The Awarding Boards are very keen to reinforce that they follow stringent measures to ensure you receive the correct results for your exams but also acknowledge that occasionally mistakes can be made.
Examination results belong to the candidate, we cannot issue or discuss results with anyone else without express, specific consent from the candidate. We must have a signature from the candidate before any applications for post results services are made.
The services that exam board offer are as follows:
- Access to Scripts
Two options are available from most boards:
- a priority copy of your examination script to enable you to decide whether you wish to apply for other post results services
- an original copy of your exam script to use for teaching and learning purposes.
You will be asked to confirm whether you are happy for your script to be shared with the school.
Some boards return these electronically and they will be forwarded to your school email address, whilst others send them via post and this can take a number of weeks.
PLEASE NOTE you cannot apply for other post results services if you request your original script
- Clerical Check
This is a check of all the clerical procedures that lead to the awarding of a grade. In simple terms, they add up the marks and check that the correct grade, according to the grade boundaries, has been applied. It is unusual but not impossible for Grades to change as result of this, particularly as a lot of exam papers are now marked electronically.
- Review of Marking
This is not a ‘remark’. A remark is no longer available as a post results service. A review includes a clerical check as well as a review of the marking parameters that have been applied to an exam paper. This means that if the mark has been applied may be quite stringent compared to the opinion of another examiner, if the mark falls in with the range allowed, it will not be changed. Marks are only changed if there is a definite and identifiable ‘error’ in the marking.
Occasionally changes are made as a result of a review of marking but it is less common in recent years due to changes in marking that have been instigated by Ofqual.
- Priority Review of Marking
This is only usually available for A Level students as it is understood that grade decisions can impact their UCAS (University/Higher Education) applications. The deadlines to submit these are very short, so must be applied for as close to results day as possible.
- Review of Moderation
Samples of coursework are sent for external moderation by the Awarding Board before the summer exams start. As a result of this, coursework marks can be adjusted by the awarding board and the school is not notified of this until results day when we receive our moderation reports. If requested, the review of moderation ensures assessment criteria has been fairly, reliably and consistently applied. A decision to request a review of moderation sits with the school as it can affect the results of every student in the school that has submitted coursework for the same course.
- Other potential impacts on results
Awarding Boards reserve the right to review all results for a course if they decide there have been too many enquiries that may reveal inconsistencies within the marking. This can be done at any stage up to certification (usually October) and schools are not notified about these taking place or any outcomes until they are complete.
Please Remember:
- The decision to apply for post results services should not be done lightly; you must be aware that if you request a review of marking or a clerical check, your results can move up or down; we cannot predict or presume a likely outcome and once this has been done there are very limited options for recourse.
- All post results services must be requested via the exams officer and are only available for a limited amount of time; generally the earlier you make your request, the quicker you will receive a response.
- Each awarding board has a different set of fees for post results services. The school will produce forms for you to complete detailing the deadlines for your application and the fee you will need to pay. Fees are charged on an individual exam basis – not on a course basis e.g. If you sat 2 papers as part of your Religious Studies GCSE, you will be charged for each paper that you request a post results service for.
- You will be asked to pay separately for each post results service and each exam paper, you apply for. The reason for this is that if the outcome of your request leads directly to an improvement in your overall grade for the subject (not just for the exam paper), the fee is refunded.
- Always check the grade boundaries before you request any post results services and we strongly recommend that you talk to a member of staff, preferably your subject teacher before you make your application.
- The school will levy an additional administration charge for all post results services.