are very able to learn by rote and regurgitate what their teacher has told them about Lady Macbeth in an essay but the same student may not have developed the ability to apply these skills independently to an text they have not encountered before. English Language - especially paper 2 - is a brutal exam.

In short, I’d ask for a copy of the language paper back but it isn’t massively unusual to see a split like this if a student has, for example, dyslexia (a bit of a leap here from me as you mention DC having extra time)

I know I’m quoting myself here! I mis-read the original
post and see it said ‘review’ and not ‘remark’. I’ve answered the question as if you had formally requested a remark.

I know. I examine for aqa, language (since 2016). For the exam in question.

It appears that this page has not been read, as it has no annotations whatsoever.

Following advice here we've managed to get the scripts of my dd's OCR Eng Lit and Lang as she got far below expected (6 and 5)

English Lit is the most peculiar with one mark off a 9 on her first paper and just scraping a 4 on her second. I've read them and despite having an English Lit A level, I can't tell whether the second paper has been marked accurately or not. My dd uses a lot of flowery language and I can only think that despite this it didn't really answer any of the questions properly.

For those in the know, does the pattern of a nearly 9 in one paper and scraping a 4 in another a common thing? To add a bit of context, her other essay subjects-history, drama and RS were 7-8.

So I am totally confused. My ds was predicted 7s in lang and lit. And ended up getting a 5 for lang and a 4 for lit when he thought the exams went well! His teacher actually called us and asked if he could request his papers for both as she was shocked by both.

So we requested the papers and I’ve looked at them but can’t tell anything - except that all the pages are present, all the necessary questions are answered and all marks included and he isn’t near grade boundaries. I am waiting for his teacher to advise, but in the meantime asking the great experts of mumsnst…. is there any point of requesting anything? Do they actually remark or just check no obvious errors? We aren’t completely skint but I would rather avoid the cost if it’s a pointless exercise but on the other hand feel these marks will hold him back… so how does the review/remark actually work?

Lit Paper 2 seems to be the odd one this year. I’ve been looking at my students’ marks and there’s a significance difference. I’m bewildered by some of the grades this year to be honest.

No this is not a 'common' difference and would for me trigger at least wanting to get her script for the lower paper looked at by a specialist to check what has happened. She might have done something daft under pressure l like answered the wrong question with information on a different text or simply answered the questions she 'wanted' rather than the questions that were there...but equally likely is that the marking is wrong. I would suggest get the script that is low and get a specialist to check it against the mark scheme and marked exemplars. Unfortunately degree in the subject won't really help in interpreting the mark scheme IMHO - the whole system is an exercise in jumping through crazy hoops rather than the essence of what the subject really is (thanks to our friend Gove). But do ensure that the school don't send back the paper that got the notional 9 for a ROM, as odds are, from what you say, it may have been rather generously marked and would go down!! Hope that helps.

If the school have asked your permission to view scripts, I'd assume they are looking at them. it's great that they have called you this early when most staff are still on holiday and not in contact, which suggests a real level of commitment to his outcomes. I would keep in touch with them and get their feedback before doing anything. If there is some distance from the boundary then they are obviously checking if he did something unexpected or whether there is a major marking error.

Do they actually remark or just check no obvious errors?

They look to see whether the original mark was reasonable or not. Reviews can go up or down - there is no grade protection.

Grade boundaries are totally irrelevant to reviews - that's not part of the process.

@Donhill and @Cloudhopping I didn't realise you could get the papers so quickly. I'm waiting for the school to send me a consent form for the paper to be sent for review. Should I be requesting the paper back myself? Do they just email it to you?

My Ds requested his from the exams officer at his school and they were emailed to him the next day.

My son had to give permission to the exams officer, and then we got the papers pretty much instantly, exams officer emailed the papers to us within an hour or two. So I think they can access them easily, they just need permission from the candidate before they can do so.

You can't request anything. It belongs to the candidate - they have to make the requests.

Hi, I'm after a bit of advice from you knowledgeable lot. DS has just missed a 4 in English Language by 2 marks. He is still able to do what he wanted at college as he passed everything else at 5 or above. Is it worth me requesting a review of this do you think? English has always been a struggle for him so a 4 would be the aim. Thanks 😊

Ask for the papers and ask someone who knows what they're doing to look at them.

Reviews don't look for marks so proximity to grade boundary is less of a consideration than people think.

Thank you. Would it be the done thing to ask for help from the school with this? They don't have a sixth form so he isn't going back.

I do it for my school - but I won't be doing so until next term. You can ask!