Leaving Cert- tips for viewing scripts

shakywaky

How do you view your script accurately and well enough to make sure that you get the most out of this process? Some of my teachers will not be available to help me and I have no idea how to do it properly!! Can anyone give me tips and advice on how to view scripts - steps to follow, things to do etc...?? Any help would be greatly appreciated! thank you!

T0001

We were told to:

Bring a calculator
Read over the exam paper
Read previous Marking Schemes

randylonghorn

shakywaky wrote: »

How do you view your script accurately and well enough to make sure that you get the most out of this process? Some of my teachers will not be available to help me and I have no idea how to do it properly!! Can anyone give me tips and advice on how to view scripts - steps to follow, things to do etc...?? Any help would be greatly appreciated! thank you!

If there's a paper or papers you are definitely dicey about, I would advise seeing if perhaps another subject teacher from the school might be attending and might be willing to spare you 10 minutes to look over it with you.

rainbowtrout

I posted about this in another thread the other day. I'll find the post and copy it over. I view scripts with my students every year.




This is what I would suggest as a course of action.

Get your form in to review all papers first.

Then go and ask your teachers if they will accompany you, if they will all the better. If they can't/won't perhaps ask another teacher (nicely) of that subject in the school if they would be able to help. There are two teachers for my subject in the school, I always go in, the other teacher doesn't, so invariably I end up viewing scripts from the other class. I don't mind doing this, but of course each teacher is different.

Remember that most teachers are qualified in two subjects, so a teacher coming to view a maths paper with you might agree to look over a geography paper with you if they also teach it, even if they didn't have you for geography and your own geography teacher won't be attending. At the very least they might be able to help you interpret the marking scheme and how it was applied to your answers.

When you go in on the evening you might see teachers there who you weren't expecting to see and they might agree to help you. The key to all of this is ask nicely, and you may have success.


Now the viewing itself, this is what I would recommend.

There is usually a grid on the front of your answer book where all your questions are listed off and the marks beside them. Total this first and check does it match the total on the bottom of the page.

Check that the correct number of questions were included in the total and any other restrictions that are in place. E.g. if there are three sections on the paper and you have to answer 1 question in each section out of a choice of two and you answer all six questions that you then don't just pick out the three highest marks out of the six, that you pick the highest mark out of each section when you do the total. Some people forget these type of restrictions when appealing.

Next: check the totals on each question that you have answered and check if it matches with the total that was filled in on the grid on the front of your answer book. Two possible errors here: mistake in addition in the question, OR question added correctly inside the answer book but transcribed incorrectly onto the marks grid on the front.


Once you are satisfied with all of that, go through each question in the answer book and compare your answers to those in the marking scheme, note if you have been given all the marks allocated and the correct marks for each part.

So say for a question where it asks you to list the first four letters of the alphabet and each one is worth 3 marks and you list A, B , C and D, and are only awarded 9 in total, then there's an error.

You are not allowed bring a pen into the room with you as you could change your paper, so I would suggest leaving a notebook or refill pad outside the room and if you see something wrong like anything above, go out and write it down and come back in.

E.g. 'Q2a I wrote down 4 correct letters but was only awarded marks for three of them, and the marking scheme awards marks for four.

Continue through your paper until you are satisfied you have checked each question.

Next look at the total marks you were given. Say it's marked out of 400 (to keep it simple) and using the example above you got 279 which would be a C1, and the extra three marks would bring you to 272 which is a B3, then you would have grounds to appeal it.

However if you are on 275 (also a C1) the extra marks would bring you to 278 which is still a C1 and you would be wasting your time sending it back.


What students regularly fail to consider too is that occasionally they may have been awarded marks for an answer that is not correct,so again taking the example above, if you deserve the 3 marks, but you found in Q4 that when you were asked to name the first four numbers each for 3 marks and you named 1, 2 3, and 5 and were given 12 marks for the question, on the appeal these 3 marks would be deducted for an incorrect answer and you are back where you started.

So check all answers that have been awarded marks when you are doing so.

NOTE: The SEC do not give grades by percentage only by marks, there is no rounding.

So on a paper marked out of 400, 360 is an A1 (90%). 359 is an A2 (89.75%), they do not go by percentages as some students mistakenly think and wonder why they got 89.75% and it wasn't rounded to 90%. It doesn't work like that.

shakywaky

Thank you for the tips and advice rainbowtrout! These will be very helpful I'm sure. Out of interest, what has been the greatest jump in points and/or in grades that you have seen after a recheck..?

shakywaky

Thank you for the tips and advice rainbowtrout! These will be very helpful I'm sure. Out of interest, what has been the greatest jump in points and/or in grades that you have seen after a recheck..?

spurious

The big jumps usually come when there has been a mistake made in adding the marks for questions.

rainbowtrout

Just what spurious said. Big jumps come from addition mistakes rather than marking errors.

