This has to be a mistake....

If there was one subject I was almost 100% I would get an A* for, it would be history. Its my favourite subject and also the first A-Level I'd chosen, along with English Literature (which I got A* in all three units), as well as Government & Politics and Psychology. I'd got 48/50 for my Year 10 controlled assessment which I was proud of, and I got 81/90 in the Aspects of International Relations paper, an A*.
Then I noticed my overall mark was a B, and saw apparently my mark for the British Depth Study paper was 22/60, an F. I didn't believe it then, and I still don't believe it now, nor do my parents or the teachers I spoke too. I know I did well in that paper, in fact I'd say. I felt I did better in that in than the first, so I simply do not believe I got an F, its impossible. I've never had a mark below a B for any history paper and my target grade was A*.
My dad spoke to various staff members about it being remarked etc. and an investigation into it. It doesn't affect my A Level choices or college entry but I'm really not happy about it and I don't understand how this happened. There is absolutely no way I could have got that mark for that paper.
Interestingly, the same thing happened to two other students (a boy and girl, one with A*/A in the other two papers, one with A/B) according to my dad who spoke to the head of the year group, and they received Fs in that paper.
I used a computer in my history and English exams due to a condition affecting my handwriting, and I made sure they printed out correctly and were in the paper to be handed in correctly. All I can think of was that there was some mix-up in the marking process. Could it be possible for a page to have been misplaced, or not marked or something like that? I don't know if the other two students affected also used computers for this exam. (I don't think this problem was caused by me incorrectly formatting the page layout, as I did it exactly the same as the other papers).
What could I do about this other than hope the remarking finds the mistake? Any ideas as to what happened?

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Reply 1

TolerantBeing

Highly likely it's a mistake, unfortunately it does happen.

Reply 2

A sheesh

Looks like something dodgy, they may have mixed your results with someone e
se, definitely get it checked

Reply 3

Amii567

Wow that's weird, wish you all the best for that A*

Reply 4

Unknown_user

Get a re mark. something similar happened to me but in a levels after the remarks I got double the marks somehow

Reply 5

Paprika123

I'm in a bit of a different situation, given that this happened on my degree.

I got a very low mark for one of my modules and had high marks for everything else. I knew this had to be a mistake. I got my tutor to look in to it and they hadn't marked a sheet of paper that belonged to my exam.

Given you got A* it is highly likely this a mistake. Unfortunately they do happen but should be sorted in due time :-)

Reply 6

RedStar98

OCR have a history of this I see.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26385194

Reply 7

username1046019

I've had an instance in one of my humanities papers (geography) where they did a clerical check and found that 10 raw marks had somehow been missed out of my grade and so resulted in me getting a D. If you feel you did well on the paper then I would suggest getting a remark. Considering you got A* in the other modules this is similar to my situation (I had a D in this particular paper however A and A* in the other two) so this does look like a mistake. It could be as simple as them not adding up the marks correctly or missing out pages.

Good luck if you decide to go with a remark.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8

Dh28

Hi,
does anyone know how many marks you need to get an A on the Ocr modern world History B Aspects the USA 1919-1941? what is the highest UMS points you can get on that paper.
Thanks

Reply 9

Lainathiel

Hey, I hope your situation gets solved too!

I'm posting because you made me think about my own results: did anyone else take AQA English Literature and find that their poetry exam result was lower than expected as well? I got full marks in my controlled assessment and a high A* in the unit 1 (prose) exam, but a low B in the poetry?! I still got an A* overall so I don't want to send it off for a remark just in case it goes down to an A, but I'm a little annoyed on principal! I wasn't previously aware that such huge mistakes can happen, but it seems that it's happened to quite a few people, especially with the OP! I checked with one of my friends and her poetry mark was down as well, so it wasn't just me! D:

Reply 10

Compost

Original post by Dh28

Hi,
does anyone know how many marks you need to get an A on the Ocr modern world History B Aspects the USA 1919-1941? what is the highest UMS points you can get on that paper.
Thanks

It's out of 90, so you need at least 72 for an A (but the grades on units really don't matter, it's the overall grade you need to worry about.)

Reply 11

Compost

Original post by RedStar98

(I don't think this problem was caused by me incorrectly formatting the page layout, as I did it exactly the same as the other papers).
What could I do about this other than hope the remarking finds the mistake? Any ideas as to what happened?

It is a startling difference which I seems likely to be an error.

One thing though, how could you have any influence over the page layout? Surely you just typed?

Reply 12

inachigeek21

They messed up. Remark your paper for another check up.

Reply 13

Dh28

can controlled assessments be remarked.

Reply 14

Compost

Original post by Dh28

can controlled assessments be remarked.

Generally not - the only option is for the school to pay to have the whole school's entries re-moderated. The exceptions are the ones that are marked by the exam board and not by the centre (e.g. AQA GCSE French, German & Spanish writing).

Reply 15

Ramighanem99

1000000% get it remarked. It's obviously a mistake.

Reply 16

Changing Skies

Eh, the same thing happened to me at A level :frown:

my module grades are aaad. Did not expect that d.

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Reply 17

CarysMoo

This happened to me at GCSE - same exam board, SAME PAPER. I got a D. We got the paper back and it was an A. However, I retook the exam (was a January module) and achieved an A*. So I would definitely, definitely get that checked out!

Reply 18

RedStar98

Original post by AlphaNick

Guys, you do realise what this exam paper is? You're all like "oh it's definitely a mistake", I'm not gonna lie, this is one of the most difficult GCSE papers you will ever sit. You have a selection of sources and have to answer many questions based on own knowledge and stuff. If you get the terminology for one part of your answer wrong, you lose marks.

There's a bit of a difference between A* and an F.
I got an A* in the mock for this so clearly I know how to answer the source questions. I answered the paper in full, I knew the topic well and I know exactly how to do this exam- I found it less difficult than the other paper. That F is a mistake.

Reply 19

RedStar98

Original post by AlphaNick

Our school department told us that it is extremely common for people to get A*s on paper 1 and then Ds on paper 2. I've talked with other people about their results from my school and if they were let down on history it was on paper 2. That is a difficult exam and terminology is key.

There's still a huge difference between an A* and an F, that isn't exactly a couple of marks difference. Especially as I got a high A* in the mock of that paper