Am I out of my mind?

LeapOfFaith

Hi,

So I went to see my exam scripts yesterday in the hope that I
could spot some clerical errors, etc. like most students in the country.
But mine wasn't a vain hope, rather a desperate final stab at achieving
my dream course.

I got 3 A2s, 2 B1s and 1 B3-- an altogether mediocre result for someone hoping
to study Medicine ( and a repeat LC to boot!) Suffice to say I was wholly disappointed...

Now I got 86% in both Chem, Business and Bio but I spotted some marginal errors
in the marking which I would really like to appeal but being new to all this recheck
business I would SINCERELY APPRECIATE any help, advice, guidance or anecdotes...

BIOLOGY:

For the short q, I said that Biosphere was: the part of the atmosphere where living things can survive or exist--but got 0.
Also for symbiosis: When organisms of the same and different species live together and at least one of them benefits--- 0 marks.

I stated that Iron was a named mineral that helped in the transport of O2 around the body--0.
One of the functions of the Lymphatic system was that it matures white blood cells--0 marks.
The difference between animalia and monera I said was reproduction, Animalia: sexual reproduction and monera binary fission- asexual.
ATP: a high energy carrier.


Then a few other questions followed the answers to which I have now forgotten.

oh, I said that degenerative illness is one that gets worse over time as you age.

And that a feature of the capillary which helps in the uptake of C02 is that is it very thin layer of endothelial tissue.

AND so, what do you all think are my chances of getting upgraded to an A1???

Thanks in advance.

FURET

The biosphere includes the oceans and water habitats so your answer is wrong I'm afraid.

doolox

...both species must benefit for it to be symbiosis. If only one benefits it is parasitism.

Colour Insanity

Hey.

The marking scheme for all the 2014 exams are actually out on examinations.ie. It may be worth your while checking there and seeing if what you said in your paper coincided with the marking scheme.

Once you do that, then you can make an informed choice about whether you should get a recheck

This is the HL Biology marking scheme: http://www.examinations.ie/archive/markingschemes/2014/LC025ALP000EV.pdf

AulBiddy

I can tell you the answer for biosphere is wrong, you were right until you put the word atmosphere in, the atmosphere is only one section of the biosphere. Unfortunately definitions in biology have to be exact and any wrong wording could automatically change an entire statement.

rainbowtrout

First of all, if you got bang on 86% and biology is out of 400, that means you got 344/400

You need 16 marks to get to 360 for the A1.

If all of those things were to be awarded marks, would it be 16 marks?

Because if they are all only worth say 1 mark each then you still wont get to 360.

I agree with everyone else on the incorrect biosphere definition.

However the symbiosis definition given in the marking scheme is

Relationship between two species involving benefit.

You really need to go through the marking scheme and compare the answers in it with your answers, check how many marks they are worth and tally the maximum you could achieve.

Note for reading the marking scheme:

Example Q1 the 2(7) + 3(2) means the first two correct answers you gave in this question got 7 each and the next 3 got 2 each. That's the question with biosphere/symbiosis in it, so if you got two correct answers in that question, the most you can get for any other definition after that is 2 marks per correct answer.

LeapOfFaith

Thanks for all your advice. Is it possible that a recheck examiner would be more lenient ..or am I just clutching at straws???

rainbowtrout

LeapOfFaith wrote: »

Thanks for all your advice. Is it possible that a recheck examiner would be more lenient ..or am I just clutching at straws???

There is no such thing as leniency. All examiners must mark to the same scheme. They are not going to look at your grade and go 'Ah he's nearly as the A1, I'll try and find a few marks '. That would be unfair to the students who were also on 86% and didn't send their paper back for recheck.

If there's an answer in your paper that didn't get marks the first time and deserves marks according to the scheme they'll be awarded. It's that simple.