[iamkeeley]

We all know that examiners are only human and are likely to make mistakes. In written essay exams such as Geography, English, Sociology etc. you are given marks based on the examiners opinion.

For example you could write an essay and get 27/33 while somebody else, who's essay wasn't 'as good', may have got 30/33. I know it's only 3 marks but those marks could be the difference between an A and a B!

Does anybody agree that this can be frustrating? An examiner could even be having a bad day after marking 50+ papers so they knock you down a few marks

[SmileAway]

I completely agree with what you are saying, since my friend had her geography remarked, and she went up by eight marks; so its obviously based on the examiner's opinions. But how would you suggest they mark essays? Because I can't really see how else they could mark something like that:/

[myyrh]

(Original post by iamkeeley)
We all know that examiners are only human and are likely to make mistakes. In written essay exams such as Geography, English, Sociology etc. you are given marks based on the examiners opinion.

For example you could write an essay and get 27/33 while somebody else, who's essay wasn't 'as good', may have got 30/33. I know it's only 3 marks but those marks could be the difference between an A and a B!

Does anybody agree that this can be frustrating? An examiner could even be having a bad day after marking 50+ papers so they knock you down a few marks

It is frustrating but there isn't much you can do apart from asking for a remark When my Geography AS result came back a B (5 UMS of an A) I remarked one of the papers and it went up by 16UMS.

[harrietx123x]

(Original post by iamkeeley)
We all know that examiners are only human and are likely to make mistakes. In written essay exams such as Geography, English, Sociology etc. you are given marks based on the examiners opinion.

For example you could write an essay and get 27/33 while somebody else, who's essay wasn't 'as good', may have got 30/33. I know it's only 3 marks but those marks could be the difference between an A and a B!

Does anybody agree that this can be frustrating? An examiner could even be having a bad day after marking 50+ papers so they knock you down a few marks

I also agree with what you're saying. This is a very frustrating issue but there is unfortunately not much we can do about it!

[NightBear]

(Original post by myyrh)
It is frustrating but there isn't much you can do apart from asking for a remark When my Geography AS result came back a B (5 UMS of an A) I remarked one of the papers and it went up by 16UMS.

That is quite a lot. 16 UMS is a ****ing double digit number, lol.
This is partly the reason why I've lost my trust in the system.

[Clare~Bear]

Nope. For this reason I think unis should be more lenient with people who only just miss their offer. Some of them are ok if you miss a grade by a couple of marks, but others are rather strict

[EatRainbows]

(Original post by iamkeeley)
We all know that examiners are only human and are likely to make mistakes. In written essay exams such as Geography, English, Sociology etc. you are given marks based on the examiners opinion.

For example you could write an essay and get 27/33 while somebody else, who's essay wasn't 'as good', may have got 30/33. I know it's only 3 marks but those marks could be the difference between an A and a B!

Does anybody agree that this can be frustrating? An examiner could even be having a bad day after marking 50+ papers so they knock you down a few marks

This is why maths is the best subject ;D

[dean01234]

(Original post by EatRainbows)
This is why maths is the best subject ;D

maths... where edexcel effectively change peoples overall marks to limit the number of people on certain grades...

Lost 8 marks and a whole grade on my c3 paper this year...

sure it is less subjective, but still unfair.

[cranie1993]

No I dont think they are ... but there is not better alternative. The only people who know your 'true' competency are your teachers, but you can't expect them to give you grades as the system wouldnt work either. Maybe if you just miss a grade and your teacher thinks you could have got it then you are able to go to speak to an external examiner and discuss the subject for a bit?
And uni's have quota's and caps on space. They make offers to near misses if and only if they are under that number

[Trailblazer]

No, because people who are good at exams are not necessarily smart, intellectual or worthy of credit. They are just good at giving examiners what they want.

[Lollyage]

I've seen papers go up from Ds to As, and it's just unacceptable. Quite frankly, as harsh as it is, I don't give a **** if an examiner has had a hard day of marking papers, a candidate puts so many weeks if not months worth of hard work into that one paper, if an examiner doesn't mark something correctly (on say, more than 2 known occasions) they should lose their job. So many people's futures are in their hands, they can't just get it wrong.

