Should I Appeal?

BenMc

Hi, so I was just looking for some advice with regards to appealing.

Some context about my situation:
-I was aiming to get in the 600 points range
-Ended up falling short and getting 578
-I got my 1st offer of Science in TCD
-I would be appealing more for personal reasons rather than needing the extra points (as I've already said - I got my course)

Okay, so I understand that a lot of people would tell me appealing is pointless as I have gotten a place on my course. But after all the work I've put into the LC I don't feel happy with the outcome. Appealing would be more for personal reasons, therefore.

So I viewed papers on the Friday just gone and there would be two subjects I would be potentially appealing: maths and physics. In maths I received a H3 and was 6 marks short of the H2 (79%). I found the maths papers pretty horrible, especially in comparison to previous years. Normally I was getting H1s and the odd H2 in class so I was expecting to come out with a H2 minimum. We went through my paper and found a potential 3 marks where I had written the correct answer but apparently my method was unorthodox. There were one or two other areas where there could, potentially, be some marks but my teacher said that he personally wouldn't give the marks if he rechecked it. Overall my teacher said that if it was his paper he wouldn't appeal. Which left me quite unsure. I mean, I felt disappointed with the result and 6 marks is so close(but I understand, it could be 1 mark away and still not a H2). Do you think I should appeal?

Also, I am perhaps going to appeal physics. I received a H2 in it which is pretty good considering I taught myself at home, but I usually got H1s in any tests I did. I checked the paper and overall I achieved 350/400, so basically 87.5%. I need ten marks for a H1. The physics teacher in the school viewed my paper with me and she found 6 marks that she would definitely give (3 for a diagram where I wasn't given marks because my arrow was about 5 mm from what I was pointing at and 3 marks for another diagram) She also thinks I might get 3 extra marks for a calculation. I understand it's difficult to find 10 marks, and we only found a potential 9 but I still feel disappointed.

I'm sorry for how long winded this is and after reading over this I realise that I sound whiney and ungrateful. I'm sorry if that's how I come across but I just feel so disappointed with myself. My Mam and my sister have told me that appealing is stupid since no one will care bout my LC points as soon as I get to college and that all I needed was enough points for my course. Since I did that I was successful in their eyes. Yet I still fell short of my goal of breaking 600. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Liordi

If your maths teacher advised you not to appeal it then I definitely wouldn't appeal it, especially if you can't even find a place where you 'might' get enough extra marks to cross over the line. I think the same would apply for Physics. Potential 9 doesn't mean 10 and you wouldn't get an extra mark 'just because.'

You should be happy that you got your course though

moans3536

Be happy you got your course, and move on .....
The points race is just a number and you hot the course you wanted, take the advice of teacher and leave well enough alone.
Good luck with your studies

uck51js9zml2yt

You got your first preference course.
What exactly will you achieve in appealing?
Life's too short, knuckle down for the next few years and get a good degree

Delphinium

Let it go. Don't fret over the little things, and it will be of very little consequence in the near future. Learn to pick your battles.

Goat the dote

Let it go. No one will ask or care in the next few years how many points you got. You got into your chosen course, be happy with that

Hulgerx10

DO IT.

Or better yet, repeat to get the 600. And if you fail, repeat again. I can't imagine the shame.

randylonghorn

If there were obvious marks missed / you were genuinely hard done by, I would say appeal it anyway for your own satisfaction.

But if you're struggling yourself to find a few extra marks, and still not quite hitting the goal?

At €40 a pop?

languagenerd

FWIW I had a lot more points than I needed for my course and I appealed one result because, when I viewed the scripts, there was an error in the marking. Didn't need it, but I knew I had achieved an A2 in the subject and did it for my own sake. I was right and got the correct results on my actual cert.

I also appealed Accounting because I was 3 marks off the next grade and there were a couple of theory questions that were harshly marked - I'd written about two-thirds of what was required in the marking scheme but only got the attempt mark of 2/10 as I didn't have the full answer. No joy on that one.

In the recheck, they won't look for ways to bring you up. They start from scratch and apply the same marking scheme, so if there was no error, you'll end up with the same mark. If your teacher has told you not to appeal, I'd probably take their advice. But on your other papers, if there are places you were marked incorrectly or unduly harshly, then it's worth a shot. Doesn't matter either way if it's not about points - it'll be to get the grade you actually achieved.

MagicHumanDoll

BenMc wrote: »

But after all the work I've put into the LC I don't feel happy with the outcome.

The outcome is you got the course you wanted. Be thankful you did, as many never come close to theirs.

Congrats on both the points and course. Great achievement.

Now start getting excited about the new chapter in your life and leave it be!

wordofwarning

Liordi wrote: »

If your maths teacher advised you not to appeal it then I definitely wouldn't appeal it, especially if you can't even find a place where you 'might' get enough extra marks to cross over the line. I think the same would apply for Physics. Potential 9 doesn't mean 10 and you wouldn't get an extra mark 'just because.'

You should be happy that you got your course though

The teachers opinion is that teachers opinion. Unless that teachers was regularly grading papers or a chief examiner, I would not be too bothered with their opinion. I have had teachers where I had zero respect for their opinion when it came to grading. At the end of the day, OPs teacher is not the one grading their papers in the recheck. If OP is confident about it, that is what is important

I looked at my papers. I went through one several times and I could not honestly see where I could go up 2 marks. I appealed it and I went up two marks to get an upgrade.

