I genuinely think this years GCSE English grades are VERY incorrect
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Original post by Thea89
My sister got two nines in English and I got a nine in language and an eight in literature, which I view as completely miraculous as we were not taught the 9-1 course for English language due to the fact that my school did early entry last year because they knew that the coursework would be advantageous. Also, we were both only viewed as average in our classes and were predicted sevens but English is notoriously subjective, grades can quite easily rise and fall a little on the day of the exam. Clearly, the new system did not work to your favour in the way in which it did for the vast majority of my friends and I. I purely blame the low grade boundaries for my "success" and they also explain the fact that I also got an eight in maths, which was my worst subject and I was just hoping for a six. There's obviously no harm in suggesting a remark unless you genuinely believe that your mark may be lowered rather than raised but it may just become clear that your teacher was a lenient marker.
How were the boundaries low? For Edexcel you needed 134/160 for a 9 in language and 140/160 for a 9 in literature. Needing 83.75% of raw marks in one and 87.5% of raw marks in the other is not low at all. http://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Grade-boundaries/GCSE/1706-gcse-9-1-grade-boundaries-v1.pdf
Original post by The RAR
You never know, examiners have thousands of papers to mark so they just rush through the papers, there is a good chance they would have missed marking a section.
I've just told you - it's not possible to 'miss a section'. The answers are scanned into a computer and marked 'electronically'. They can't 'miss' anything like a whole section. And we don't 'rush through the papers'. That's just nonsense, and based on no evidence.
If you really think that you did better than you received you can always check to see if that exam board allows for remarks. I know that CCEA does and they cost about £8.50 I think so maybe your one does too.
Original post by XTim96
😂 I got a 9 in English literature and I didn't even do the 8 mark poetry question aqa
😂😂😂😂 the boundaries were good to us
I had the same problem today. I got a lot lower in Language than I expected, and despite getting 70+ marks in my mocks up until now, I'd have had to have got, as a maximum, 61/80 in each of the two papers...
Unless I messed up a couple of 10 markers (I'm on Edexel), I'm really confused about why this has happened. Anyway, I'm getting a remark just in case.
Unless I messed up a couple of 10 markers (I'm on Edexel), I'm really confused about why this has happened. Anyway, I'm getting a remark just in case.
Original post by MoMo_01
Hello fellow students,I am one of many students who were predicted 7/8 in english language and lit, only to today recieve a 5. I have always performed well in English and it has always been a strong subject of mine, I feel like I did really well on all 4 exams, structuring answers correctly and using many quotes where appropriate. I have always got 7s and 8s in mocks sometimes close 9s. There are a lot of students also like me today who have been given as low as a 3 who were predicted 7s. On the other hand theres students who were predicted 2s and 3s, however (no disrespect intended) have recieved 7s, 8s and even 9s. Could the grades have been handled wrongly this year?
i agree as i always get 9's but this time i got 8's i'm pretty disappointed but thats life
Original post by MoMo_01
Hello fellow students,I am one of many students who were predicted 7/8 in english language and lit, only to today recieve a 5. I have always performed well in English and it has always been a strong subject of mine, I feel like I did really well on all 4 exams, structuring answers correctly and using many quotes where appropriate. I have always got 7s and 8s in mocks sometimes close 9s. There are a lot of students also like me today who have been given as low as a 3 who were predicted 7s. On the other hand theres students who were predicted 2s and 3s, however (no disrespect intended) have recieved 7s, 8s and even 9s. Could the grades have been handled wrongly this year?
Possibly! at my (state) school most people got their expected grades, but one of my friends was predicted an eight and got a five having done loadsss of work. You could get it remarked if the result is likely to hold you back or really bother you in the future... What do your teachers think?
Actually, I agree. For a majority of the year I was receiving 50/80 etc. However, once we get to results day I suddenly am presented with a 5 in English Language and 6 in English Literature which is not that bad but considering how low the boundaries were for WJEC I was disappointed. I'm going to find out my raw mark and potentially ask for a remark, depending on how near I was. But it's done now, so unless you failed, just get over it. GCSE's are only a stepping stone for A-Levels.
I agree with this and although there is essentially nothing you can do about it, it is concerning. My friend, who's fantastic at English Literature achieved a 6 in the subject whereas I, who felt I really messed up, managed to get a 9 in Lit and Lang? Equally, many people who didn't do as successfully in other subjects or are not even renown for their English abilities managed to get an 8 or 9 in English -- it seems odd to me. Specifically, what I find strange is that there are no issues with the handling of 9s or grades in maths.
