Sending Mock Papers away to be corrected?

K4t

My school are doing it for the first time this year. Personally I'm against it. I would much prefer my teacher to correct my exam and for there to be nearly as much writing by him/her on the paper as I wrote myself. That is teaching, why I am at school.

Anyway they're sending them away because the poor teachers couldn't be expected to correct mocks!

Does anyone know who corrects the papers when sending them away? I've heard it is past students?!

Does anyone know how long it takes to get them back?

Is the standard of correcting up to actual exam standards?

Fad

K4t wrote: »

My school are doing it for the first time this year. Personally I'm against it. I would much prefer my teacher to correct my exam and for there to be nearly as much writing by him/her on the paper as I wrote myself. That is teaching, why I am at school.

Anyway they're sending them away because the poor teachers couldn't be expected to correct mocks!

Does anyone know who corrects the papers when sending them away? I've heard it is past students?!

Does anyone know how long it takes to get them back?

Is the standard of correcting up to actual exam standards?

The reason people send Mocks away, is to get someone independent of the school to go through them. EG there's a guy in my Chem class, who will get an A1, he's a genius, but his handwriting is atrocious, the teacher wants to send his away to see if the examiner could read it, as she is so used to it at this stage.

Teachers have lives too ya know, and Mocks would take AGES to correct, so I dont see the problem with them sending them away.

Retired teachers often correct Mocks, or people who are vaguely qualified, the correcting isnt meant to be to the same standard, but the corrector would stick rigidly to the marking scheme. Teachers often deviate from marking scheme if they dont agree with the marking scheme, but there's no question of them not agreeing with the marking scheme in the LC.

Gloom

It is good as it gets someone else to correct your papers. Take english for example.

You've had this teacher for 2 years. She knows your handwriting, what you're like in class, so subconciously she could sabotage your work to make you work harder or the opposite (I know teachers who favour students and somehow they get much better grades than others). Maybe she's known as a "hard" marker and you want to see what you would truly get?

Now, your paper is sent off to a completely random person. This person has no idea who you are, (s)he doesn't care about you. It is his/her job just to correct papers.

K4t

Fad wrote: »

The reason people send Mocks away, is to get someone independent of the school to go through them. EG there's a guy in my Chem class, who will get an A1, he's a genius, but his handwriting is atrocious, the teacher wants to send his away to see if the examiner could read it, as she is so used to it at this stage. Pathetic reason. Ask another teacher if they can read it, or even another student ffs. :rolleyes:

Teachers have lives too ya know, and Mocks would take AGES to correct, so I dont see the problem with them sending them away. ??? Hardly ages now. It's what they are paid for. Surely they should want to spend AGES correcting their students work, if they care about their results and their students.

Retired teachers often correct Mocks, or people who are vaguely qualified, the correcting isnt meant to be to the same standard, but the corrector would stick rigidly to the marking scheme. Teachers often deviate from marking scheme if they dont agree with the marking scheme, but there's no question of them not agreeing with the marking scheme in the LC.

???? What's the point in that!

Fad

K4t wrote: »

???? What's the point in that!

If you want someone to bother responding to you, dont respond to them in the quote..........

implausible

K4t wrote: »

???? What's the point in that!

Not really sure what bit you're questioning. I send my papers away to another teacher every year, to get an objective opinion on them. For reasons that would take me more lines than I can be bothered typing, I don't feel I would give my own students an objective mark.

I'm sure some teachers do it out of lack of time, but most do it for the reason I do.

I would've imagined most students would be delighted to be getting someone independent to mark them as it makes the whole experience more like the LC.

SarcasticFairy

I want my mocks sent away. I know several teachers who definitely mark me based on who I am, as well as what I write (in some cases that's good, in others bad). Having someone else correct it allows me to get someone who doesn't know me from Adam, and so is correcting purely on what I've written, therefore giving me a more realistic view of my own standard.

Why do you want your teachers to correct them?

