GCSE music marking

[Musingaboutmusic]

DS did his GCSEs this summer and is mostly happy with his grades but requested the papers for the couple of subjects where he was 1/2 off the next grade up.

One of these was music. He did Edexcel and before going into the listening exam knew he had full marks for performance and had only dropped a couple for composition. Having had the paper looked at with the mark scheme, it seems as though one question he got 0 for should have been awarded a mark as he wrote exactly what is in the mark scheme. There are another couple of questions where his response means the same thing as the mark scheme says e.g. one of the answers is 'unclear key' and he's written 'unrelated chords'

I suppose my question is really whether or not markers are allowed to accept responses equivalent in meaning. The essay question may well have marks to be gained as it seems to have been marked quite cautiously. Also, does anyone know where I can find the data on music mark reviews? DS's school need us to decide if we want it to be reviewed officially and I'm not sure what to do. On the one hand, DS has a perfectly decent grade but on the other, he's definitely been shortchanged on at least one mark and maybe upto about five. DS needs two marks for the grade to move and is keen for it to be reviewed as it would bring up his average point score if it goes up. I'm not sure it's worth it unless we know examiners are allowed to credit equivalent answers.

Anyone? Please!

DD did Edexcel music.

Have you had the paper looked at by his teacher?

If he's two away from the grade boundary then I would ask for it to be reviewed for definite. Plus it's only the one paper you need to send off.

We found that answers can be weird for music though. DD scored zero on her essay in mocks as, whilst everything she wrote was relevant and correct, she didn't talk about what the mark scheme wanted.

For the actual exam she stuck rigidly to what the examiners wanted and came out with an 8.

The data I have seen suggests music is one where marks can change quite a bit at review - especially at A level. Dig down into the data sheets here:

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reviews-of-marking-and-moderation-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2024-exam-series/reviews-of-marking-and-moderation-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2024-exam-series

"Unclear Key" is a description of the tonality of a piece.

"Unrelated chords" means dissonant or in a completely different key.

They are different. I would not give credit to "unrelated chords" because the meaning is different. By all means ask for a re-mark, but ask his teacher to look first. I had a student last year who was one mark off a 9. He asked me to look at his appraising paper to see if there was anything he could question. In my opinion, it was fairly marked, and although frustrating for him, I could not see the point in appealing. I was more fed up that he got some obvious questions wrong, and once I pointed out that the curved line was a tie rather than a slur (he was well aware of both), he accepted the situation and the mark stood.

Thank you both!

@OhCrumbsWhereNow thanks for the link to those data sheets, it's really interesting to see the differences between the subjects. DS's essay mark is solid and whilst a more generous marker may have given it another mark or two, he feels it's fair.

@Malbecfan it's really helpful to read your explanation of the two terms, thank you. DS actually wrote more than just 'unrelated chords', explaining the effect on tonality but perhaps it wasn't clear/specific enough.

Since I posted, his teacher has been in touch offering to have a look at his paper. If his teacher says the only mark to be gained is the one that is a definite error, we'll leave it. Had DS not spotted that mistake, I doubt he'd have queried anything.

Teacher has been back in touch to say there are definitely a couple of errors as well as some more subjective marking that is likely to be considered reasonable even though it's at the harsher end. Music teacher isn't examining this year but has in the recent past so DS was pleased with the feedback. He's opted to put the paper in for review in the hope the marking errors will be corrected and his grade increase (he is doing music as one of his subjects).

It's taken forever to get to this stage but the marking was reviewed and came back with one additional mark (DS needed two for the grade to change). DS asked to see the information about which question the mark had been gained on and about a month later has been told that information isn't provided. I thought from reading on here that if there were any changes in the marking, the question number and the reason for the change would be provided, even if there was no overall grade change.

I know it's only a single mark but DS would really like confirmation that the definite marking error has been rectified. Without knowing the question number of the changed mark, that's not possible. The exam board is Edexcel. Does anyone know if it's true that the information isn't provided? On the exam board website is says that from autumn 2020, it will be possible to see the reasons behind any mark changes so I'm really confused!

Go back to your exams officer and ask them. They have more information than subject teachers, so may well be able to check. If you know the question number, that would help them.

Sorry, I have only taught Edexcel once and didn't like the format of their Appraising paper, so I have no idea how they work. However, they like to boast that they are the "most popular" choice for GCSE Music...!

It was the exams officer who emailed DS to say they aren't provided with the extra info.

I'm pretty sure I can see the marks each student gained by question number, if not part question. I'm not on my work laptop and am about to go and tackle the garden but if your exams officer cannot (and they should be able to), your HoD should.

Final update: DS asked the exams officer again, mentioning that the edexcel website says reasons will be given if marks change. The reason has now been provided and he can see the definite marking error was the one that gained an additional mark. None of the other questions where there may have been marks to be gained were given any so his grade hasn't gone up. DS is pleased to have the clarity and says it's useful to see that even though his description of some features was textbook, not using the correct musical terminology (because he couldn't recall it in the moment and didn't have enough time to revisit those questions) meant he couldn't be awarded the mark.