Advice on AS Remarks

TheCenturion · 19 Aug 2011 at 15:50

Hello all,

I got 238/300 in Physics. 2 UMS points off an A grade. Looking at my results, I got:

70/90 in paper 1
120/150 in paper 2
48/60 in coursework

Now, my coursework mark is very confusing, because my teachers told me that I got 10/10 in one coursework, and 18/20 on the other :confused:

I've spoken to the exams officer at my school, apparently science remarks tend not to change much, and that I could go down as well as up. I would hate to be in a position where I remark both papers and go up 2 marks in one paper, and down 1 in another.

So should I pay for a remark? If your mark goes up, you get your money back.

The exams officer also suggested that I firstly get copies of both scripts to see where I went wrong. These cost £12 each, so it would be £24 for both papers.

Should I do that first or go straight for the remark?

I'm also going to ask her about coursework because I'm convinced that should be a lot higher, but knowing my physics department, they probably cocked up and so there's nothing I can do

Thanks

Vonhelmet · 19 Aug 2011 at 15:53

For the sake of 2 marks, it's probably worth a punt.

weringo · 19 Aug 2011 at 15:58

I'd do it, I was a few marks off an A in Business and the college had one exam remarked automatically because it was well off my others (think it was a D while all my other marks were A or B). After the remark I got 480/600

Reaper 392 · 19 Aug 2011 at 15:59

if you think there is a good chance you will gain a lot of points then go for it. however, if you are continuing physics into A2 and arent that convinced you will get many more marks then dont bother, because when you do A2 they combine your AS and A2 marks to get the final mark. so, if your two marks below an A now, you need to get two marks above an A in A2 to get an A overall.

TheCenturion · 19 Aug 2011 at 16:05

I am dropping it not continuing it to A2. I must admit that partially it is to appease my parents who are on my back about me being lazy and what not. So I need 2 extra marks to prove to them I'm not lazy :rolleyes:

Six7th · 19 Aug 2011 at 16:23

Get it remarked, you've got nothing to lose! Apart from the money of course..

semi-pro waster · 19 Aug 2011 at 16:28

You're two marks off the grade boundary to go up but (presumably) a number of marks away from the grade boundary to go down a grade, if that's the case then it seems unlikely you'd drop enough points on a remark to go down a grade so it's probably worth a punt - missing an A by 2 points is the same as missing it by 12 points when it comes to putting down the grades on a CV or similar.

I'm rather confused by your coursework mark as well, by my reckoning that makes 28/30 for the two courseworks - I'm not great at maths but I can't total those two numbers and get to 48. Are you sure there isn't another coursework or two in there?

RomanNose · 19 Aug 2011 at 16:32

I think I got 27/30 and got 54. Something is a bit off there, I am getting a remark for the second exam as I really did not expect to get as low as I did.
I am on the edexcel exam board, dropping 2 marks an dropping 12 ums does not sound right.

TheCenturion · 19 Aug 2011 at 16:37

semi-pro waster said:
I'm rather confused by your coursework mark as well, by my reckoning that makes 28/30 for the two courseworks - I'm not great at maths but I can't total those two numbers and get to 48. Are you sure there isn't another coursework or two in there?

It gets doubled up, so I should have got 56/60 for the coursework. 8 marks have gone missing in there alone somewhere. I got the highest coursework in my class , and it seems everyone else got lower than they thought in coursework too. Lot of people who thought they got good A grades in coursework actually got around 45/60.

It could be the case that the physics department is at fault, in which case there's nothing I can do on this front, and I can just pray that there's marks available when they remark it

Helios1234 · 19 Aug 2011 at 16:38

TheCenturion said:
I am dropping it not continuing it to A2. I must admit that partially it is to appease my parents who are on my back about me being lazy and what not. So I need 2 extra marks to prove to them I'm not lazy

So you are dropping it to prove you're not lazy?

Just keep at it and 2 marks is easy enough to get back in your A2s.

TheCenturion · 19 Aug 2011 at 16:41

Helios1234 said:
So you are dropping it to prove you're not lazy?

Just keep at it and 2 marks is easy enough to get back in your A2s.

No, I'm dropping it because I'm doing other subjects for A2

SpaghettiOs · 19 Aug 2011 at 16:50

Your physics coursework may well have been moderated and dropped marks. This seems likely if everyone in your class got lower than expected. You should definitely speak to the department and ask what marks got sent to the exam board, as the board themselves will only generally look at the highest, lowest, and any examples of coursework that have marks near to grade boundaries. If your department on average marked too high then you will all lose marks.

