Edexcel Mark Schemes

Hey...i've heard many reports about edexcel mark schemes being unreliable, rubbish, unfair..the lot!

I was just wondering if this is true...and if people have had any "first hand experience" with it? Why do you reckon, if it is true, that they are so crap?!

I do AS English Lit with Edexcel, and my Jan Module result wasn't a problem for me..was it for other people?

It will be interesting to hear your opinions on this, tsr! :smile:

Reply 1

m90

11

Hmm I have nothing to tell me that this year, because I did no January modules, but my GCSE mark schemes were fine, and results were fine if that's any help lol.

Reply 2

r3m0t

1

Smiler_uk

Hey...i've heard many reports about edexcel mark schemes being unreliable, rubbish, unfair..the lot!

I was just wondering if this is true...and if people have had any "first hand experience" with it? Why do you reckon, if it is true, that they are so crap?!

I do AS English Lit with Edexcel, and my Jan Module result wasn't a problem for me..was it for other people?

It will be interesting to hear your opinions on this, tsr! :smile:

Completely depends on the subject... e.g. Sociology mark schemes and most essay subjects aren't useful because they're meant to be read by teachers who have taught the book/topic for years and have also been to courses about marking papers... so they say vague things like "a clear understanding of bla bla" and they expect the marker to know what level is being referred to.

I've used the science mark schemes and they're pretty clear on where the marks go.

Some copies of the science mark schemes don't include the first page which explains terminology like "ecf", "M1 A0 A0" etc. If you look long enough you'll find it, and it applies to all the mark schemes.

PS Please don't post in pink, you don't know what my screen is like and how easy/difficult it will be to read.

Reply 3

kallism

Are there any reports available to us?? Is there any way to access them???

Reply 4

schrodinger's cat

13

The maths ones are great - i've lived off them for the past year. Plus one of my maths teachers is a marker and claims they're fine and with no ambiguity.

I can imagine Edexcel being bad for other subjects though. Not my favourite board, but good for maths IMO.

Reply 5

r3m0t

1

schrodinger's cat

The maths ones are great - i've lived off them for the past year. Plus one of my maths teachers is a marker and claims they're fine and with no ambiguity.

I can imagine Edexcel being bad for other subjects though. Not my favourite board, but good for maths IMO.

Well, they're good, but I hardly think they make a good meal...

Reply 6

Excalibur

15

At GCSE, I was on Edexcel for English, English Lit, ICT, RS, German, Spanish and Japanese, but had no problems whatsoever. (actually, I had the vague impression that they were rather lenient in their marking, but whatever) At AS, I'm on Edexcel for Biology and Chemistry (plus Japanese), so if there are any problems, at least I'm not on it for subjective essay subjects...

By the way Smiler_uk, you do know that Oxford doesn't offer Pharmacology on its own? :s-smilie:

(in reference to your sig)

Reply 7

brown

4

Edexcel = EdexHELL.

Reply 8

RocketTown

i've been told its not so much the mark schemes but the way they mark their scripts. though it might just be the dodgy as hell edexcel 'salters horners' physics.

aparently they scan the paper. cut up all the questions, and cut up all the individual parts of each question (if applicable). then send them off to different places... including call centre's in places like indonesia!!? where the people marking them just compare them with the mark scheme. so if you put something thats 100% correct, but its not a physics teacher marking it, they'd just mark it wrong.

this is just what i've heard, and pray to god its wrong. it didn't seem to effect my jan module, but i'm really nervous about thursday cos of this.

Reply 9

r3m0t

1

RocketTown

i've been told its not so much the mark schemes but the way they mark their scripts. though it might just be the dodgy as hell edexcel 'salters horners' physics.

aparently they scan the paper. cut up all the questions, and cut up all the individual parts of each question (if applicable). then send them off to different places... including call centre's in places like indonesia!!? where the people marking them just compare them with the mark scheme. so if you put something thats 100% correct, but its not a physics teacher marking it, they'd just mark it wrong.

this is just what i've heard, and pray to god its wrong. it didn't seem to effect my jan module, but i'm really nervous about thursday cos of this.

Only for the very shortest questions. (e.g. "what will happen to the reading on the scale?" accepted answers: "increase/up/higher/heavier/larger")

Even for those questions, smoebody who knows what they're doing look at the most common "deviations" and decides which ones get the mark and which ones don't. The unskilled people basically just have a list of answers.

