** Viewing scripts / Appeals process **

randylonghorn

The full booklet describing procedures for viewing and appeals is here.

I have excerpted the main points below:


Will I be able to view my scripts this year?

Yes. When you receive your results your school will also have a personalised application form provided by the Commission which will show your examination details including your subjects. If you decide you would like to view a particular script(s) you mark the form accordingly. You must return the completed form to the school by Tuesday, 18th August, 2009.


What happens next?

The Organising Superintendent appointed by the Commission to your school will assign you to one of the viewing sessions. The viewing sessions will be held as follows:-

Friday 28th August from 6.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. (Session 1)
Saturday 29th August from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon (Session 2)
Saturday 29th August from 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. (Session 3)

A more detailed information note for candidates, explaining the examiner’s markings, calculation of grades, etc., will be available from the Organising Superintendent.

May I be accompanied during the viewing of my scripts?

Yes. You may be accompanied by one other person at any one time.

NOTE:- Candidates, or those accompanying them, may not interfere with or copy examination material. Writing instruments, mobile phones or cameras are not permitted in the viewing centre. For security reasons, a number of scripts are photocopied prior to dispatching original scripts for viewing and the photocopies are retained by the Commission.

What can I do if I think there is an error in the marking of my script?

The appeals procedure is outlined in the following paragraphs. In making an appeal, you may wish to bring certain matters to the attention of the appeal examiner. If so, you should complete a Form AP1 which is available from the Organising Superintendent in your viewing centre, and ask the Organising Superintendent to attach it to your script as part of the appeal application.

The Appeal Application Procedure

If I wish to appeal what is the procedure?

The Commission will provide your school with a personalised appeal application form. In the case of external candidates the form will be enclosed with your results. This form is designed so that you can indicate the subject(s) you wish to appeal.

What is the appeal fee?
The appeal fee is €40.00 per subject in the case of the Leaving Certificate and €15.50 in the case of the Leaving Certificate Applied, and must be paid in advance. This will be refunded to you if your result is upgraded. The refund will be made through your school if you are entered by a school.

How do I pay my appeal fee?
For an appeal to be valid you must pay using either:-
(a) the bank giro facility on your personalised appeal application form; or,
(b) via the Internet, (i.e., credit card).

(a) Bank Giro facility: Your personalised appeal application form and associated bank giro form contains a unique reference number which enables the Commission to trace your payment and match it with your appeal application when it is received from your school. You should take the form to a bank and pay the fee through the bank giro facility. The form duly stamped by the bank should then be returned to the school so that your scripts can be associated with it and forwarded to the Commission.

Please ensure that you use the bank giro form provided by the Commission. If you use a bank giro slip provided by the bank (which does not have a unique identifier) it may delay or totally invalidate your appeal because it could prove exceedingly difficult to subsequently establish that you actually paid the appropriate fee.

(b) Internet facility: When you have completed your appeal application procedure on the Internet you will be provided with a Form (which you must print) showing the subject(s) which you have opted to appeal. This Form should then be returned to the school so that your scripts can be associated with it and forwarded to the Commission.

If you are an external candidate (E10) you should return your personalised appeal application form/Internet form c/o the Organising Superintendent at the centre where you viewed your scripts so that he/she can forward your appeal application to the Commission with the script(s) concerned.

What is the appeal closing date?

Appeal applications must be with the Commission by Wednesday 2nd September 2009. This means that the schools will have to post applications on Tuesday 1st September. If you choose to view your scripts before finally deciding whether or not to appeal you will need to arrange to pay the fee and return the form to the school on Monday 31st August or early on Tuesday 1st September. This is quite a confined time interval but is necessary if the Commission is to have the outcome of the appeal process available by mid October.

If you decide to appeal, your appeal is clearly important to you. You alone have control over, and responsibility for, the vital first steps in making a valid appeal:

- use the giro/internet form provided, ensuring it is correctly completed

- return it on time to the School/Organising Superintendent.


What happens during the appeal process?

Your script is sent to an appeal examiner for re-marking. This examiner is different from the examiner who originally marked your work. In some subjects involving practical/project work it may be necessary for an appeal examiner to visit the school to re-mark work stored by the school.

Is the same marking scheme used for re-marking?

