CAO Offers:5 Points Short on 1st Preference, but appeal pending on subject.

Not sure if here or miscellaneous non financial questions is the place for this.
My niece is 5 points short of her first preference choice for college, Commerce with French (she got 495; course 500).
She did extremely well in all subjects (A's and B's) with exception of French (C2) which shocked both family and the school as she is fluent in oral and written French. She was extremely happy with the paper and although fluent worked hard for it too.
I genuinely believe that there must be some clerical error in that some element - oral, aural, written - part of the exam has not been included.
It looks like she will not get her first preference. She is appealing the result in French. I have read that it may take up to October until a revised mark will be awarded.
Has anyone had experience of this previously? Is there a chance if (I believe when) her result is marked up that the CAO/College will have to allow her transfer up to her preferred course?
Does anyone work in any of these areas that could perhaps offer some guidance?
If it was any other subject of hers we all would have put it down to a bad paper.
Thanks.

When the second round of offers come out, she'll more than likely have the necessary points anyway, assuming the course isn't booked out.

Fingers crossed anyway, but the appeal may be (hopefully will be) un-necessary apart from easing her mind.

niceoneted said:

Is there a chance if (I believe when) her result is marked up that the CAO/College will have to allow her transfer up to her preferred course?

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AFAIK, Yes, she can. The collages had a rule if the course was full, they would not allow extra people to start on the grounds of a recount. However one father brought them to court on this issue and won.

She MUST view her script. If she just adds up the marks she may discover that there is an error by the examiner in totalling up the marks (or maybe omitting marks on a certain page). Another possibility is that it was totalled correctly but a clerical error was made by the person inputting results for the State Exams Commission. If either of this situations is the case, you do not have to appeal the grade as such. Content and quality of her exam will not be re-checked, it is merely an administrative process, the correct result will be awarded in a couple of days and the CAO will be informed.

On the other hand if this is not the case, then if she still feels her exam justified a higher grade, it must go through the appeals process and the entire script must be re-corrected by an appeals examiner - not just the bits she thinks were worth more. This can take a few weeks to end of September to come back but colleges usually find places for people who are upgraded so they don't lose out. She should try to get a teacher to review the script with her, sometimes students misread a question and didn't realise that until they or a teacher see it again. This can explain disappointment. Remember she should check scores on all scripts really, not just French. You never know.....

Most definitely view the script. I did this with my niece a few years ago and it is definitely worth a look. Make sure she brings a calculator. Probably better to bring in her French teacher or someone who knows the paper and the language.

Fingers crossed she will get the course in the second or third round or receives an upgrade. But (as a plan B), if commerce is her next choice, and she accepts - then she may also choose French as an option or extra subject and have the option to go on the erasmus year. This way, she will take more commerce related subjects, have a stronger commerce degree and come out with a french qualification. But this obviously depends on whether she has Commerce as her number 2.

Yes she has commerce as her second choice and has accepted it. I have just spoken to her and she put in the application for the viewing of the script today and will get to view it next Tuesday. The school have arranged for the French teacher to be present with her for the viewing of the script - Private schools for you!
Jano thank you so much for the valuable info you posted. Given that it is a language paper in which an oral and aural exam took place do you know will there be notes from the oral and the correct answers from the aural that she can cross reference?

Not sure about that! Don't teach a language.

I looked at my Irish paper, my script from the aural was there with the written. They do not provide any other aids to the oral/aural (though script viewing is usually done in a hall? Would be tough to arrange.) In the actual appeal though both would have to be re-marked.

niceoneted said:

The school have arranged for the French teacher to be present with her for the viewing of the script - Private schools for you!

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I hope your niece gets what she wants but I think the above comment re private schools is totally unfair. As a teacher in the public VEC sector, I will be going in tomorrow evening, in my own time, to view scripts with students. A lot of my colleagues will also do this, it is entirely up to the teacher, maybe sometimes with encouragement from the school. But mostly teachers do it out of a sense of fairness for the student, many of whom do not appreciate the effort.

Yes I can vouch for that. I was with my child in a VEC school last Friday from 6-9pm on the trail of the elusive 5 points. We got great guidance and assistance from the teachers present. It was well worth the exercise even if nothing comes of it. We now know that we are not alone and that we have had the opportunity to review the scripts and see for ourselves where marks were lost.