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AQA GCSE English Literature Result below expected - Character and Voice

Hello,
I'm a new Year 11 and just got my results from my exams in year 10 today, my first day back. I got all A* apart from English Lit where I got a C.
The school sent everyone home with a letter saying that they feel that the results from the "Character and Voice" and "Relationships" were under marked and are appealing. It is the poetry section of our GCSE and it was Unit 2H.
Has anyone else experienced this? As my mum is very disappointed with my C.
Thanks

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Reply 1
Firstly congratulations on your fantastic results- and as to your mum- why is she not proud of the results you have? Why is she disappointed with a good GCSE pass? I only got a C at GCSE Lit- am now an English teacher, hold a degree in literature and mark the AQA GCSE in English literature! If you plan to go onto further and higher education- and it sounds like you are- then a C is really all you'll ever need.

I don't mark the new spec (which came out thsi year) but I can say that this year's examination was very hard- I marked 494 exams and gave only one A*, and only a handful of As. That said, if the school wants them remarked then it's up to them and good luck- but remember grades can go down as well as up!

My advice is to put it to the back of your mind and concentrate on this year. You have a very important year ahead and it's vital to focus on examinations you still have to take, not those where you've done all you can and you can't change.

BTW well done on your excellent results.
Reply 2
Original post by teacherfaye

Original post by teacherfaye
Firstly congratulations on your fantastic results- and as to your mum- why is she not proud of the results you have? Why is she disappointed with a good GCSE pass? I only got a C at GCSE Lit- am now an English teacher, hold a degree in literature and mark the AQA GCSE in English literature! If you plan to go onto further and higher education- and it sounds like you are- then a C is really all you'll ever need.

I don't mark the new spec (which came out thsi year) but I can say that this year's examination was very hard- I marked 494 exams and gave only one A*, and only a handful of As. That said, if the school wants them remarked then it's up to them and good luck- but remember grades can go down as well as up!

My advice is to put it to the back of your mind and concentrate on this year. You have a very important year ahead and it's vital to focus on examinations you still have to take, not those where you've done all you can and you can't change.

BTW well done on your excellent results.


Sorry to just randomly ask here but I just read your response and wondered if I could ask you something! I am about to start year 12 and got an A in AQA English Literature GCSE and a B in AQA English Language GCSE. I was just wondering if you knew how we can find out how many marks off the next grade we were because on our results sheet it says our mark for all the subjects except Maths and English. Will I get my mark on my GCSE certificate? I'm guessing I will receive this when I start Sixth Form next week? I was slightly disappointed with a B in Language because I got an A in all the practises which was my target. I know it's still a good grade but I wanted to find out if I was only a few marks of an A because it may be worth me getting it remarked.

Thank you so much if you can help me!

Also, congratulations to the person that created this thread for excellent results! You should be really proud!
Reply 3
Original post by Mini-Me
Hello,
I'm a new Year 11 and just got my results from my exams in year 10 today, my first day back. I got all A* apart from English Lit where I got a C.
The school sent everyone home with a letter saying that they feel that the results from the "Character and Voice" and "Relationships" were under marked and are appealing. It is the poetry section of our GCSE and it was Unit 2H.
Has anyone else experienced this? As my mum is very disappointed with my C.
Thanks


Hi, the same thing has happened to my school. We did the relationship cluster and only one person in the whole year got an A. something has gone wrong in their marking.
i just got a B and was supposed to get an A*
Reply 4
Hello, I have experienced the same problems as you guys. My target is an A and most of my class also has a target of A or
A*, but everyone got C's and D's except one person who got an A. I'm not sure whether its worth sending my paper back for a remark, as this is obviously an error as so many people are getting below their target grade... My teacher said we should just retake the paper but i really think the grades awarded have been a bit unfair. :/
Reply 5
Original post by xjayx50
Hello, I have experienced the same problems as you guys. My target is an A and most of my class also has a target of A or
A*, but everyone got C's and D's except one person who got an A. I'm not sure whether its worth sending my paper back for a remark, as this is obviously an error as so many people are getting below their target grade... My teacher said we should just retake the paper but i really think the grades awarded have been a bit unfair. :/