I looked at my geography papers. I was full marks in some of my answers. I looked at my project and the grading seemed so off. It honestly seemed like the examiner had randomly written a grade on it. My written paper was an A1 (I think something like 96/97%) and my project was 60%. I got upgraded to a A1. Sometimes marking by a marker makes no sense.

OP I would appeal it. You will regret it if you don't. Plus you are so close to being upgraded, that if you are it costs you nothing if you are upgraded.

Liordi

wordofwarning wrote: »

The teachers opinion is that teachers opinion. Unless that teachers was regularly grading papers or a chief examiner, I would not be too bothered with their opinion. I have had teachers where I had zero respect for their opinion when it came to grading. At the end of the day, OPs teacher is not the one grading their papers in the recheck. If OP is confident about it, that is what is important.

I agree with this. I'm getting one of my papers rechecked because I'm pretty sure it should go up. The op hasn't found marks to bring them up (which are there or not in something like maths) so they aren't confident.

If they think it's €40 well spent but if the OP & their teacher can't find potential marks that's worrying.

spurious

Who was marking papers that you were getting H1s on?
If they haven't experience correcting, you may as well have been marking them yourself.

You have your course, yes? Your mother and sister are right, in a few months, no one will care or remember what you got in the Leaving.

2Mad2BeMad

you got your first choice

you do know points are only their to get into college,
your leaving cert grades wont mean anything now, its all about college grades.
Move on OP

evolving_doors

Be aware that grades above 80% are rare in college so your 'not perfect 600' could be a valuable lesson.
You're obviously very motivated so the Leaving Cert was probably the main focus for the last few years, don't let this define your life. Check out some extra curricular in college for a bit of distraction.

But If you've nothing to lose and you won't be dropped down then why not appeal anyway! Just remember the clue is in the name and 'leave' it behind you.

Well done though, doing physics on yer own and getting a good grade is no easy task.

threetrees

At the moment the LC is the single biggest set of exams you've taken, so of course it's fresh in your mind and the disappointment of "only" 578 points is fresh. As you progress through your (1st choice) course, the LC will be less significant. Leave it and be proud of your 578 achievement.

Mldj

I get where you're coming from. Statistically speaking, 20% of scrips get upgraded on appeal while only a miniscule percentage are downgraded. If you think you could potentially get more points, you might as well. It's unlikely your points will jump from 578 to over 600, however.

Tbh I'm in a similar situation. I got 7H1s and a H2 (English). I got my first choice but I wanted to appeal the H2 for personal reasons. After viewing the scrips, I decided not to appeal as I was 37 marks off a H1.

Even if the appeal isn't upheld, 578 is a very high score to get in your leaving cert. Whatever you do, don't repeat

reason vs religion

Other than the cash, you don't stand to lose anything from a recheck. If it bothered me, I would do it. However...

I think you should assess the basis on which you are so personally invested. First, you did excellently, and were mere marks away from doing even better. What does it say about you that you would be totally satisfied if some easy marks can be found to bring your grade up? You seem to be deriving pride from the prestige of the grade rather than what it would indicate - which, for you, is effectively nothing more than your 87.5 already does. I got an A1 in physics, but my only pride on reflection is getting out the difficult mechanics question from that year; I've no pride from having known a sufficient number of definitions and been able to use basic formulas form the tables book, which, collectively, was more responsible for my A.

And second, as you'll see when you get to college, the Leaving Cert isn't really an especially impressive academic achievement. Everyone says you'll never encounter an exam like the LC again, but they implicitly are referring to subsidiary challenges like number and variety of subjects, the pressure from it deciding your college options, etc. In terms of difficulty, it will seem trivial by the end of second year, and by the time you've done your first college exams, your LC performances becomes just as impressive as your JC one. At Trinity, as you may have heard, there's a set of exams taken midway through second year, performance in which decides who is awarded Foundation Scholarship. About sixty people from the year of ~2800 are "elected", so it's very select. Schol is seen as very prestigious in College, and that prestige is carried all the way through the remaining two years of college. Yet, I know several people well who got it and all but one had mid-500 LCs less than yours. (One got 520.) It seems to me that you have high standards for yourself and that you wanted your LC performance to validate them. But getting less than a maximum doesn't indicate that wont be academically brilliant; the LC, universally taken and with its claims to objectivity, just makes it seem that way.

In sum, my thinking would be 1) that your performance was good enough to validate an internal belief of high academic ability, and 2) that the LC isn't something that is capable of verifying exceptional academic ability.

You should take great pride in the fact that you scored higher than 98% of people.

dazed+confused

BenMc wrote:

I'm sorry for how long winded this is and after reading over this I realise that I sound whiney and ungrateful.

Partly, but also totally unnecessary.

BenMc wrote:

My Mam and my sister have told me that appealing is stupid since no one will care bout my LC points as soon as I get to college and that all I needed was enough points for my course.

You will realise how true this is in time.

daraghwal

spurious wrote: »

Who was marking papers that you were getting H1s on?
If they haven't experience correcting, you may as well have been marking them yourself.

You have your course, yes? Your mother and sister are right, in a few months, no one will care or remember what you got in the Leaving.

*days/weeks

BenMc

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone that's contributed to this post and offered advice in any shape or form! I've decided to not appeal and instead, I'm going to be focusing on what I should've been all along - the next chapter in my life a.k.a college.