A Levels: Interpreting marked scripts

towtal · 2025-08-14T10:54:40+00:00

My DC has been sent his marked A Level scripts from school. The AQA scripts have examiner comments on the first page, but the Pearson Edexcel scripts don't - they only have raw marks for each question. Do Pearson examiners not record comments at all, or are they just not provided with the scripts?

NannyOgg1341 · 14/08/2025 11:59

It depends on the subject. I mark across several subjects and boards, and each have their own rules; some lead examiners ask us not to comment at all, whereas others will want specific comments.

Notsurewheretostarthere · 14/08/2025 12:04

I'm an EO eating lunch in the middle of a hectic day!

What you need is the subject teacher to look at it with the marks scheme to tell you whether there might be additional marks to be found in an ROR.

Good luck!

Original poster

towtal · 15/08/2025 15:49

Thanks both.

@Notsurewheretostarthere do the original papers get electronically scanned in school or by the exam board, and where are the originals held now?

For context, my son has found two pages in the middle of one maths script that don't seem to have scanned properly. They appear blank with just a few traces of pen markings on them, but he remembers completing the questions.

OP posts:

Notsurewheretostarthere · 15/08/2025 16:04

@towtal the exam board scans all the exams when they are sent to them by the school.

The originals are held by the exam board.

If you think there are questions missing which haven't been marked - you can ask for a review of marking.
But what usually happens is each exam paper gets broken down into questions once scanned and a particular examiner will be sent 300 question 10's.
So they will notice if a question for a candidate is missing.

Octavia64 · 15/08/2025 16:06

exsm board scan them.

schools are sent electronic copies.
exam board keep originals.

Original poster

towtal · 15/08/2025 16:13

Notsurewheretostarthere · 15/08/2025 16:04

@towtal the exam board scans all the exams when they are sent to them by the school.

The originals are held by the exam board.

If you think there are questions missing which haven't been marked - you can ask for a review of marking.
But what usually happens is each exam paper gets broken down into questions once scanned and a particular examiner will be sent 300 question 10's.
So they will notice if a question for a candidate is missing.

Well yes, they noticed they were missing and gave him zero for them. It's a maths paper and it was 2 pages of extended working.

By default, a review of marking will presumably use the same scan rather than the original paper. 😬

OP posts:

Notsurewheretostarthere · 15/08/2025 16:15

Which board is it? You can sometimes request the original paper.

Alternatively ask your exams officer to call the exam board and ask for a paper to be checked.

Only do that once you have asked the subject teacher to double check that something is definitely missing.

And don't panic. There are always ways to solve these things.

Original poster

towtal · 15/08/2025 16:33

Notsurewheretostarthere · 15/08/2025 16:15

Which board is it? You can sometimes request the original paper.

Alternatively ask your exams officer to call the exam board and ask for a paper to be checked.

Only do that once you have asked the subject teacher to double check that something is definitely missing.

And don't panic. There are always ways to solve these things.

Thanks. The board is Edexcel.

OP posts:

Notsurewheretostarthere · 15/08/2025 16:36

Ask the teacher to check. They will likely have the spares left over from the summer to compare it against.

MrsHamlet · 15/08/2025 16:53

towtal · 15/08/2025 15:49

Thanks both.

@Notsurewheretostarthere do the original papers get electronically scanned in school or by the exam board, and where are the originals held now?

For context, my son has found two pages in the middle of one maths script that don't seem to have scanned properly. They appear blank with just a few traces of pen markings on them, but he remembers completing the questions.

What kind of pen did he use?

There's no facility - as far as I know - to include comments with a request for a review of marking.

If it's a scanning error, I'd expect that to be picked up at review.

The originals will be in a warehouse somewhere, after scanning by the exam board.

MrsHamlet · 15/08/2025 16:54

Do not request the original paper! Once you do that, you can't do anything else.