I haven't read through this thread so I don't know whether this has been said but I feel like this is simply down to the grade reformation. Many examiners didn't know what was worthy of a 9 or 8 or 7, some marked too strictly and some marked too leniently. One could argue that this happens every year or that marks that are given are checked many times but this year is specifically strange. For example my English teacher, who just recently became an examiner for English Lit, marked our class (top set) really harshly, often giving 6s, 7s and I only managed to achieve an 8 once. She often disagreed with the marking of exemplars claiming that it was 'too generous'. This reformation probably caused huge variation in grades and I know that I'd be outraged if I achieved a 6 knowing that I was worthy and capable of a much much higher grade. I worked hard for English but I feel like I fluked some of my English exams thus before my results I claimed it was 'impossible for me to achieve a 9'.
Anyway, I'm not actively complaining as I'm content with my grade however I feel like this grade reformation really caused major issues and seemingly only in English.
I haven't read through this thread so I don't know whether this has been said but I feel like this is simply down to the grade reformation. Many examiners didn't know what was worthy of a 9 or 8 or 7, some marked too strictly and some marked too leniently. One could argue that this happens every year or that marks that are given are checked many times but this year is specifically strange. For example my English teacher, who just recently became an examiner for English Lit, marked our class (top set) really harshly, often giving 6s, 7s and I only managed to achieve an 8 once. She often disagreed with the marking of exemplars claiming that it was 'too generous'. This reformation probably caused huge variation in grades and I know that I'd be outraged if I achieved a 6 knowing that I was worthy and capable of a much much higher grade. I worked hard for English but I feel like I fluked some of my English exams thus before my results I claimed it was 'impossible for me to achieve a 9'.
Anyway, I'm not actively complaining as I'm content with my grade however I feel like this grade reformation really caused major issues and seemingly only in English.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by MoMo_01
Hello fellow students,I am one of many students who were predicted 7/8 in english language and lit, only to today recieve a 5. I have always performed well in English and it has always been a strong subject of mine, I feel like I did really well on all 4 exams, structuring answers correctly and using many quotes where appropriate. I have always got 7s and 8s in mocks sometimes close 9s. There are a lot of students also like me today who have been given as low as a 3 who were predicted 7s. On the other hand theres students who were predicted 2s and 3s, however (no disrespect intended) have recieved 7s, 8s and even 9s. Could the grades have been handled wrongly this year?
Hi there, I'm glad you've mentioned this. I don't know which exam board you sat the GCSE with, but I say it with WJEC eduqas.I am also a very good English language student, but I only got a 4. My teacher was shocked. I also structured my answers well and I thought I did well.
Original post by MoMo_01
Hello fellow students,I am one of many students who were predicted 7/8 in english language and lit, only to today recieve a 5. I have always performed well in English and it has always been a strong subject of mine, I feel like I did really well on all 4 exams, structuring answers correctly and using many quotes where appropriate. I have always got 7s and 8s in mocks sometimes close 9s. There are a lot of students also like me today who have been given as low as a 3 who were predicted 7s. On the other hand theres students who were predicted 2s and 3s, however (no disrespect intended) have recieved 7s, 8s and even 9s. Could the grades have been handled wrongly this year?
get it remarked, my english lang paper went up 28 UMS last year.
Original post by num.7
It's called self-entitlement.
Indeed. Those kinds of people just need to grow up, honestly.
Original post by The RAR
I don't know why so many people are behaving like grammar nazis in here, back to the point yes I agree with the OP entirely, I too worked my ass off for English, did past paper questions, checked it with my teacher to make sure the answers were high standard and did it again with the improvements. I too kept on getting 7s throughout the whole year in English by doing this and me getting a 4 today was totally unacceptable, not surprised since a lot of students are estimated to get the wrong grades under the new system, I am unfortunately one of the victims of ruthless marking. Yes it will be best to get a remark which is what I am gonna do tho I hate the fact I need to use my own money. Yeah I did AQA too
Let me know how it goes!
Original post by MoMo_01
Hello fellow students,I am one of many students who were predicted 7/8 in english language and lit, only to today recieve a 5. I have always performed well in English and it has always been a strong subject of mine, I feel like I did really well on all 4 exams, structuring answers correctly and using many quotes where appropriate. I have always got 7s and 8s in mocks sometimes close 9s. There are a lot of students also like me today who have been given as low as a 3 who were predicted 7s. On the other hand theres students who were predicted 2s and 3s, however (no disrespect intended) have recieved 7s, 8s and even 9s. Could the grades have been handled wrongly this year?
Omggg i was predicted a grade 7 and was achieving grade 6's at the start of year
10 and by the end of year 11, grade 7's with only a few marks off 8's !!!! However, i've only achieved a grade 5 - which is sooo bloody annoying !!!
Original post by num.7
It's called self-entitlement.
That's tautology for TSR at Exam Time.
Original post by erxci
Predicted a 6, got a 7. 
According to this, it was wrongly marked and you should have got a 4. (well done, by the way
)I got a 6 in Lang and lit, which is deeply concerning for me as I was much much better at lit and worked so hard and felt I screwed up my Lang! Weird... I got much higher in my mocks too. People who weren't good at English (seemingly) seemed to do well from what I saw.
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