NO RESULT - 'X'
This indicates that you have been given no result although you were entered for the examination, coursework or portfolio. This can happen for a number of reasons. The most common reason is that your overall result is one made up of a number of units or modules and one or more units/modules have not been cashed in to enable an award to be made. (See question, 'What is cashing-in?'). When you sit a unitised/modular examination, your results are held by Edexcel in a special file until your school or college tells us that you want to cash in (that is, use the results to contribute to an overall grade).
Each year we contact schools and colleges to query cash-in instructions for individual students. We will issue your school or college with a summary of any unresolved cash-in problems. A small number of schools and colleges do not correct these problems before results day. If you suspect that your ‘No Result’ is because of a cash-in problem, you should contact your school or college Examinations Officer. We will act immediately on their instructions and issue a unit/module result. Edexcel cannot take this action without instructions from your Examinations Officer.
Another thing to look at is the Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI) on your latest results slips and for any results from unitised/modular examinations taken earlier that you intended to cash in. This UCI number enables us at Edexcel to confirm your identity. Sometimes schools and colleges fail to supply your UCI, or issue a different UCI when entering candidates for an examination. When this happens we try to ensure a correct match by using other personal details. We deal with thousands of such instances each year. If you have different or missing UCI numbers, that may be the cause of your missing grade.
Another common reason for a 'No Result' is that a grade could not be issued because the modules/units cashed in by your school or college are ineligible. When grades are issued on the basis of a set of cashed-in modules/units (usually three, six or twelve), there are rules governing the allowable combinations. For example, some units are optional and some are mandatory. If a mandatory unit is missing a grade cannot be issued. You must contact your Examinations Officer if you suspect there is a problem. Edexcel can only act on instructions from a school or college.
Of course, the most obvious reason for a 'No Result' is that you did not attend the examination! However, sometimes attendance registers can be incorrect, particularly if you were entered for the examination after the final entry deadline, or were not entered at all. Because examination papers are sent out only at the last minute in order to avoid security breaches, sometimes delivery failures or other problems occur. If you suspect there is a problem with your attendance, check with your school or college - they keep a copy of the attendance register.
PENDING - ‘Q’
This indicates that Edexcel has not yet issued a grade, although we believe that a grade should be issued: in other words the grade award is late. There are many reasons for a late grade award:
- If there has been a last-minute change to your entry due to a late cash-in or ineligible entry made by your school or college, we may not yet have had time to issue a new result. Check with your school or college to see if a problem is being resolved.
- A postal strike could delay critical mail.
- Completed examination papers are sometimes not delivered, for example if there is a post office vehicle robbery or accident. Where we know that a completed examination paper has definitely been lost we follow a special procedure to award a grade based on your performance in other examinations, earlier exams in the missing subject and teacher estimates of your likely performance in the examination paper. Edexcel will calculate a grade (called an aegrotat) to include in your results. Check the noticeboard for any news of lost or stolen examination papers.
A '#' symbol
This means that you missed part of the examinations and so scored zero for this part. Your overall grade was awarded on the examinations you actually took.