[medicinemm]

(Original post by EatRainbows)
This is why maths is the best subject ;D

I had my c2 paper remarked, and it went up a few ums from a B to an A. Admittedly that was probably only a mark or two, but it pushed my whole AS grade up to an A.

I knew someone who got a maths result with a really low grade (E or D, I can't remember), got it remarked - turns out the examiner missed a page and it was actually a B.

It makes me scared I'll miss my uni offer though, not because I haven't worked hard enough, just because it only takes one incompetent marker to screw up my chances.

[EatRainbows]

(Original post by dean01234)
maths... where edexcel effectively change peoples overall marks to limit the number of people on certain grades...

Lost 8 marks and a whole grade on my c3 paper this year...

They change the grade boundaries to reflect how hard the paper was which is the right thing to do.

[chaosdestro0]

(Original post by dean01234)
maths... where edexcel effectively change peoples overall marks to limit the number of people on certain grades...

Lost 8 marks and a whole grade on my c3 paper this year...

Seems quite bad on edexcel part, they should just set exams with the same difficulty and same grade boundaries.
What they are saying is that only 40% are worthy of an A which is rubbish if there are loads of good students.

(Original post by EatRainbows)
They change the grade boundaries to reflect how hard the paper was which is the right thing to do.

No it's not, they should have the same difficulty each year but with the same grade boundaries.

[Iron Lady]

It's all about ticking the mark scheme. Which isn't great, but hey ho.

[EatRainbows]

(Original post by medicinemm)
I had my c2 paper remarked, and it went up a few ums from a B to an A. Admittedly that was probably only a mark or two, but it pushed my whole AS grade up to an A.

I knew someone who got a maths result with a really low grade (E or D, I can't remember), got it remarked - turns out the examiner missed a page and it was actually a B.

It makes me scared I'll miss my uni offer though, not because I haven't worked hard enough, just because it only takes one incompetent marker to screw up my chances.

I write down my answers so I can mark it myself and would be able to tell if something fishy is going on. Examiners are only human and mistakes like that are rare, especially compared to the inconsistency of how they mark essay subjects.

[neon]

(Original post by Clare~Bear)
Nope. For this reason I think unis should be more lenient with people who only just miss their offer. Some of them are ok if you miss a grade by a couple of marks, but others are rather strict

They can't though. At my university, for economics for example they give more offers than they have places because they expect people to miss their offers. That year most people (well, more than they expected) made their offers. Due to this, they had to let waay too many people on the course. If they let people who just missed their offers they would have been even more over quota. And there is always clearing at other universities though.

[EatRainbows]

No it's not, they should have the same difficulty each year but with the same grade boundaries.
What they are doing is saying only 10% can get A's, which is rubbish as each year they might have students who are better.

It's hard to create maths questions that are equal in difficulty and if you were A standard you would be in the top 10%. It's better to change the boundaries.

[chaosdestro0]

(Original post by EatRainbows)
It's hard to create maths questions that are equal in difficulty and if you were A standard you would be in the top 10%. It's better to change the boundaries.

The problem is that with the January Core 3 exam is that it was so easy you couldn't distinguish between the students.
Thing is there is a difference between not understanding something and making a mistake, when the grade boundaries were that high there were A grade students who should have been B grade students and vice versa.
That's why it's so important to get your grades up in AS level, because stupid mistakes will hit hard at A2.

[A.J10]

Methods of assessment will never be fair.

Some of the rubbish that comes out of the exam boards is ridiculous though. Can anyone give me a reason why, upon having recieved a photocopy of your marked paper, you can no longer apply to have it remarked? A friend of mine had a whole double page missed by their examiner. That could easily have shifted him up by a grade, maybe 2.

There needs to be more measures in place to regulate exam boards. My ideas:

Get ofqual to check papers before they are sent out. Both for content being correct (OCR you lying bunch) and for not being misleading, vague or having to jump through stupid hoops to get marks.

Set up a system where the student can apply to have a paper remarked, except they must pay a deposit of a set amount per mark that they wish to have checked. If it turns out they didn't get that mark, they don't get back that mark's deposit, if the exam board messed up they have to pay the deposit. One way or another, the system pays for itself.