Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 August 21

= August 21 =

GCSE remark?
I have just got my GCSE results, and I received an A in Physics (Edexcel iGCSE). I got 233 UMS (Uniform Mark Scale), and 235 was the A* boundary. What is the likelihood of receiving two more UMS in a remark in such a black-and-white subject?

Thank you.

86.139.247.157 (talk) 12:14, 21 August 2015 (UTC)


 * 3.3% of grades challenged at GCSE were successfully changed in 2014 (see page 9, so the odds are probably not great, although to answer your question we really need more data (the margin of error in GCSE grading may be as much as 8% at a 95% confidence level, in which case your odds are probably nearly 50:50, but I think that applies more to essay-based subjects than the black-and-white sciences). More to the point, why would you need to? It's extremely rare for a sixth-form or employer to care about the difference between A and A*, so you're basically going to be paying £40 for a less than 50% chance of an asterisk (and a rather small but non-zero chance of ending up with a B). Smurrayinchester 14:30, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
 * thank you for your response. The 4% change last year could be partly explained by wishful thinking by people who need a certain grade (though that still admittedly accounts for only a small proportion of remarks). As to why, whilst my grades otherwise got me into my desired sixth form, given the minute distance from the boundary it would be nice to just get an extra A*. Whilst it may not seem much, if you've been working with these results in mind for the last five years, you want to get the best that you can.
 * Thanks, 86.139.247.157 (talk) 15:50, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I agree that you are probably wasting your £40. In two years' time you will have almost forgotten the grades you obtained at GCSE.  If you often give idiosyncratic answers and make up your own definitions instead of learning them, then I suppose there is just a remote chance that a re-mark by another marker might award an extra two marks for borderline answers.  This is less likely with modern structured questions than with the papers I remember from long ago.    D b f i r s   07:05, 23 August 2015 (UTC)


 * You write "small but non-zero chance of ending up with a B". Can the exam boards really lower the grade when the student appeals? As I understand it reformatio in peius is a pretty common principle and would often rule out putting the apellee in a worse situation. But I'm not a lawyer nor do I know about the specifics of appealing grades in the UK. Sjö (talk) 11:35, 23 August 2015 (UTC)
 * According to Channel 4: "It is also worth remembering that if your mark goes down following a re-mark, it is the lower mark that will be issued." Smurrayinchester 11:55, 23 August 2015 (UTC)
 * That's right, there would be no prohibition of reformatio in peius, though the chance of being awarded a lower grade would be extremely low in this case -- perhaps an error in addition? The aim of the re-mark is to award the correct grade to the paper, not to do the best for the student.    D b f i r s   15:43, 23 August 2015 (UTC)