Surely, if the only reason is you want to learn from it, you could get your objective view, then your teacher will go through how the paper should be answered in class. That's what we did for the JC.

spurious

I set and mark my own mock papers.

As long as the person correcting is a qualified (and ideally experienced) teacher and has experience correcting for the SEC, I would be happy to send them away. I'm not convinced that is the case.

The kids I teach would not be able to afford the correction fees though, so I do it myself. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.

rainbowtrout

K4t wrote: »

???? What's the point in that!

Can't quote you since you responded in quote but anyway


many other teachers may also have that student with illegible handwriting and also be familiar with it. Hence a random person correcting it.


Maybe you have forgotten but your teacher may have more than one LC class and could also have JC classes. That's a lot of mocks to correct on top of normal work. Or maybe you would prefer your teacher had no life at all.

I send my mocks away - first of all we don't have a choice in the school I work in, we have to send them away. Also given the choice I would still send them, I want to see what another person makes of my students' answers. I'm so used to them that I could be influenced in the way of 'well I know what he was trying to say' but didn't actually say it.

It also gives some students a wake up call when it comes to their abilities/work rate. Some students cannot be told they are not able for a certain level/will not get a certain grade because they're convinced you're a hard marker/have something against them etc etc and it's only when they see work marked by a stranger that the message starts to get through.

dragonfly!

My mocks were sent away last year, there are at least 2 companies that set/correct papers, generaly consenus in the year was that one compnay were brill - no typos on the papers,
(yes the other company had a few and corrections had to be made when enough info wasnt written on the paper example in chemistry they left out a vital part of the question), :eek:
there was a report sheet sent back with it as to how improvements could be made, sent back quickly and the marking scheme followed:)

with the other company they were late sending them back, some of them not corrected according to marking scheme, marks werent added up properly:mad:

Its def better to have them sent away though as other posters have said- provided they are corrected properly as you have paid for this to be the case

bythewoods

Regarding the actual standard of corrections, well...

Last year some papers were returned to the school about a month later and had to be re-corrected by the teachers.

My english had a percentage on the front but absolutely no marks anywhere within the script. It was as though whoever corrected it just flicked through it and assigned a random grade...

Some are corrected really well though. meh.
A lot of the people correcting them for the companies are just Under-graduates, especially for the JC ones.

timmywex

Our mocks have always been sent away, i think its better personally but the standard of correcting can vary a little bit!

One of my teachers corrects papers for applied maths and physics, does a really good job and puts alot of time into the correcting, corrects the leaving cert every year aswell, if only all the correctors were like that!

JSK 252

How much on average does it cost to get an exam sent away?

Fad

JSK 252 wrote: »

How much on average does it cost to get an exam sent away?

I read on one of the company websites, that its €8 a paper, not sure which company though.

JSK 252

Fad wrote: »

I read on one of the company websites, that its €8 a paper, not sure which company though.

That aint bad. Cool. Thanks.

Toto Wolfcastle

I really don't understand why anyone would not want an independent opinion. It's certainly not because teachers are lazy that they are sent away. In my school we don't have a choice, they have to be sent away. We choose people who we trust to correct them fairly, or else to the company.

Because of the subjects that I teach, it would not be possible for me to correct the mocks in a timely manner while also teaching and living my life. I wouldn't be able to sit down and correct them one after the other until they are finished, so the results would be skewed.

There have been problems with the standard of some of the corrections and with the standard of the papers, but from experience teachers know which company to go with.

It's a pretty thankless job, in fairness. The money isn't great.

phasers

My maths teacher is insisting on correcting our mocks so we can go through them the next day in class, she hates the waiting and there's always mistakes in the marking so she usually has to re correct them anyway.

All my other teachers send them away because they give some BS about wanting somebody independant to correct them (Even though there are ALWAYS errors)

Davidius

K4t wrote: »

Is the standard of correcting up to actual exam standards?

From what I've been told, not really. Apparently quite a few of the correctors are just arseholes looking for some easy money.

Twee.

