harsh marking

do you agree with harsh marking by teachers when marking practice papers and questions?

for me, i appreciate harsh marking because it means that if i do get a harsh marker in the actual exam, it will reflect the gradr that i will actually get.
however, i also like to know when i have actually done well, rather than being **** on for good work thats not bad.

my teacher graded my sociology paper at a D but i honestly thought it was at least a C or a B. and this is not me being conceeded, as my whole class also thought they did well as we followed our teachers structure and used valid content but we all got Ds. i just feel like my work is a lot better than its been represented as, and it looks really bad on paper, when actually i worked really hard in the lead up and didnt waste any time in the exam.

our teacher showed us an example 40 mark question, where the person had written an introduction and 1 paragraph, and they got 20 or so marks. and in my exam i wrote 6 detailed paragraphs and an intro and conclusion and i also got around 20 marks so how could i possibly have also gotten half on that question when you can get 20 marks for spouting ********? (and i can confirm none of what i wrote was ******** lol)

opinions?

Reply 1

Wandering_Panda

I would say I appreciate harsh marking as along as it’s justified. For my GCSEs my English teacher marked very harshly for the duration of the 2 years and I didn’t know any better. It was only when I did my English language mock and I got a D when I was very concerned. My teacher is an examiner herself so i trusted her. After getting that mark, it made me work very had and in the end I got a 9. However, each time I received a marked piece of work, I asked her how to make it better and what unnecessary bits I could cut out in the next paper. Maybe this is what you could do?

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 2

Amynadia0033

I was consistently under graded during my AS year, believing myself to be working at low B grades in my subjects only to receive As in my AS exams and then in my actual A Levels. I feel that it stressed me out unnecessarily, my response to which wasn't to revise more but to sit watching netflix feeling hopless and anxious. It also gave me an incorrect picture of my university prospects. In the months leading up to my AS results I was researching in depth universities that would be attainable with the sort of results I had been receiving with my marks in classes, then had to re-evaluate once I saw what I actually got, which was quite stressful.

Reply 3

jmfllws0010

Original post by Amynadia0033

i do want to work harder to get better results for my mocks but i honestly feel like i really nailed the exam and my structure was perfectly set out in my head. i just felt really lost on where to go next because it all felt so perfectly arranged and explained in my head. i just dont know how to improve and my teacher is really stubborn and likes to do things her way, which isnt the same way that i think and it just confuses me...

Reply 4

CuriousCat567

I love harsh marking- I'm a particularly hard marker on myself. For instance, when self-assessing in class I always go way too low. It's a bit disappointing. For example, in my december biology mock my friend told me I got an A with 89% (81 marks) as I was ill the day they got given out. After even more picky moderation, I collected my paper from the school and discovered that it had dropped by 8 or so marks. I found this disappointing, even though it was the same grade overall. I guess we just want validation from our teachers that we're doing something right at least.

It does help me I guess, makes me want to be that much more precise. Exams have changed and so have the specs. I think it's the same for all subjects that the specs are even more precise? So, you'll appreciate the harsh marking in the end :smile:

Reply 5

JaguarLover101

I know it's a little tangent, but I've always hated when "teacher grade boundaries" are used instead of real UMS marks, a prime example of this was my biology GCSE where in every past paper the teacher wanted 80% raw marks for an A whereas the UMS boundaries would be closer to 50%, so I ended up with a lot of Bs and Cs in mocks but came out with an A* in the real thing!