GCSE English Lit and Language review of marking

[SomersetBrie]

There is lots of chat about review of marking on the GCSEs threads but I am interested specifically in anyone who is reviewing English (Lang or Lit) and whether the review provides an increase in grade.
DS, predicted a 7, got a 6 in both. He is not very close to the grade boundary (4 marks away) but the difference in marks between Paper 1 and Paper 2 have encouraged me to request access to the papers and see if it's worth a review.

Is anyone else asking for a review? I am curious to know how many marks people go up/down and if it results in a change of grade for many people.
(DS does not need a 7 but he was expecting a 7 out of 1 or other at least.)
This is AQA.

What is the point of Mumsnet? I thought it was to get other people’s opinions, not simply to have your own opinions validated.
Of course I can’t decide if the grade is changed. But I do have a right to complain about the absolute waste of money that this unhealthy trend is causing.

Do some exam boards make millions in profit, per chance? Also they are paid for remarking? Starting to sound like immigrant hotels now.
On the other hand, examination work is profitable for teachers as well and tops up their income, so that is probably a good thing.

Hopefully AI will get to the point where the student can choose how best to showcase their own knowledge either via long form writing, with or without laptop, multiple choice etc rather than being dictated to. At the end of the day, exams should always be giving students the chance to showcase what they have learnt, not to set them up for failure. And that is why I object to the current system despite having my own high achievers. It is terrible for society as a whole to tell 30% of youngsters that they are not good enough, when I am sure every young person has their own unique talents.

Sure the more unhealthy trend is the number of papers marked incorrectly.

Children are missing out on university places, 6th forms, subject choices, being compelled to sit resits to say nothing of the stress and damage to confidence and self-esteem.

Of the people I know irl who have had reviews this summer for A level, every single one of them saw a grade uplift. And not 1 or 2 marks... 9 marks, 13 marks, 6 marks. That's a problem.

When you combine that with a non-level playing field in some subjects, it is any surprise that parents are opting for checks? You'd be mad not to.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow yup and ultimately if someone opens their results, sees they're close to the next grade and the first thing they think is, let me send for review in case it's wrong, than we are in a pickle in terms of confidence in exams. That shouldn't be people's first thought.

Whatever the reason for a mark review, whether that's going from a 3 to a 4 or a 7 to 8, everyone should feel confident that they've been done justly by the system and that's not the case at the moment.

Some of these are a complete waste of money, but that's because of the misinformation people have, not because it's wrong to want a 7 when you've got a 6.

Just wondering if anyone has had either AQA English reviewed this year and already had the response?

Our DD review was sent of last Thursday morning and outcome could significantly impact next steps.

Btw- DS had his English Language reviewed last year and he just reminded me he went up 8 marks

So is it like you enter marks for each question you mark and the system totals it?

I was wondering our 11 mark difference between papers was in some way a clerical error as that's the biggest gap between papers in any subject.

English marking is done in levels and 11 marks isn't that big a difference tbh, I would think the same marks on both papers would be more weird.

@EnglishTutor25
hi, I saw your post about being able to check AQA English papers and I’m really hoping you might still have some capacity to check my dd’s if at all possible?
she is 3 marks off a 6 in Literature and has never scored less than a 7 in all her mocks so any advice would be welcomed.
we have the papers back from school.
keeping my fingers crossed that you have not already been inundated with requests.
thank you

That's correct.

11 marks difference when the papers test things in different ways isn't wild. I'd have a look if they were mine but it wouldn't surprise me.

Is this for AQA English Lit? Or Edexcel English language? If so, those papers have different marks allocated. 64 and 96.

Thankyou that’s really reassuring. I’m worried I make her miss out. ADHD fear of forgetting/getting it wrong 😭

Reviews go on for weeks yet - I think the deadline is just before the end of September. There is plenty of time.

Still waiting- AQA language paper 2 sent off Friday morning

Thanks @scrumdiddly123 good luck. Pls post when you hear back. I will too.

Same - aqa paper 2 sent off on Friday morning and no news yet. Good news for us though, as DS’s first choice school let him register for A-levels today, with the proviso that if he doesn’t get re graded to a 5 that he has to re-sit it in November. 😬 I don’t care though… he has a place! 😁🤩

Good news @RubyFlewToo

AQA Eng Lang which I believe is 80 marks for each paper, unless our super helpful resident experts correct me.

Re igcse English lit - my son did it and it didn’t help him any… he still got a 4, one mark off a 5. He told me about the dire warnings the teacher/school gave them about cheating/plagiarism/ai and how ‘obvious’ it would be and that they’d be disqualified if there was any hint of it. He’s autistic, so very much plays by the rules - to the point that he didn’t like to incorporate advice about his work, as then it wouldn’t be ‘his’.

I hadn’t realised it was a contentious issue though - and I do think that it should be one rule for all.

Super helpful resident expert here: you are correct.

Might have trouble getting my head out of the door now 🤣

Of course! If you send me a PM, I'll try to look at them today. :)

@EnglishTutor25I have sent you a pm.
thank you

Great news. Pragmatism prevailed!

I understand a remark if a yp is 1 mark from '4' that they really need going forward. However this idea of 'my child worked so hard' and just missed 7 - my yp is so disappointed..The 'sharp elbowed' and those who can afford to pay insisting on reviews. You really are doing these young people a disservice.

If the grade is wrong then it deserves to be corrected. If the exam boards didn't end up upgrading 22%+ of challenged papers then reviews wouldn't be needed.

It's a competitive world out there and you want to send them off into adult life with the best set of results possible.

When you see kids being turned down for interview for university courses - not because their A level predictions aren't good enough - but because they haven't got a straight set of 9s, 8s, 7s etc then why on earth wouldn't you?

Some people pay for private school, some for tutors, some for houses in a great catchment, some for reviews if they want to be sure of the right grades.

Where is the disservice? If the mark goes up you get your money back. Far better to be sharp elbowed and actually give a damn about your kids than be like the parent last month who was so busy with baby DC5 she hadn't even clocked DC1 needed to do something post-GCSE. That kind of neglect is real disservice.

I know what you mean, but this isn’t just pointy elbows. DCs local comp with 50% on fsm seems to put any close to boundary back in…it does make me question the whole system though, not v robust.