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Is it true that they can't leave you too close to next grade?

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  • 12-05-2010 7:39pm
    #1
    stainluss
    Registered Users Posts: 864 ✭✭✭


    I heard that if your within a few marks of the next grade (e.g. 79.5%) they must go back to try to 'find' more marks??

    I have heard this said for English & Irish, but does it apply to the others?


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    #2
    **Timbuk2**
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 7,395 Mod ✭✭✭✭**Timbuk2**


    No, they don't have to.

    In the old days, I think they did (when there was just A and B and C, rather than A1, A2, B1, B2 etc). However, in the new system (the A1, B3, C1 etc. system) they just leave you on whatever mark you are on. The examiners don't even bother calculating your percent, just your total mark.

    For example, in a paper marked out of 400, if you get 338 (340 is an A2) they will just leave you there. As far as they are concerned, there are 2 marks needed to go up to the next grade, but they're 2 marks that you didn't get. Examiners mightn't even realise this as they don't calculate your percentage. (Remember that your paper is not all corrected in one go either - he will correct all the Q1s first, then all the Q2s, then all the Q3s [or at least he should if he is fair]). In exams that are made up of a few different sections, e.g. oral, tapework and 2 papers, resting between grades is even harder to pick up.

    Having said that, if the examiner is decent they will try and find a few marks, possibly by trawling through rough work. However, they are not obliged to.


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    #3
    MavisDavis
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,263 ✭✭✭MavisDavis


    Actually, sometimes if you're close to a higher grade, the corrector is told to try and get you to a mark that is almost exactly between grades. Eg. You get 59% so the examiner remarks the script to bring you to as close to 57.5% as possible. That happens when the examiner has lots of high grades though and they remark all the papers as far as I'm aware. It definitely happens in English anyway. It's to avoid loads of grades going up with rechecks or something.


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    #4
    gaeilgegrinds1
    Registered Users Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭gaeilgegrinds1


    We definately do not mark up, happened me once when overall nationally the grades were low we were told that 5 less on a particular grade they all got the higher one but that's not what you're on about. I always thought that aswell as a student but no, does not happen, sometimes I get frustrated with it but that's life.


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    #5
    zam
    Registered Users Posts: 829 ✭✭✭zam


    What is you're on 89.5%? Can they not round it up? Do they?


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    #6
    **Timbuk2**
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 7,395 Mod ✭✭✭✭**Timbuk2**


    zam wrote: »
    What is you're on 89.5%? Can they not round it up? Do they?

    No, they don't. While 89.5% is a percentage, but the marking system is dealt with in marks, so on a 400-mark paper it will be 358 marks, and they will leave it at that. They certainly won't give you 2 free marks because you are near a certain grade. However, they might have a look through your rough work to see if anything merits marks - it would be annoying to have 2 marks cost you 10 points (possibly the difference between getting and not getting your chosen course)


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    #7
    implausible
    Registered Users Posts: 3,937 ✭✭✭implausible


    stainluss wrote: »
    I heard that if your within a few marks of the next grade (e.g. 79.5%) they must go back to try to 'find' more marks??

    I have heard this said for English & Irish, but does it apply to the others?


    In English, we don't leave people 'hanging' on a mark. We're told to go back and make a judgement call e.g. is it a B1 or a B2? The result is that you don't leave someone on 336 (4 marks shy of an A) by 'finding' a few marks or looking where you might have been a bit too generous. It saves a lot of frustration for students and of course, on rechecks.

    I can only speak for English. The same system doesn't apply across the marking of all subjects.


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    #8
    TEMPLAR KNIGHT
    Closed Accounts Posts: 961 ✭✭✭TEMPLAR KNIGHT


    I did my leaving last year and was 0.5% off an A2 in Physics and I sent it back to be rechecked and they still didnt mark me up even though I got a definiton right that was marked wrong, I was also 1% off an A2 in Business and 1.5%% off an A1 in maths and I didnt get marked up in any of them. long story short do your work and dont give the examiners an excuse to mark you down or leave you hanging, best of luck in the leaving!


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    #9
    randylonghorn
    Registered Users Posts: 29,509 ✭✭✭✭randylonghorn


    deemark wrote: »
    In English, we don't leave people 'hanging' on a mark. We're told to go back and make a judgement call e.g. is it a B1 or a B2? The result is that you don't leave someone on 336 (4 marks shy of an A) by 'finding' a few marks or looking where you might have been a bit too generous. It saves a lot of frustration for students and of course, on rechecks.

    I can only speak for English. The same system doesn't apply across the marking of all subjects.
    That sounds more familiar, I was a bit boggled by some of the earlier answers, but put it down to the fact that it's a few years since I corrected and maybe things had changed. Perhaps it's because, with the best will in the world, English is inherently a more subjective subject to mark than, say, maths.


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    #10
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,229 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    They round up marks at Junior Cert., where the objective is to get candidates to do as well as possible, but not at Leaving Cert..


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    #11
    stainluss
    Registered Users Posts: 864 ✭✭✭stainluss


    randylonghorn wrote: »
    English is inherently a more subjective subject to mark than, say, maths.
    Hence, a bitch to study:(


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    #12
    randylonghorn
    Registered Users Posts: 29,509 ✭✭✭✭randylonghorn


    stainluss wrote: »
    Hence, a bitch to study:(
    Yes and no. For example, if you can make a good argument for your answer on why Portia is actually a scheming bitch in The Merchant of Venice, you are likely to get quite good marks, even though the examiner totally disagrees with you.

    No matter how good an argument you make for your belief that the earth is actually flat, or that the square root of 16 is actually 5, you'll still get zero marks! :D


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    #13
    Dannloads
    Registered Users Posts: 35 ✭Dannloads


    Nope. Your mark you get is the mark you deserve compared to every candidate in Ireland. That's the whole idea of having a national marking scheme in place; So if your total at the end is just a few marks below the next grade, tough! The examiner can not give you extra marks - that wouldn't be fair... and they're not allowed anyway (sanctions etc.)

    All the best
    D

    stainluss wrote: »
    I heard that if your within a few marks of the next grade (e.g. 79.5%) they must go back to try to 'find' more marks??

    I have heard this said for English & Irish, but does it apply to the others?


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    #14
    Kersmash
    Registered Users Posts: 3,686 ✭✭✭Kersmash


    My English teacher/vice principal who's been correcting exams for years said that if you were a few marks shy of a grade they'd bump you up. Whether that's just him or it's what he's been told to do, I dunno.


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    #15
    green909
    Registered Users Posts: 76 ✭✭green909


    I wouldn't depend on being bumped up last year I was left at 89% in History and 88% in Irish.


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    #16
    implausible
    Registered Users Posts: 3,937 ✭✭✭implausible


    Dannloads wrote: »
    Nope. Your mark you get is the mark you deserve compared to every candidate in Ireland. That's the whole idea of having a national marking scheme in place; So if your total at the end is just a few marks below the next grade, tough! The examiner can not give you extra marks - that wouldn't be fair... and they're not allowed anyway (sanctions etc.)

    Did you not read the replies about English?:rolleyes:


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