Yes, it is essential in the interests of equity and fairness that the re-marking on appeal is carried out in accordance with the marking scheme for that subject. This ensures that appeal examiners apply the same standards in re-marking as were applied to all candidates in the original marking.

The Organising Superintendent at the viewing session will have copies of the marking schemes and they will be published on the Commission’s website as well.

If I am just a few marks short of the next grade am I likely to be awarded them on appeal?

Not necessarily. The appeal process exists to ensure that the marking scheme has been applied consistently and fairly to your work. Appeal examiners are not searching for additional marks to “bring a candidate up to the next grade”. In justice to all other candidates who took the examination, examiners can award only those marks due to you according to the marking scheme.

For example, it is quite possible for a candidate to be 1 mark short of the next grade point in a subject with maximum of 600 marks. The appeal examiner does not conduct the appeal on the basis of seeking that additional mark for the candidate. Indeed it is possible that the appeal examiner could either add or deduct marks as the marking scheme is applied afresh, question by question, to your work.

Can a result be downgraded on appeal?

Yes, the results published in August are provisional and accordingly a result can be downgraded in certain circumstances. This is because the appeal process exists to ensure that the marking scheme was fully and properly applied to the work produced at the examination. Consistent and fair application of the marking schemes ensures equitable treatment for all candidates.

Are there likely to be many downgrades?

The expectation is that the number of downgrades should be relatively small. This is because candidates have an opportunity to view their scripts and the expectation is that only those who clearly believe that there are reasonable grounds for an appeal will seek one. It is important, therefore, to carefully view your marked script before reaching the decision whether or not to appeal.

When will I receive my appeal results?

The Leaving Certificate appeal results are issued in mid-October each year. During the limited timeframe between the closing date for the receipt of appeal applications and the issue of the appeal results some four and a half weeks later, the actual re-marking of candidates’ work takes place.

Examination scripts must be retrieved from schools, distributed to examiners, fully re-marked by examiners, with appropriate monitoring and quality assurance processes applied, and returned to the State Examinations Commission for results processing.

The relationship between the examinations system and entry to third level education is largely beyond the control of the State Examinations Commission. Offers of third level places are made on the basis of the provisional results issued in August. There are good reasons for this because to delay offering places until the appeals process was completed would impact upon the start date for the academic year and thus disadvantage the overwhelming majority of students whose provisional results are their final results.

The State Examinations Commission makes every effort to process the results of appeals as quickly as possible in order to facilitate the college entry process, balanced with the need to allow the appeal examiners sufficient time to carry out a thorough re-marking of candidates’ work. The Commission automatically informs the CAO of all changes of results.

celtic723

I don't think i'll view any as i'm thrilled with what i got.

Although, how would you feel if you went to view your script and seen that the examiner had given you too many marks and that instead of a C3 you should have gotten a D1?


I'm going to let by gones be by gones tbh.

JSK 252

celtic723 wrote: »

I don't think i'll view any as i'm thrilled with what i got.

Although, how would you feel if you went to view your script and seen that the examiner had given you too many marks and that instead of a C3 you should have gotten a D1?


I'm going to let by gones be by gones tbh.

I would just snigger to be quite honest.:)

snazzy

I'm the opposite.
I'm going to view one or two papers because I am surprised how well I did.
I'd love to see how they marked it and whether I was better than I thought.

ironictoaster

Gotta appeal maths, got a D1 when I needed a C3 for all my courses FÚCK!

Gavin "shels"

Just found out that I think I need two honours in Higher subjects, but I only got one and then two D1's:mad: looks like I'll have to appeal both of them no matter what so.:(

Liam O

€40? I thought it was 30. Was it €40 last year too?

Gavin shels

Gavin shels wrote: »

Just found out that I think I need two honours in Higher subjects, but I only got one and then two D1's:mad: looks like I'll have to appeal both of them no matter what so.:(

What happens for the time being? Like you'll be rejected your respective courses no doubt, so if they are upgraded... What will happen to your course?

Gavin "shels"

Deleted User wrote: »

What happens for the time being? Like you'll be rejected your respective courses no doubt, so if they are upgraded... What will happen to your course?

