International GCSE results explained

Understanding your International GCSE results

See the Annotated Candidate Statement of Provisional Results (CSPR)

How are International GCSEs graded?

International GCSEs are linear qualifications, which means you take all of the exams at the end of the course. You are awarded raw marks for each exam paper and any coursework that you have completed. These marks are added together to give an overall mark.

During the awarding process, we decide where the grade boundaries lie and you are awarded a grade based on where your mark lies within these boundaries.

Your overall raw mark is converted into a UMS mark to take account of variations in difficulty between papers.

Question papers may vary slightly in difficulty from year to year. For example, a mark of 53 in one paper in a January exam session might represent the same level of achievement as a mark of 49 in a different version of the same paper in the following summer exam session. The Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) ensures that these two marks receive the same value when contributing to the final grade.

Grade	% of UMS marks
A*	90
A	80
B	70
C	60
D	50
E	40
F	30
G	20

What if I'm missing a grade?


	The most likely reason is that you have an incomplete result. If you don’t have a grade that you expected, the best thing to do is speak to the exams officer at your school or college and ask them to get in touch with us.

Where can I find the grade boundaries?


	You can find grade boundaries for all UK and international exams taken from January 2009 onwards in our "I want to..." area.

When will I receive my certificates?


	Certificates are sent to your centre (school/ college/ training provider). If you finished your exams in January the latest your centre will receive your certificates is 31 May. If you finished your exams in June the latest your centre will receive your certificates is 31 October.

What is special consideration?


	Special consideration is when we issue you a calculated result or extra marks because you’ve had an illness, injury or other personal circumstances that have affected your performance. If you think you may be entitled to special consideration, you should speak to your exams officer. They will make a request on your behalf and we make decisons on a case-by-case basis. Special consideration isn’t shown on the statement of results you’re given by your school or college. However, it is on the subject mark reports that are sent to schools and colleges. If you’d like to know whether special consideration was requested on your behalf, please check with your exams officer.

Some of my personal details are incorrect on my results slip. What can I do?


	We can make changes such as misspelled names very quickly. We suggest you ask your exams officer to contact us to request any changes. These requests must come from someone at your centre as we have no way of identifying students who call or email us. If we can’t identify you, we can’t make changes to confidential information.

How do my grades compare with those of everybody else who took this exam?


	You can compare your results with those of others who have completed the same exam by looking at our statistics: Statistics for International GCSE (UK only) Statistics for International GCSE (international only) This image may help you to understand the layout of the statistics documents.

Didn't get the International GCSE grades you wanted?

If your exam mark is lower than you were expecting, please speak to your teacher. After all the teaching that you’ve had, plus the tests and internal exams, they’re in the best position to advise you.

Can I get a copy of my marked exam paper?

You can ask your centre to request that we return the original version of your marked question papers. We can't provide photocopies of marked International GCSE scripts.

Depending on how your paper was marked, you may receive your script as an electronic pdf file.

How do I get a copy of my exam paper?

Please speak to your exams officer. They will make an ‘Access to Scripts’ request on your behalf.

As with other UK exam boards, we are not allowed to send out a copy of your paper until after the re-mark deadline has passed. This means that if you are considering getting your paper re-marked you should request this service instead. Your exams officer can ask us to send a copy of your re-marked paper.

If you miss the deadline to apply for a copy of your exam paper, we will be unable to process your request.

The deadlines are:

Exam Session	Deadline
November exams	28 February
January exams	28 April
March exams	31 May
Summer exams	4 October

Can I get my coursework back?


	Yes. You can ask your centre to return any project, coursework or controlled assessment. How do I get my coursework back? Edexcel (or your school) will keep your coursework until after results day, in case your school wants to ask questions about your result. If you want your coursework back after results day, please speak to your teacher or exams officer. If we have your work, your teacher or exams officer will be able to request that we return it.

Can I get my exam paper re-marked?

Yes, if your school requests a re-mark.

Is a re-mark the best option for me?

During a re-mark your grade may go up, go down or stay the same. If your grade goes down, you cannot reject the re-mark and go back to the original grade - the only way to improve your grade would be to resit the exam.

The majority of re-mark requests do not result in a change to a grade - simply because the re-mark has shown that the original grade was accurate.

What does a re-mark involve?

A senior examiner will re-mark your paper, checking your answers against the mark scheme. This senior examiner won’t have marked your paper before.

Once your paper has been re-marked, we do a clerical check to make sure that:

everything you have written has been marked
all of the marks have been added up to give the correct total mark
we’ve entered your total mark correctly on our systems
special consideration has been taken into account (if it was applied for before the exam).

You can request that we only perform the clerical check. If you do, this will cost less than having a full re-mark.

How long will it take to get my paper re-marked and what will it cost?

We aim to have the result of your re-mark back to you within 30 days, but if you miss the deadline you will not be able to have your paper re-marked.

The deadlines are:

Exam Session	Deadline
January exams	17 April
Summer exams	20 September

Your exams officer will be able to tell you how much these services cost.

What happens if I am still not happy with my grade after a re-mark?

If you are still not satisfied after a re-mark, you can ask your centre to appeal on your behalf. Appeals do not normally involve re-marking your work again, but work will be re-marked if there is evidence that the correct re-marking procedure wasn’t followed during the original re-mark.

Your centre has 14 days after receiving the outcome of your re-mark to appeal. We can't process appeal requests after this deadline.

Can I get my coursework re-marked?


	Your teacher marks all project work, coursework and controlled assessment. It is then moderated, meaning that Edexcel requests a sample of your teacher’s marked work and we check that we agree with their assessment. Moderation is necessary to make sure that all students have their coursework assessed according to the same standards. Most of the time, your teacher’s marks will be approved and accepted unchanged. However, sometimes marks are reduced or raised, if the original teacher’s marking was judged to have been too lenient or too harsh. If you think that the mark on your results slip is not the mark your teacher gave you, please check with your teacher to see what happened to marks after moderation. If Edexcel did not adjust your mark, talk to your teacher or exams officer and they’ll get in touch with us. If we did adjust your mark, it may be possible to have the work re-moderated. Can I get my coursework re-marked? Every school or college that enters students for external exams must have an appeals procedure in place. If you think Edexcel has the wrong mark, you must first follow this appeals process. Your school or college will involve Edexcel if it can’t settle the matter internally. Can I get my coursework re-moderated? Coursework can be re-moderated if we changed the marks given by your teacher, but it is up to your school to decide on whether they request this. When Edexcel receives a request for coursework re-moderation, the coursework of all students originally entered at your school or college goes through the moderation process again. Your teacher or exams officer will be able to give you more information on this process.

Can I resit my exam?


	All International GCSEs are linear. This means that you will need to take all papers for the subject if you wish to resit.

When will I be able to take my exam again?


	Many exams are offered two or three times a year but some are only avaialble once. You can check when your unit is next available by looking at our exam timetables or by speaking to your exams officer. There is a charge for entering each exam and you will need to check with your exams officer to see if your school will pay for you to resit. If you have to pay the entry fee yourself, you can find what we charge your centre on the fees page of our website. However, please be aware that many schools and colleges will charge an administration cost on top of our fee.