GCSE Remarks?

tiernsee

It isn't just GCSEs or A-levels. Last year I did the NEBOSH certificate in health and safety. The pass mark for the written paper was 40, one of my friends on the course got 39, paid £50 to have it remarked and ended up with 38! He was not best pleased. Years and years ago (over 30) I remember my sister's whole class had their English literature O-level papers sent back as the school did not agree with the marks the pupils got. I believe a lot of them were regraded but I think my sister stayed at a C (she never did like Shakespeare,,,,,)

silvercar

mandragora wrote: »

Some schools do this as standard, and put in every student who got a D hoping to convert one or two to a C (well-off schools, private schools and larger schools with bigger budgets, on the whole) ;

I've never heard of an across the board policy like that.

mandragora wrote:

some boards/subjects are extremely rigorous, with any candidate within three marks being remarked already by 'grade boundaries checking processes' several times before releasing the marks in the first place, and so basically, it's probably wasting your time and money getting a remark with them.

This contradicts teachers who advise a remark where students have scored near an upper boundary.

My son was 1% away in Maths and the remark gave him his deserved *. It was a gamble as it cost me £40, now refunded.

Some schools ask for parents to pay for the remark, and then reimburse if a higher grade is actually awarded, which can dissuade families from less well-off backgrounds and militate in favour of those from better-off families.

I think most schools do this in most cases and that is what makes it unfair. (Well that and the fact that so many mistakes are made in the first place.)

Gingham_Ribbon

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

OCR is one of the boards where teaching experience isn't required. From the FAQs on their website,


"A teaching and/or training qualification or equivalent is desirable but not essential to become an Examiner or Moderator."

Goes off to get the phone number...

melancholly

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

OCR is one of the boards where teaching experience isn't required. From the FAQs on their website,


"A teaching and/or training qualification or equivalent is desirable but not essential to become an Examiner or Moderator."

given that private schools don't necessarily require a teaching qualification for teachers anyway, i'd be surprised if all the marking boards did! but they do need skills, other qualifications and experience!

given the lack of negative marking, i'd be surprised if there can be that many massive marking errors - a few points here and there maybe if you're on a grade boundary. it's certainly easier to standardise than degree level marking where negative marking is used and things are therefore inherently more subjective.

CupOfChai

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

I'm not saying mistakes are never made, just that the process is pretty rigorous. You could make it more rigorous, but then the entry fee for each exam would go up.

I just wanted to add to this point. If it was even more rigorous, it would also take much longer to get the results back and I have seen lots of people complaining it takes too long currently, that their children and they have to wait and worry how they did for too long (by the way, you don't have to worry at all as there's nothing you can do at that point, but that's another discussion).

Yes, the papers are marked quickly and markers are paid by how much they do, but it's still very rigorously checked for accuracy, it has to be done quickly in order to get the results out by the deadlines which plenty of people still think aren't soon enough!

anguk

I've never heard of remarking! My DD has just received her yr11 GCSE results and there's no mention anywhere of remarking or costs, and how do you know how near/far they are from a higher/lower grade? My DD just got a list with her subjects and the grades, I think she said something about getting a report in October with the actual marks?

pollypenny

OCR! :mad:

I'd need a book to vent my thoughts on the carp, sloppy board!

silvercar

anguk wrote: »

I've never heard of remarking! My DD has just received her yr11 GCSE results and there's no mention anywhere of remarking or costs, and how do you know how near/far they are from a higher/lower grade? My DD just got a list with her subjects and the grades, I think she said something about getting a report in October with the actual marks?

You can ask the school, who will know your daughters exact mark in each paper.

At my son's school about half the children are having at least one paper remarked. At my eldest's school the figure was about a quarter.

Different types of school, different areas, but in both cases the schools were geared up for this remarking process.

gratefulforhelp_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

OCR is one of the boards where teaching experience isn't required. From the FAQs on their website,


"A teaching and/or training qualification or equivalent is desirable but not essential to become an Examiner or Moderator."

We do one of their GCSEs and it is absolutely fine, no problems.

We don't get remarks done as a school because of lack of faith in the exam board, but because there is a chance (1 in 10 roughly) that the mark will go up. This chance isn't different for different exam boards.

I would also suggest that it is unlikely that a non-teacher would be responsible for whole papers. With e-marking the exam board can give different questions to different markers for the same paper.

pinkshoes

My mum used to mark GCSE English exam papers, and every year, incredibly close to the exam results day, she used to get phoned up to see if she could mark some more! I hate to think who they got to do them...

But for A Levels, my brother got a surprising C in one subject (instead of an expected A), and missed his place at university which required 3 As.

He was utterly devastated (as his reserve choice only required 2 Es and he didn't want to go there, and didn't think he'd need to!) and I've never seen him in tears before.

Thankfully the (very persuasive) head teacher phoned the university, and told them what a mistake they'd be making if they didn't take him, and the grade C was not at all anticipated. Thankfully they listened, and re-offered him a place. He'd been automatically accepted at his reserve choice, so getting out of that was a nightmare.

The school sent his exam paper off to be checked, and sure enough, it came back with an A grade, and put down to a clerical error of someone not being able to add the marks up properly!

THIS is why they allow paper re-marks, as the quality of the marking is not always reliable, and on top of that, clerical errors can be made!

To top it off, the exam board then had the nerve to cash the cheque, which took weeks to get back!!