Biased/Unreasonable Marking please help! (1 Viewer)

[BzR_My]

Hey BoS pipz. Today, i have recieved my results for Standard English half yearly examination, and have recieved decent marks in the first and second sections(70-85%). However, i was given a 40% for my creative writing story on discovery and re-discovery. The comment was written : "Quiet Hard to Read, Very confusing" with no additional feedback.
On the criteria sheet, it fell under the category:

Attempts to write a creative story based on discovery
Limited undertanding of the language features and its use.

All 3 sections were marked by different teachers (1 teacher for 1 section) and although they had SOME trouble reading my writing, they gave me a reasonable marks which i believe, i deserve.

I have given her my creative work back, and she promised to look at it again.

I do not know what to do and whether i should get BOSTES involved in this situation. I am really worried about me not recieving an ATAR which would gurantee me a place in University. I am getting an average of 85 in other subjects, despite my problems with writing.

P.S: I am from Non-english speaking background.

 

[BlueGas]

I don't think it's matter of the teacher disliking you, maybe you didn't do so well in the creative writing. She's going to take a look at your creative writing again and I don't see where's the problem, unless she marks it again and still fails you, that's when you ask (politely) why did she give you that mark and how you can improve on it.

 

[BzR_My]

Other kids in my class have written roughly 2 pages. Their hand writing was pretty bad and my english teacher compared it to mine and said that their's is even worse.

 

[snowflakeptical]

yeah, I think you should see what the teacher says on the second marking
it may be because she marked unfairly based on mood/ some situational circumstances

 

[torylearn]

Head teacher it

 

[BzR_My]

She is the head :CC

 

[BLIT2014]

If you get a bad mark second time maybe ask people on BOS to have a look?

 

[BzR_My]

Thanks for your responses guys, i will talk to the teacher tomorrow and get my work back.

 

[StudyToDeath]

A similar thing happend with me, I did a speech on Discovery at the time I thoguth it was worth more marks. 40% is really harsh. How much is it worth? Maybe rewrite it in the holidays and follow the rubric. Good luck in getting it resolved.

 

[HecticSandWitch]

Looks like you've done everything that's reasonable, hopefully she gives you the mark you deserve!

 

[Flop21]

The english syllabus is very subjective and honestly to me it's really just up to the marker's opinion - which is wrong. Most marking criterias are not specific at all, which annoys me. And some teachers won't even tell you where you lost marks, which makes me think that it is even more their opinion.

And I will tell you this. Depending on whether the teacher likes you or not, it will effect your mark. If the teacher loves you, your mark may swing up. If she doesn't like you or know you, it will swing down. If a teacher likes you, they will tend to try and mark you the max marks they can with what you've given her. That's just my opinion / observations.

When she says "Quiet Hard to Read, Very confusing" are you sure she means your hand writing? Or does she mean the words themselves? E.g. hard to read means, hard to follow the story maybe due to poor grammar or word choices? And when she says confusing, she means that your ideas were confusing and she didn't understand the story itself - rather than your actual handwriting.

Maybe try typing up your story if it was actually your handwriting. And post here to someone to read over and see if they agree.

Good luck

 

[Fiction]

English creative writing is pretty subjective, however there are key elements that all markers look for. Setting, characters, showing and not telling, themes etc are a few examples. Consider the following examples before you label it biased marking though.

Are your settings apparent and clear to the marker? As in, is the marker aware of where your characters are all the time? It can make a difficult read if your settings are screwed up. Do you have more than one voice in your creative? Having only multiple voices indicates sophistication, provided you don't fragment your story too much. Is your story extremely fragmented? Do you skip from scene to scene without any real linkages? Does your resolution tie everything together etc.

If you're really sure your marks are undeserving of the effort and quality of your work, I suggest you bring it to another teacher, or a tutor to look over first before you address your teacher again. If there really is nothing to be done, then you're just going to have to deal with it. One assessment task isn't going to guarantee a failure, you just have to improve your creative writing for the next assessment.

Lastly, just on a pedantic note, are you sure she wrote "Quiet hard to read?" And not "Quite hard to read?" Just because if it is the first, ironically she's in the wrong.

 

[Fiction]

Just one more thing -"Limited undertanding of the language features and its use" suggests that you're either not showing and only telling, or you're being too descriptive to the point of banter. It can also indicate sloppy structure - do you have a clear complication and resolution/ or some realisation? Does your story move anywhere?

Have you put in sufficient techniques? E.g, does your work have any visual imagery/ comparisons like metaphors, similes etc?

Good luck!

 

[BzR_My]

I put few techniques and made it as descriptive as i could. Any other tips on creative writing?