Typically when upgrades come as a result of marks not being awarded from questions students tend to go up by one grade, eg. C1 to B3, A2 to A1.

Obviously the A2 to A1 is the beneficial one points wise. Or the E to D3.

I had one student jump 2 grades, but that was because they were say on 69% (c1) and ended up on 75 (B2). That was the only one, all of the others over the years have been 1 grade jump.

In the main it tends to be one grade, as by and large papers are marked accurately which is the whole point of the system.

shakywaky

And out of all the students you've had who have appealed, what has been the greatest number of upgrades for a student?

rainbowtrout

shakywaky wrote: »

And out of all the students you've had who have appealed, what has been the greatest number of upgrades for a student?

The one I explained above. Where they jumped two grades, but that was because they were a mark below the next grade and got enough to pull them up 2 grades. All others have been one grade.


Appeals aren't a magic solution. They are there to rectify mistakes if you think they have been made. Occasionally there are addition mistakes so that means students jump a large amount. But by and large papers are marked accurately so grades don't jump by a huge amount.

Ompala

shakywaky wrote: »

Thank you for the tips and advice rainbowtrout! These will be very helpful I'm sure. Out of interest, what has been the greatest jump in points and/or in grades that you have seen after a recheck..?

I have seen someone go from an F to an A1 in French, which ended up completely altering their plans as they had already started a different course from what they would have been offered without the mistake.

The people who mark scripts are only human after all, mistakes happen, its just very unfortunate that they can be so costly.

In college I know a guy who went from an F to a B1 in a physics module.

rainbowtrout

Ompala wrote: »

I have seen someone go from an F to an A1 in French, which ended up completely altering their plans as they had already started a different course from what they would have been offered without the mistake.

The people who mark scripts are only human after all, mistakes happen, its just very unfortunate that they can be so costly.

In college I know a guy who went from an F to a B1 in a physics module.

That happened one of my students this week. He got a C1 in one subject and an A in everything else. We got it checked by SEC and they confirmed on thursday that the examiner had written the wrong mark on the results sheet. he got an A1. Again, human error rather than poor marking.

shakywaky

What I meant was what is the greatest number of subjects that you have seen upgraded for a particular student?

rainbowtrout

Usually only one, on one occasion two.

A lot of students only view one paper because they are happy with all their grades. A lot view all their papers and see that they are all accurate despite the fact that they were 'convinced they would get an A2 in English'.

I don't view other subjects other than my own with my students so I don't know if they send back other subjects.

Also the chances of a student having their paper marked inaccurately in a number of different subjects by a number of different examiners is extremely small.

Look, I think you're looking for me to tell you a story of the student that got upgrades in 5 subjects from Ds to As and Bs and went up by 150 points and it just doesn't happen. Mistakes do happen but tend to be rare rather than commonplace.

The SEC arranges for examinations in 106 subjects each year. Different modes of assessment
are involved in these examinations, including written papers, practical examinations, oral and
aural examinations, and various forms of coursework. The SEC produces 506 examination
papers and other test instruments each year. Most written and practical examination papers are
produced in both English and Irish . Where required, modified and Braille versions of
examination papers are also produced. In addition, the SEC prepares a full set of Leaving
Certificate and Junior Certificate contingency (ie back-up) papers. Delivering the State
Examinations involves the production of approximately 4 million individual examination papers
annually, equating to some 47.7 million A4 pages.

That bit above is taken directly from the SEC website.

There were 1500 upgrades in total last year. That is tiny in comparison to the amount of pieces of work submitted.

spurious

I've never seen more than one, but then I didn't teach people who applied for more than one or two rechecks. You'd have to be pretty unlucky to have had mistakes made in multiple papers.

randylonghorn

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Just what spurious said. Big jumps come from addition mistakes rather than marking errors.

2 pages stuck together in a script and a tired examiner doesn't notice can be another one, not very common perhaps but I've heard of it happening a few times. Probably wouldn't cause a really big jump, but it can often mean a full question missed out so a grade or even two is very possible.

I suspect the use of Tippex is often the cause, another reason why I would never recommend its use in an exam situation.