Yup, if they're upgraded I will be offered the course if there are places left afaik after the 2nd round.

ya-ba-da-ba-doo

Can someone help please? I filled out my form on wednesday in a rush. I ticked the box to the left of the one i was meant to tick. ie i didnt tick the grey box. Then i ticked the time at the other side as i thought we were meant to? Am i screwed?

spurious

Go into your school and get it back and fix it. The closing date for submitting the forms is (I think) the 18th.
Time to change it.

neil_18_

If you find a particular question that you should hav gotten full marks in can you sort of bring that to the examiners attention?

manutd4life

what website do you use to appeal online

Heggy

Will projects be viewable when viewing your paper? I want to see my DCG project mark.

internetaddict

I did well but I've decided that I'd like to view scripts just to see how they were marked.. I figure why not? Does anyone know if it's ok to view all your papers and in the column that says "paper" do you write "1" "2" or "1&2" in the box or do you just leave it?Thanks.

JSK 252

internetaddict wrote: »

I did well but I've decided that I'd like to view scripts just to see how they were marked.. I figure why not? Does anyone know if it's ok to view all your papers and in the column that says "paper" do you write "1" "2" or "1&2" in the box or do you just leave it?Thanks.

I just ticked the grey boxes nothing else as that is where it indicated you to tick. Nothing was written on the paper column so I left it blank.

internetaddict

JSK 252 wrote: »

I just ticked the grey boxes nothing else as that is where it indicated you to tick. Nothing was written on the paper column so I left it blank.

Thanks it was a bit unclear so I'm just going to send it in and hope for the best

dontlikeurmam

Hey everyone!!...I'm definintly going to appeal one subject and maybe others depending on what they look like when i view them.I think i'm gonna be about 5-10 points off my course. My question is how likely is it that i will be offered a place in my course in October, presuming that I get the required points on appeal??...Do people know of occasions where its happened b4 or is it fairly rare??...keep in mind i'm goin for medicine where i'd say the classes wud be pretty full!!

ross b

hi, just to make the situation clear,

i got 420 points which is enough for my first preference on my cao, but...
i only got a d1 in hons maths, i need a c3.

because of this i have been offered my 4th choice.

my question is if i appeal the maths, how likely is it that i would be upgraded to a c3?

and if that happens, will it impact my cao choices and the course i accept?

thanks!
ross.

spurious

ross b wrote: »

my question is if i appeal the maths, how likely is it that i would be upgraded to a c3?

Have a look at the paper with a teacher who has experience correcting and see how far off you are. If you're at 54% you've obviously a much better chance of being upgraded than if you are at 50%.

ross b

thanks spurious,

that makes sense ill see if i can grab my maths teacher to view it with me.

is there anyone that could answer my other question

"will it impact my cao choices and the course i accept?"

i read that, if i get upgraded, it will only affect me come October when the state examinations commission inform the cao of the grade change. is this too late to transfer from, say, a course in limerick university to a course in trinity collage?

thanks again,
Ross.

internetaddict

ross b wrote: »

thanks spurious,

that makes sense ill see if i can grab my maths teacher to view it with me.

is there anyone that could answer my other question

"will it impact my cao choices and the course i accept?"

i read that, if i get upgraded, it will only affect me come October when the state examinations commission inform the cao of the grade change. is this too late to transfer from, say, a course in limerick university to a course in trinity collage?

thanks again,
Ross.

Hey just letting you know that I have a friend who needs upgrade in maths too and her guidance councellor contacted the college she wanted to go to, to appeal it and they said that they're willing to interview her in September and take her on anyway, I suppose if they think she really wants it. It might be different with whatever college you want to go to but it might be worth a shot?

JSK 252

Did anybody get the stub back of when their viewing time is?

SarcasticFairy

My Vice Principal rang this morning. I got the Friday slot...
She said she was going to post out the slip to me, but she just rang to ask me to come in early enough, because I'm viewing them all...

phasers

I got mine in the post today, I've the Friday slot too. Really looking forward to seeing them actually

almostnever

My slot is Saturday morning. Can't wait to have a look at them!