As for the remark, aside from the monetary cost there is no reason not too. It would be almost impossible for you to drop a grade. However, the nature of a science paper means that the marks are unlikely to change much. Answers in physics papers tend to be very black and white; you're either right of you aren't. That said, 1 mark in the paper could be any number of UMS marks depending on the standards that year.

As for getting the exam script back, I'm not sure that would really be worth it. Whether you disagree or not, you can't directly influence the remark by saying what questions you thought you got right. If you're not intending to retake, then you're not going to learn anything from it anyway. It would just be more money to spend.

King Damager · 19 Aug 2011 at 17:04

If you're going to drop it get it remarked:

It's hardly going to go down (some papers do but you wouldn't go down a grade and if it does go down you get your money back as well

)

Saying that, Science is one of the harder ones, but as others have said it's worth a punt... don't hold out though I got 319/400 on my History A Level last year, (one mark off an A) I got my main exam remarked, and it stayed the same -.-

kd

TheCenturion · 19 Aug 2011 at 17:13

gamer_boy said:
Your physics coursework may well have been moderated and dropped marks. This seems likely if everyone in your class got lower than expected. You should definitely speak to the department and ask what marks got sent to the exam board, as the board themselves will only generally look at the highest, lowest, and any examples of coursework that have marks near to grade boundaries. If your department on average marked too high then you will all lose marks.

That may well definitely be the case. I have just realised that my chemistry coursework was 41/60 (same exam board as physics, OCR) but I was told I got 48/60 :confused:

Still got an A in chemistry

King Damager said:
If you're going to drop it get it remarked:

It's hardly going to go down (some papers do but you wouldn't go down a grade and if it does go down you get your money back as well )

Saying that, Science is one of the harder ones, but as others have said it's worth a punt... don't hold out though I got 319/400 on my History A Level last year, (one mark off an A) I got my main exam remarked, and it stayed the same -.-

kd

Sorry to hear that bro

TheCenturion · 19 Aug 2011 at 20:19

Turns out loads of people's coursework is lower than expected.

That could be due to moderation, but how can I be moderated by 8 UMS, that seems a huge amount.

SpaghettiOs · 19 Aug 2011 at 20:24

Remember that 8 UMS marks is probably only 4 actual marks or less. You could easily have lost 4 marks on your coursework and still achieved the same grades for each. 8/10 and 16/20 are still both As but would give you 48/60, assuming it is as simple as doubling your mark, which it was when I did it last year. It can be very easy to drop marks at the top end in coursework, especially if your department has been moderated down.

TheCenturion · 19 Aug 2011 at 20:37

gamer_boy said:
Remember that 8 UMS marks is probably only 4 actual marks or less. You could easily have lost 4 marks on your coursework and still achieved the same grades for each. 8/10 and 16/20 are still both As but would give you 48/60, assuming it is as simple as doubling your mark, which it was when I did it last year. It can be very easy to drop marks at the top end in coursework, especially if your department has been moderated down.

I got 28/30 in my coursework though, and yet this turns into 48/60 :confused:

SpaghettiOs · 19 Aug 2011 at 20:40

When I said lost 4 marks, I meant, you may have lost 4 further marks in moderation. The difference between 8/10 and 10/10 is fairly subjective after all, as is the difference between 18/20 and 16/20. I was making the suggestion that, had your pieces of coursework both lost 2 marks in moderation, which is perfectly plausible, then that would produce the UMS mark you received.

TheCenturion · 19 Aug 2011 at 20:46

gamer_boy said:
When I said lost 4 marks, I meant, you may have lost 4 further marks in moderation. The difference between 8/10 and 10/10 is fairly subjective after all, as is the difference between 18/20 and 16/20. I was making the suggestion that, had your pieces of coursework both lost 2 marks in moderation, which is perfectly plausible, then that would produce the UMS mark you received.

Ah yeah, I can see what you mean. Yet I got the highest in the class, so then I might have been the only one to get an A in the coursework? :eek:

Reaper 392 · 19 Aug 2011 at 20:55

TheCenturion said:
I am dropping it not continuing it to A2. I must admit that partially it is to appease my parents who are on my back about me being lazy and what not. So I need 2 extra marks to prove to them I'm not lazy

in that case go for the remark, as everyone has said you've got nothing to lose as you would have to have had the most generous marker in the universe for the first time marking to make the remark lose you a grade