Re-marks, worth it?

[Orangesandlemons77]

A teacher emailed to tell me DS was one point off a 6 in a subject (GCSEs) and looking at his scores he is also one point off an 8 in another. He is taking the latter subject for A level but not the other.

She asked if we wanted a re-mark of the 6? Is it worth getting the two subjects re-marked? It costs about £45 and no guarantee of a change in grade.

DS says he is happy with the grades as they are as he has got in for 6th form etc, but I wondered if it would make any difference to for example UCAS points for university? I expect they would be mainly bothered about the A level grades though.

Any advice welcome. And best of luck to anyone getting their exam results today or dealing with re-marks / resits etc.

I am genuinely baffled by EOs who appear not to know the rules.

I'm sure you're correct but I wonder what the reasoning is. Why does it matter particularly when the consent form is signed?

No idea why but it's part of the JCQ regs. I suspect it's to prevent centres just accessing the work without the candidates' informed consent.

Anything to do with GDPR, I wonder?

Thanks, I didn't realise this, though it wasn't my call either way. These were sent out and the pupils just handed data sheets to me in registration and it seemed more efficient than more paperwork on results day or constant emails when staff aren't easily contactable or the new term is starting.

I only know from being an invigilator who also helped out on results day for a few years! How do they get through their yearly JCQ inspection.

I'm sure not so long ago they were ALL available on centre services as a matter of course, without any specific permission. We had a bit more money to spend on requesting reviews then too.

Edexcel used to do it for free then there was a thing where all the exam boards were told they had to do it I think. Maybe that's when the rule came in.

My son is 2 marks of a 5 in English language. Not sure if there is a benefit in a review of marks although school were pushing everyone who was 1 or 2 marks off grade boundaries yesterday for review. I am worried it will go down then he wont have the basic level of English needed? He got between 4 and 7 in his other subjects.

Ask for access to scripts and then ask someone who knows what they're doing to have a look and advise you.

We requested the papers for two subjects and then were advised to go for re-marks. Ds went up a grade in both of them so definitely worth it for us. Also meant we didn’t have to pay anything.

Wow! Hopefully ours will be back quickly too. I looked at the thread last year and noticed the people who applied for reviews in Sept had to wait absolutely ages for the reviews to come back. The ones right after results day seemed to be quicker so I'm hoping that's the same for us.

Our EO made me sign the request for review, said it's the person that pays. I said I'm pretty sure it should be DD and there was an awkward pause as I let her go and check! She also didn't know if PP kids need to pay or not.

Apologies. I meant we tell them where to find the blank consent form on results day.

We send out a letter about the post results process with the end of year comms in June.

I'd had a bit of G&T when I posted earlier 😳 it's been a heck of a week,. I process Alevel and GCSEs.

I do know the rules. I came home after a hellish week post alevel results and had two double gins and mis-wrote.

I very much know the rules! Promise. 😊

For my exam board that would be a complete no no, we are not allowed to mention/advertise we work for the board and definitely offering to review scripts would be meg frowned upon. From what I know of other boards though some might permit it.

Early reviews can be really quick,( and A level reviews are nearly always rapid).
I started reviewing today, there is little backlog at this point.

Ah so my theory was right, once the teachers get a chance to look and send them off, there's a lot to check and I imagine some of these examiners are back to work by then. I'm glad we sent ours off yesterday, hopefully we will hear next week.

I got the forms signed, scanned in and emailed back today, there is something about the payment being through parent pay but we are away next week on holiday so will have to see about that if they recommend it I guess.

After reading this I'm grateful to the teachers for getting in touch, it is a big state secondary and they must have lots of students to keep check on so it's good they got in touch I guess.

@AngelsWithSilverWings thank you for acknowledging that! I spent a couple of hours in school today looking at some of the papers close to boundaries. Just did the grade 3s today as we have some students whose college courses are dependent on getting the 4, and then phoned some parents with updates too. I have no problem doing this, for the record, but it's lovely when someone is grateful for the time it takes! Will have a LOT more to look at over the next couple of weeks.

Sorry I meant @Orangesandlemons77

Has anyone had the results of the remark yet.

We've had ours back. English Lit we only needed 2 marks and that didn't move at all in either paper so stayed a grade 3. Eng Lang we needed 14 marks and we got 15 on each paper! So we've gone from grade 3 to Grade 5!! Super super happy, only 2 days before 6th form starts, not cutting is close or anything 😅

My advice is to not go by grade boundaries for essay subjects, we were never going to put Lang in as it was so far off and it was the one that came back with a huge increase!

We got ours Friday
DS went up on p2 of AQA English Lang by 8 Marks!!!

Ours was Fri too but received yest when school opened. Submitted on results day. Congrats! Did you get the grade you needed?

Amazing news @Foxesandsquirrels and @Hoppinggreen .

How frustrating @Foxesandsquirrels that she has been through all that distress over sixth form options when she should never have had the 3 in the first place. Well done you for pushing for the review. It sounds like it'll make a massive difference.