Reply 10

Nichrome

18

RocketTown

i've been told its not so much the mark schemes but the way they mark their scripts. though it might just be the dodgy as hell edexcel 'salters horners' physics.

aparently they scan the paper. cut up all the questions, and cut up all the individual parts of each question (if applicable). then send them off to different places... including call centre's in places like indonesia!!? where the people marking them just compare them with the mark scheme. so if you put something thats 100% correct, but its not a physics teacher marking it, they'd just mark it wrong.

this is just what i've heard, and pray to god its wrong. it didn't seem to effect my jan module, but i'm really nervous about thursday cos of this.

Holy crap, I never knew this. That may explain why I did so badly in module 2 last year, despite thinking it went very well! This has now made me extremely nervous, as my physics grade is my most important grade! Argh I ****ing hate salters horners.

Reply 11

RocketTown

evvvvvvveryone hates salters horners. i'm very nervous about it.... i did lots of diagrams and drawings in spare space around the question + sometimes wrote answers beyond the lines given. so if they cut parts of my answers off, i'm f'*****

Reply 12

r3m0t

1

RocketTown

evvvvvvveryone hates salters horners. i'm very nervous about it.... i did lots of diagrams and drawings in spare space around the question + sometimes wrote answers beyond the lines given. so if they cut parts of my answers off, i'm f'*****

Not really. The have a button in case the question is cut off (or it looks like you reached one part of the question and abruptly stopped) and it gets dealt with.

People here just keep spreading FUD.

Reply 13

*River

15

They've been brilliant for Chemistry and Biology for me, but the German ones are just annoying. They're incredibly picky about what they'll accept, especially for the reading papers.

Reply 14

tymbnuip

1

*River

They've been brilliant for Chemistry and Biology for me, but the German ones are just annoying. They're incredibly picky about what they'll accept, especially for the reading papers.

Urgh. I did the A2 German papers and resat all of the AS German papers this June :redface:

Reply 15

shatteredmedic

Read it if you can be bothered.....

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=276663 'nuff said.

P.S: if you cant be bothered, alot of people went up marks and some people even went up two grades.
Shoulda had mine remarked...

Reply 16

-Innocence-

One thing that I dislike about Edexcel is the amount of time they give per exam. Its waaaay to short! For my government and Politics exam, they give an hour per paper, and Paper 1 & 2 carry 100 marks each! My teachers have complained year in year out, but nothing seems to be happening!!! That is my only problem with Edexcel! Apart from that, last years reports seems good, they are quiet direct in what you should include in your answer.

Reply 17

Mos Def

17

-Innocence-

One thing that I dislike about Edexcel is the amount of time they give per exam. Its waaaay to short! For my government and Politics exam, they give an hour per paper, and Paper 1 & 2 carry 100 marks each! My teachers have complained year in year out, but nothing seems to be happening!!! That is my only problem with Edexcel! Apart from that, last years reports seems good, they are quiet direct in what you should include in your answer.

I didn't even read the exam reports lmao, i screwed up all the answers, as i memorised different ones :mad:

... man i wonder how bad i did.

Reply 18

deutschsweetie

8

Hi can i access the french and german edexcel markschemes now.. can please sombody show me how thank you :smile:

xx

Reply 19

missme

RocketTown

i've been told its not so much the mark schemes but the way they mark their scripts. though it might just be the dodgy as hell edexcel 'salters horners' physics.

aparently they scan the paper. cut up all the questions, and cut up all the individual parts of each question (if applicable). then send them off to different places... including call centre's in places like indonesia!!? where the people marking them just compare them with the mark scheme. so if you put something thats 100% correct, but its not a physics teacher marking it, they'd just mark it wrong.

this is just what i've heard, and pray to god its wrong. it didn't seem to effect my jan module, but i'm really nervous about thursday cos of this.

you mean they cut up all the individual parts of each question plus the answer of each candidate?

omg...in my chemistry, unit 5, i answered the question worth 8 marks on a blank sheet (different page)...my teacher said we are allowed to do so as long as the blank sheet has barcode on it...is this true? :confused:

edit : unit 6...my bad

Edexcel Mark Schemes

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