Examiner vs Teacher marking English Literature

I am under the impression that teachers tend to mark harsher in accordance to a 'worst-case-scenario' or more strict examiner. It seems to me that English Literature at A-Level is a somewhat subjective subject, in the regards to marking differing person-to-person to some extent. As someone who's mock results have fallen 0.4%/ 1 mark off an A according to the June 2019 grade boundaries for Edexcel, I wanted to ask to what degree can I be confident in examiners awarding more liberally than my teachers considering that I am referring to being a few marks off a certain boundary. I am aware that any answers to my question can only be speculative; however, as I require an A for university and sit on the boundary it is something that has been on my mind as I am sure you can imagine. Thank you to any responses.

Reply 1

Alonepast

Original post by steezyeu

Yes, teachers tend to mark harsher than the examiners do in your actual exams across all subjects. For example, I remember for my GCSE history mock, my teacher gave me a 6 (B) but in my real exam I got a 9 (A*). When teachers set mock papers, they deliberately make them much harder than what your actual exam is, they mark harsher and they make grade boundaries higher than what they are on the exam boards, the reason why they do this is to encourage pupils to work hard to get good grades. I know it can be disheartening if you didn't get the grade that you wanted in your mock exams but it is most likely that your exam mark is 1 or 2 grades higher than your teachers tell you. So most likely, you will get the A that you need for university if you are not far off an A on the school's grade boundaries.