There will be errors as they're not supervised as much as the State Exams, which is why you need to go through your own paper! Have a proper look at the marks, add them up again yourself and if you're not happy, chat to your teacher.

postalservice

In our school last year the outside marking was terrible.

In Geog about half the class got A's after doing no study, then after the real thing they all thought they were gonna get A1's.............ended up with b3's and C1's!

In French the corrector didnt give over 50% for any of the written pieces and didnt even go with the marking scheme for the tape section:mad:
In the real thing all A's and B's.

Thats all that was sent away and all the results from subject corrected by our teachers were pretty much in line with how it turned out in the end.

Depends on teacher you have obviously....you know when they are an easy corrector or watevr.

And not all outside corrector are bad....obviously.



Oh ya...... Spending money on goldshlager or something is nicer than paying someone to correct your English essay:pac:

bythewoods

Oh, I meant to mention...

If your teacher offers to correct exams like Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Maths etc.. definitely say yes. There's only really going to be a right or wrong answer for these subjects. It's just about following the marking scheme.

If you do want an outside opinion, which in fairness I DO think is good, get one for sunjects like English.

timmywex

Mocks are 96euro in our school for corrections and the papers,

the way they do it is get the overall cost and distribute it evenly, so even if your doing 8 subjects, its only 96euro

sitstill

bythewoods wrote: »

A lot of the people correcting them for the companies are just Under-graduates, especially for the JC ones.

That is absolute bull!

While the standard of the marking might not always be up to scratch, it's actually quite hard to get a job doing the marking, and they only accept fully-qualified teachers with at least two year's experience.

bythewoods

sitstill wrote: »

That is absolute bull!

While the standard of the marking might not always be up to scratch, it's actually quite hard to get a job doing the marking, and they only accept fully-qualified teachers with at least two year's experience.

No it's not, it's absolutely true.
I know someone who corrected them when he was a 3rd Year arts student, so there ya go!

implausible

phasers wrote: »

My maths teacher is insisting on correcting our mocks so we can go through them the next day in class, she hates the waiting and there's always mistakes in the marking so she usually has to re correct them anyway.

All my other teachers send them away because they give some BS about wanting somebody independant to correct them (Even though there are ALWAYS errors)

In fairness, Maths is different, there's a rigid marking scheme to be adhered to, with no room for opinion. I presume that most people are referring to subjects like English, where the independent opinion is invaluable. It may be BS from some teachers, but don't tar them all as lazy

implausible

bythewoods wrote: »

No it's not, it's absolutely true.
I know someone who corrected them when he was a 3rd Year arts student, so there ya go!

How long ago was that? You should pop on over to the Teaching and Lecturing forum and you'll find out how hard it is to get correcting for one of the mock companies.

postalservice

Sometimes teachers swap with other teachers they know.

And undergrads have def corrected the J.C so there's a good chance they correct mocks....

Twinkle-star15

There is still something to be said for an independent opinion.
My school doesn't send away our papers, but I'd really like it for a couple of subjects.
I just want to see how I'm actually doing, because I don't trust some of my teachers-
I've had one apologise to me for giving me a B (when they probably shouldn't have passed me!),
another gave everyone in the class two marks for all their essays because they didn't understand the marking scheme!
Another of my teachers is really biased, everyone always gets within 3% of a certain mark.
Not to say that every teacher is bad, I'm just giving a few specific people here.

timmywex

Aparently our school have now decided to do mock orals with external examiners, oh the joy of more study

KnifeWRENCH

When I did my LC pres (they were always called the pres in my school, never the mocks) some teachers sent the papers to be corrected, whereas others preferred to correct them themselves.
I know our Irish pre was definitely sent to an external examiner, as our Irish teacher wanted an independent opinion. However I don't think she charged us for it, so either she paid for our papers to be marked or she found someone to do them for free. (Or else she did charge us and I just can't recall )

English and Geography were marked by the teachers. Don't know about the rest.

Personally I think sending them out is a good idea - you get back an independent and unbiased assessment of your work.