Fince

i got the saturday morning spot. 9-12.

does anyone know if you have to be there at nine o clock? or can you come in at any stage between 9 and 12? have a damn wedding the night before

cazzzzz

ross b wrote: »

hi, just to make the situation clear,

i got 420 points which is enough for my first preference on my cao, but...
i only got a d1 in hons maths, i need a c3.

because of this i have been offered my 4th choice.

my question is if i appeal the maths, how likely is it that i would be upgraded to a c3?

and if that happens, will it impact my cao choices and the course i accept?

thanks!
ross.

Hey it definitely is possible you will be upgraded but just think about how the exam went and what grade you were expecting?
I know a guy who was going for primary teaching a couple of years ago he got a d1 in honours irish and he needed a c3 for his course and he got upgraded.It's certainly worth a try.
If you get upgraded cao are notified straight away and so is the college you applied for,you will be offered the course but places may be full for that year so i think what you do is deffer the course for this year,reapply next year and just put the one choice on your cao and you will get it.

cazzzzz

Fince wrote: »

i got the saturday morning spot. 9-12.

does anyone know if you have to be there at nine o clock? or can you come in at any stage between 9 and 12? have a damn wedding the night before

I would say go in for 9 just to be safe the worst thing would be to arrive and be told you can't see them.

internetaddict

has anybody not got any info yet??should I be worried?

JSK 252

Got mine in the post yesterday. Got the friday evening slot and its our teacher who is the supervisor.

Acid_Violet

I didn't get any stub or slot yet, feck. Should I by now?

JSK 252

Acid_Violet wrote: »

I didn't get any stub or slot yet, feck. Should I by now?

Ring the school to see if they have sent the stub out.

Ruthieface

I got the Friday slot but I won't be around untill saturday as I'm away does anybody know if I call my school tomorrow if they would let me view them on the saturday instead? I'm so stressed over this, I really need to see them

internetaddict

Never mind, got it .

andyman

I got the Friday slot. Thank Christ.

JSK 252

My advice to everybody is to bring a calculator with you.:)

haysie

I got an exam appealed last year, my teacher recommended me to do it and i was upgraded, got an extra 20 CAO points I was thrilled.. if you feel you deserved more after you've appealed it, get it checked or else you'll just always be wondering.. you'll be suprised at the amount of people who view their scrpits.. half of the students in my year last year viewed al their scrpits.. no harm in checking.

Acid_Violet

Got my stub, set for Saturday morning, not an ideal time granted :P

spurious

Please try get the opinion of a teacher who has experience as an examiner.

Marks within square brackets should not be totalled.

For example, say there are three options (each worth 10 marks) and you are to answer two, but have attempted all three, they will be marked like this:

Part One - Blah Blah (7) <---that's supposed to be the mark you got in a circle

Part Two - More blah (9)

Part Three - Even more blah [6] <--- the marks within square brackets are not counted.

The examiner will mark all three bits but can only give you marks for two, since that is what was asked for. The disregarded marks are in the brackets.

Sometimes people in the heat of the moment think they should be getting 22 marks for the example above, but the total is actually 16.

I'm not sure I've made that clear. Anyway, if you have a teacher who has corrected, they will know the system. Good luck all.

JSK 252

spurious wrote: »

Please try get the opinion of a teacher who has experience as an examiner.

Marks within square brackets should not be totalled.

For example, say there are three options (each worth 10 marks) and you are to answer two, but have attempted all three, they will be marked like this:

Part One - Blah Blah (7) <---that's supposed to be the mark you got in a circle

Part Two - More blah (9)

Part Three - Even more blah [6] <--- the marks within square brackets are not counted.

The examiner will mark all three bits but can only give you marks for two, since that is what was asked for. The disregarded marks are in the brackets.

Sometimes people in the heat of the moment think they should be getting 22 marks for the example above, but the total is actually 16.

I'm not sure I've made that clear. Anyway, if you have a teacher who has corrected, they will know the system. Good luck all.

Thanks spurious.:pac:

pjtb

A question for Spurious-
Is a teacher who is familiar with marking schemes good enough, or does the actual experience of going to conferences and physically marking papers make a massive difference?

spurious

I'm not sure if someone who hadn't corrected would know about the square brackets thing, but knowing how the marking schemes work is a must.

