Re-marking: information for GCE, GCSE and IGCSE students  

If you are still not satisfied after the re-mark, you can ask your centre to appeal on your behalf. Appeals do not normally involve the re-marking of work.  

Work will only be re-marked at the appeals stage if there is evidence of procedures not being followed during the original EAR.

We send your examination paper to a different examiner and ask them to re-mark it using the same mark scheme. Not all examiners are involved in re-marking examination papers. Senior examiners are responsible for this.

Once we receive the re-mark result we will key this mark into the computer system. If your grade changes, your Examinations Officer will receive, on your behalf, a new candidate statement of result. The original grade will either be confirmed, go up or go down.

If the grade has fallen you cannot refuse it and ask for the original higher grade to stand. You must be aware that this is the chance you take when asking for a re-mark. Because of this, some students apply for a photocopy of their paper before applying for a re-mark. Once your Examinations Officer has received this you can ask your teacher to look through it and, taking note of the mark scheme provided by us, they will be able to make a decision on whether they think it is worthwhile applying for a re-mark.

As it takes time to get the photocopied paper back to your Examinations Officer and for you and your teacher to decide what to do, you ought to ask for a photocopy of your examination paper as soon as possible after the results are published. This will give you, your teacher and the Examinations Officer enough time to apply for the re-mark if this is the chosen option.

There is a charge for the re-marking of examination papers so you need to check whether you or your school/college will pay for this service. 

Full details of how your Examinations Officer can apply for re-marks are contained in the Post-results Services booklet we send out with the examination results.

All coursework marks are moderated by Edexcel. Generally, after this check, a centre’s marks are approved and are accepted unchanged. Sometimes, a centre’s marks have to be reduced. Occasionally, they are raised. You can check with your centre what has happened to its marks after this moderation exercise.

Moderation is necessary to make sure that all candidates have their coursework assessed according to the same nationally agreed standard.

If your coursework mark has not been adjusted by Edexcel and it is still not the mark you believed your work had been given, then you must go back to your centre. Every centre that enters students for external examinations must have an appeals procedure in place. Students who do not believe that a correct mark was reported for their coursework must first of all make use of this appeal process. Only when this appeal process has been completed within the centre can Edexcel become involved in any dispute. 

Coursework can be re-moderated. Normally, the need for coursework re-moderation is decided on by the subject teacher and not by an individual student. Coursework/portfolio cannot be re-moderated without all the students who were entered going through the moderation process again. This is a centre decision and may not take place in every instance.

There is no guarantee that your grades will go up if your papers are re-marked. They can also go down or stay the same. After a re-mark, the only way to improve your grade is to take the examination again. Your school or college Examinations Officer can tell you when you can do that.

Unfortunately not. 20 September is the strict deadline imposed by the awarding bodies' regulator for re-marks on the summer series of examinations.

Your school or college has until 20 September to request a re-mark of your June paper on your behalf, unless it is a priority re-mark, when the deadline would be 25 August for a May/June paper.

Yes, this is possible, but remember that only your school or college can apply for a re-mark, not you or your parents/carers. 

First of all, you should consider carefully whether or not to ask your school or college to make a request for a re-mark. You should remember that very few re-marks result in a change to a grade - not because Edexcel is embarrassed that a change of marks has been made, but simply because a re-mark request has shown that the original marking was accurate. 

You have quite a bit of time after the results have been published to consider whether to go ahead with a re-mark or not. Check the closing date for re-marking requests with your Examinations Officer.

If you have made an application to go to university or a college of further education, you do not have much time and you should look at the section below on priority re-marks. (Please note that this is a summer service only.) 

Discuss your results with your subject teachers. Look at your results slip and think about the units that you have not done so well in. Was that expected or not? Would it be better to accept a rather disappointing result for one unit and get on with your next units, which you might do well in? Sometimes, students don't do as well on the next units because their mind is focusing on getting a higher uniform mark for an earlier unit instead. Remember, it is much more important to get a good mark on a unit worth 20% than on a unit worth 15%. 

If you and your teachers decide to make an application for a re-mark the following options are available: 

A clerical re-check. Your paper(s) will be re-checked (a check has already taken place before your result was published) to ensure that all parts of your paper have been marked, that the totalling of marks is correct, that the marks have been correctly recorded on our computer system and, if appropriate, special consideration has been applied. 

A full re-mark of any externally marked paper. This will also include the clerical re-check described above. Here you must remember that your marks could go up or down, as well as stay the same as originally published. This type of re-mark takes quite a long time to complete (normally 40 days, but see priority re-marks below). Your paper(s) will be re-marked by a senior examiner - not by the same examiner who marked it originally.

A priority re-mark. It is possible for you to have a priority re-mark if you have a place at university or college that is dependent on your A level results. These re-marks are completed within 20 days of the receipt of the enquiry request at Edexcel, as we need to sort out your problem with the results quickly. (Please note that this is a summer service only and is not available for international students.)

Re-moderation of coursework. Coursework can be re-moderated. The way this is done is rather different from the written paper procedures and your Examinations Officer will have all the necessary information. 

Normally, the need for coursework re-moderation is decided on by the subject teacher and not by an individual student. Your coursework/portfolio cannot be re-moderated without all the students who were entered originally going through the moderation process again. This is a centre decision and may not take place in every instance. 

One last thing: before you decide on whether to discuss a re-mark with your subject teacher, you might think about asking to see your paper(s). For information on this service have a look at the answer to the question, 'Can I see my completed examination paper?'