Article: Changes to remarks: A guide for students

Remarkers tend to be Senior markers so I'd argue their mark is more likely to be correct than the original marker, who may have little experience.

There are lots of stories on TSR about students, who have performed consistently well at their essays all year and then they get a ridiculously low grade in the exam and then when they remark they get the grade they deserve.A marker needs a lot of experience to mark essays well generally, I remember giving very low marks to essays that I was told to give a mark to in my English class(to give us experience of the mark scheme I think) but as far as I was concerned I was sticking to the mark scheme so in this new system students wouldn't get a fair remark as essay mark schemes aren't that clear(they don't really tell you the quality expected at this level).

I am interested in the research they did showing that examiners are being too lenient in marking remarks as I don't think thats generally the case as most remarks don't even change the result and sometimes the marks decrease.I agree that examiners shouldn't see the original mark as this could lead to bias, since it is the remarkers who will decide the final mark it makes sense to remove the original mark entirely.

The reason Ofqual are doing this is because they are not happy that some students are seeing increases in their marks(often large increases by multiple grades) and the reason for this is not leniency but because of why the students complained initially because the student had performed very well all year around and their result was grades below their in class performance and the remark often gives them the correct mark and proves that these students were right to remark.

What do you think about these changes? Have you ever had an exam paper re-marked? Tell us your thoughts and experiences below!