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.

Why don't you

This is who my school used too. We are in the NE!! They also did a last minute exam board change for some students for maths - something about how the questions are worded. But only certain classes got the exam in the changed board and others went in the original one. Seemed a bit odd. Guess the schools can pick and choose what works best for their students.

A bit cheeky? Really? How much work do you do for free every year when you're on annual leave? 🤦🏼‍♀️

Could you possibly send me a link to this please? I've looked for this before, but haven't been able to find this data. Many thanks.

My son did Eduqas English Language. All through school he has scored 8/9 on all homework, end of term exams, mock GCSE's. Came out with a 6, and only by 2 marks - could have been a 5 - according to his teacher which really surprised me. Not having it reviewed as we've been advised it might go down to a 5 which would mean he couldn't attend Sixth Form but I have to say it was a shock since he'd been so consistent before. Achieved 8s and 9s in all his other subjects. We're already having an AQA History paper reviewed as he was only a couple of marks away from a higher grade in that .

We have asked for paper 2 to be reviewed for DD's Eng Lang with AQA, as she was 1 mark off a 6. Will look at sending off paper 1 if no change. Can we still request the scripts if we have put in for a review now? I'd quite like to check them as she uses a laptop & have seen quite a few comments about pages not being scanned correctly.

It's not a big process to request a review of marking from the exam board. Were they reluctant because of the cost? Who pays - if it's the school, I can see why they'd be reluctant. If it's the parent, I can't see the issue.

Yes I think state schools asking parents to pay for that is cheeky. It goes back to the discussion of reviews of marking being only for the wealthy! Not for one minute suggesting the teachers should work for free in the holidays. I am immensely grateful that DS’ teacher has taken time out of her summer to do this for us

The standard of marking across almost all subjects is terrible. The pay for teachers to be markers is not good, yet the fees for exams are extortionate.
someone should so an FOI to see how many of our MPs have shares in Pearson (Edexcel). I’m sure it’s a cartel.

Not necessarily. Jumps in marks can be big or small. I've had reviewed English papers go up by as little as 1 mark, and as many as 16 marks. I've rarely had papers go down (but this occasionally had happened - not enough to affect the grade though). The majority stay the same, but we've seen some grade increases this year already. We tend to only suggest reviews to parents/pupils for pupils who are near the next grade boundary up, although if there's a big anomaly in the data (eg breakdown of results by question) we might look into that too.

Re pupils wanting 8s or 9s though, we have more success with reviews at the lower end. At the upper end, there are fewer marks left to achieve as they will already have done well on the paper!

I agree with this. I'm an examiner and what I see horrifies me.

My daughter was predicted 6 in both. She got a 7 in both, 1 mark off an 8 in both. I’m putting in for a review for that. Her maths teacher said they will put in a review for her maths. Do I do the English? I also want science looked at. She was accepted into a highly sought after sixth form and they won’t let her do biology with her 7-6. Do we have to pay for all of these reviews?

You can have access to scripts now for free. If you ask for original scripts you can't then have a review.

Four marks over two papers is definitely worth asking AQA for a Re-mark on his English Papers. The tolerance for questions combined with the opinion of the Examiner could mean he's been marked on the low side. If he did something at a Grade 7 it could have been missed, or if his Q5s (Lang) were marked low.

A re-mark is not a Review (Appeal). I'm assuming you've done the free request to see his papers and someone has told you they are short by so many marks? A teacher or tutor can see them and give their opinion on missing marks if not. I generally find that students got the correct grade. If it is worth it, then go for the AQA re-mark (not the clerical one).

Thanks, I have sent an email over to request access to them

Yes you'll have to pay unless the school does.

A remark simply does not exist. An appeal comes after a review.

"If he did something at a grade 7 it could have been missed" suggests that examiners mark to grades. They don't.

Reviewers are not looking for "missing marks."

AQA - ensure teacher (with marking experience) checks the script before paying for a review of marking. If they believe the level awarded to the question/s to be incorrect, be prepared to escalate the ‘remark’ to the next level if the initial review of marking is rejected.
Every year we have several students whose first review of marking is stated to be accurate, but our English department KNOW it isn’t. At this stage, the script is then escalated with a detailed explanation/annotations of where we disagree with the marking. We’ve also had this back as ‘correct’ a couple of times, and had to raise the the most senior level (at a cost of £400 ish) before the child finally got awarded the correct mark.

If your daughter was predicted a 6 but for 7s, I would be very wary of asking for a mark review. She may have been the lucky few who get overly generous marking and the marks may be lowered at review.

I completely get that, obv the chances of a grade going up are better if they are only a few marks off the grade. I completely agree with the grade 8s and 9s. I just wouldn't bother unless it was stem and script clearly shows missed marks.

Interesting - we had lots of pupils go up by just 1 or 2 marks last year, but possibly a different exam board to you (for an essay based subject with, imo, highly subjective mark schemes!). I'm an examiner myself but haven't done reviewing. So for your exam board, you are using the tolerance level? Is that per ach separate question?

This interests me, as another teacher-friend who examines or reviews tells me her exam board looks at the band for each question (which is how I suspect we've had some go up by as little as 1 mark). Another one, and ex-colleague (a different exam board) is told to essentially remark each essay, but only change the mark if the entire paper is out of tolerance for the paper in total.

Frustrating, though not unexpected, that different exam boards look for different things in review!

Yeh, that's fair enough, and totally your choice. We do bother though; last year we had more than 20 grades go up in my cohort, so for us it's worth it! It's a personal choice though, as I say.

Correct. Remarks don't happen anymore. It's a review of marking instead. And then an appeal if you want to take it to next level, but this is a big process.

Entirely up to her! As long as she is aware of risk of decrease too. At my school, parents pay for reviews, but it is a private school.

I mean, I've submitted all 4 English papers! So I definitely think it's worth a try, even if the chance is low esp when like for us, it's the difference between DD going on her dream course and not.