The most common way people go up in marks is because of a mis-tot on the marks. It's rare for an examiner to actually miss marks on the paper, but more likely that mistakes will be made in the actual adding up. This can result in quite large differences in grades.

**edit
If your paper has two different colours of marks (red and green) on it, then it has already been re-graded/re-checked by an advising examiner. That would make it less likely to gain marks in a re-check as a more experienced examiner has already checked it.

K4t

I'm looking at my french paper by myself just to see if it was that bitch of an oral exam(iner) that screwed me over. Got my points and offer but I cannot let this one rest!

pjtb

Thanks Spurious,
I did the LC last year, and have to admit that some teachers did not have a clue about how the marking schemes worked- I knew more myself. I was constantly referring to them from the start of fifth year on when I was doing exam questions, and they were invaluable. I don't know if you know anything about English LC markings, but my English teacher only found out a fundamental fact about the way LC English is marked after getting back our mocks- She said, looking at the mocks marking scheme (which probably wasn't up to much), ' oh , this is interesting, apparently your answers are marked based on four categories, PCLM (clarity of purpose, coherence of delivery,language,mechanics)' I couldn't believe she had never heard of this... It's so important in the subject! Just shows how right you are when you say experience of marking schemes is needed, just because a teachers teachs a subject doesn't mean they have any sort of a clue about how the exam works ( though they should!).

pjtb

K4t wrote: »

I'm looking at my french paper by myself just to see if it was that bitch of an oral exam(iner) that screwed me over. Got my points and offer but I cannot let this one rest!

Don't be expecting to see how well you did in your oral... I viewed my french last year, you're not given your mark from the oral when viewing your scripts, I don't know why. If you did really well in the written, and you got a crap grade, you could reason that you did bad in the oral, but that's the closest you'll get to finding out! It's the same with Irish.

spurious

@pjtb : I agree. I don't understand why correcting isn't something every teacher would want to do at least once - obviously not for the money as it's not worth it for that, but so as to correct classwork and homework to a good standard. I suspect the threads saying 'I always got B1s but got a D2 in the real thing' are sometimes to do with teachers who do not know how the exams are marked.

People need to be realistic. Unless something has gone badly wrong (like a mis-tot) large jumps in grades are not likely. There would be a much better chance of someone going from a D1 to a C3 for example on a recheck, than of them going from a D1 to a B2.

JSK 252

pjtb wrote: »

Don't be expecting to see how well you did in your oral... I viewed my french last year, you're not given your mark from the oral when viewing your scripts, I don't know why. If you did really well in the written, and you got a crap grade, you could reason that you did bad in the oral, but that's the closest you'll get to finding out! It's the same with Irish.

You can just subtract the mark of your written exam from the total mark to calculate your oral mark.:)

pjtb

spurious wrote: »

@pjtb : I agree. I don't understand why correcting isn't something every teacher would want to do at least once - obviously not for the money as it's not worth it for that, but so as to correct classwork and homework to a good standard. I suspect the threads saying 'I always got B1s but got a D2 in the real thing' are sometimes to do with teachers who do not know how the exams are marked.

People need to be realistic. Unless something has gone badly wrong (like a mis-tot) large jumps in grades are not likely. There would be a much better chance of someone going from a D1 to a C3 for example on a recheck, than of them going from a D1 to a B2.

@ Spurious. I think I understand why- some teachers, not all of them (but many from my school), just couldn't be bothered. 'Summer is time away from school, why on earth would I want to do more correcting?' is probably what they think. Not all teachers are as professional and dedicated as you are, Spurious! (I've read many of your posts in the Teaching and Lecturing forum,I'll be a teacher myself one day!)

pjtb

JSK 252 wrote: »

You can just subtract the mark of your written exam from the total mark to calculate your oral mark.:)

But I think you're only given the mark you got in the written paper, not your total mark, so that's not possible I'm afraid! Unless I was missing something last year! I could be wrong!

JSK 252

pjtb wrote: »

But I think you're only given the mark you got in the written paper, not your total mark, so that's not possible I'm afraid! Unless I was missing something last year! I could be wrong!

Well if thats the case then you can still do a fairly good estimate of your oral mark from subtraction by making an estimation of what percentage grade you got overall. i.e if I got the B1 i was somewhere near 80-84%.