The head of english seems to think its not a mistake and thinks people should retake. he said that centres across the country got similar results. i told him that maybe its because they were all marked incorrectly but he told me its very unlikely and its unlikely that our marks will change. i worked so hard for that exam and i know that i deserved a much higher mark. the english department are having a meeting on monday about it, so i will ask again on tuesday. if the school aren't doing anything i'm going to pay to have it remarked, because i doubt they will make the same mistake marking it. even still thats a possibility. if the remark doesn't make a difference than i will just have to retaked. personally i am appalled at the thought of this because i worked extremely hard and deserve a much higher grade. it seems so unfair.
what are you going to do?
Reply 6
Hey,
My school are appealing as only one person out of 180 got an A with about 60 predicted A*. They have sent off papers who achieved miles below their target grade to be remarked. If these are changed they are complaining and getting the rest remarked.
If there hasn't been a mistake I think about half my year will be retaking the paper. The thing is, either the markers have made a mistake or teachers haven't taught us right. I will definitely be retaking if the grade isn't changed as I'm predicted an A/A*. At least our new teacher has said that if we are doing retakes she will be doing lots of after-school sessions to boost our grade.
Reply 7
Original post by Mini-Me
Hey,
My school are appealing as only one person out of 180 got an A with about 60 predicted A*. They have sent off papers who achieved miles below their target grade to be remarked. If these are changed they are complaining and getting the rest remarked.
If there hasn't been a mistake I think about half my year will be retaking the paper. The thing is, either the markers have made a mistake or teachers haven't taught us right. I will definitely be retaking if the grade isn't changed as I'm predicted an A/A*. At least our new teacher has said that if we are doing retakes she will be doing lots of after-school sessions to boost our grade.


you are so lucky your school has the sense to realise. our grades are so messed up because students who were predicted c's got the highest in the class. if the school doesnt send them i am going to have mine personally sent. i hope aqa sees this and sorts it out
Reply 8
Anyone else think there's a pattern with only one person getting an A from each school?
Reply 9
Well, I recently sent my English literature GCSE paper to get remarked.

I'd achieved an A* in the coursework but on results day it was graded, overall, at a very low B - meaning I supposedly got a high C in the written exam.

None of the teachers believed it would go up after remark but I still insisted.

I got it back yesterday and it has risen to a high A - it was undermarked by about 20 raw marks (a large proportion of the marks).

The moral of the story: examiners do make mistakes and if you genuinely feel like a result is a mistake, get a remark and it's possible a mistake has been made.
Reply 10
Original post by oli_G
Well, I recently sent my English literature GCSE paper to get remarked.

I'd achieved an A* in the coursework but on results day it was graded, overall, at a very low B - meaning I supposedly got a high C in the written exam.

None of the teachers believed it would go up after remark but I still insisted.

I got it back yesterday and it has risen to a high A - it was undermarked by about 20 raw marks (a large proportion of the marks).

The moral of the story: examiners do make mistakes and if you genuinely feel like a result is a mistake, get a remark and it's possible a mistake has been made.


wow thats so good that it got sorted out for you. this has given me hope now, im definitely having it remarked no matter what i dont care about the money
Reply 11
Original post by Mini-Me
Anyone else think there's a pattern with only one person getting an A from each school?


yeah definitely, there is definitely some sort of error in their computerised marking. the remarks should sort out the problems for me anyway, seeing as my school doesn't have the sense to send EVERYONE'S papers back
Reply 12
Mini - Me please tell us what ends up happening with your remarks and i will do the same
Reply 13

Original post by EL77
wow thats so good that it got sorted out for you. this has given me hope now, im definitely having it remarked no matter what i dont care about the money


If it goes up, you get the money back.

I literally went into school, gave in the cheque for the remark. 15 minutes later he brought back the remark-report, showing the new grade and mark and got the cheque back.

It was lovely and simple :smile:
Reply 14
Original post by oli_G
If it goes up, you get the money back.

I literally went into school, gave in the cheque for the remark. 15 minutes later he brought back the remark-report, showing the new grade and mark and got the cheque back.

It was lovely and simple :smile:


so they remarked it in only 15 minutes?
and yeah it would be nice to get the money back, but im far more interested in the grade:smile:
Reply 15

Original post by EL77
so they remarked it in only 15 minutes?
and yeah it would be nice to get the money back, but im far more interested in the grade:smile:


Hmm, I think it was a clerical error or something - shows it does happen.
Reply 16
Original post by oli_G
Hmm, I think it was a clerical error or something - shows it does happen.


yeah it definitely does with aqa. im pretty sure that there was a mistake with their marking system or they were marked ridiculously harshly for only one person in each school to get an A.
either way im getting it remarked so i can have piece of mind, and get jutsice!
Reply 17

Original post by EL77
yeah it definitely does with aqa. im pretty sure that there was a mistake with their marking system or they were marked ridiculously harshly for only one person in each school to get an A.
either way im getting it remarked so i can have piece of mind, and get jutsice!


Exactly right. Otherwise you just end up thinking 'what if', and you feel an injustice :smile:
Reply 18
Original post by oli_G
Exactly right. Otherwise you just end up thinking 'what if', and you feel an injustice :smile:


thank, and btw do you know when the deadline is for remarks by any chance? :smile:
Reply 19

Original post by EL77
thank, and btw do you know when the deadline is for remarks by any chance? :smile:


I think it's like the 20th or something. But get it done ASAP.

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