Anyone still waiting for GCSE marking reviews?

@cherrywhite I sent in one Eng Lang paper on the Monday after results and it took 3 weeks to come back with no change.

I sent the other one yesterday, but the exams officer said they're taking about 7 days now. This is AQA. She just needs 1 mark to move up so still hopefully she may get it.

Still waiting for English Language, but I suspect there's an English backlog due to the number being submitted!

I think the successes being reported here give false hope and aren't representative of overall remark results. According to the official stats, 4.3% of all GCSE grades were challenged, but only 1% were changed. Of 243,150 challenged grades in summer 2025, 24.1% were changed up and less than 0.1% were changed down.

So 75.8% of challenges resulted in the grade staying the same.

We're not expecting ours to go up, but the English result was so out-of-kilter with predicted scores, it seemed sensible to investigate this.

I thought all remarks had to be done within 20 calendar days? Is that just their target with no comeback if they don't meet it?

The one that was initially a 6 went to 2 points off an 8 so it is very hit and miss…

My DS got two today he went from 7 to 8 on one and 6 to 7 on the other. He’s still waiting for one which is currently a 7. Hope others hear soon…

Ah, thanks for clarifying! 🙂

I mark two papers for AQA. I can't miss a question or not answer a mark either - unless there has been a scanning error and I can't see the work to mark it.

I'm so fed up with AQA - we have sent 5 of DS's papers in for review. I mark for Eduqas and it's not possible to miss a question or not enter a mark, because the system won't let you. SURELY all exam boards should be like this.

Yes

@Doobiesista do you get money back if mark goes up?

I completely agree. And you also need to be able to lay out for the re-mark which isn't cheap.

Wow that’s worrying - how can they miss a whole page?! So glad you checked. So unfair for the kids who don’t check - I encouraged an A level student today to download his paper as he was surprised that he got such a low mark on his best paper. He doesn’t go to the best school and was unaware that this was even an option! There will be so many more kids like him out there - although our school sent an email outlining post exam services, I’m only aware of the stats re remarks thanks to Mumsnet.

We got one back today. AQA physics. When we recalled the paper we noticed a whole page hadn't been marked! They found 10 extra marks so went from a 7 to an 8. A good outcome as it's one of their a level subjects so the 7 was a shock on results day.

This is now making me feel like we should do the lot!

We submitted both English Lit and Lang and both have gone up from 7s to 8s. Great but I’m so unimpressed that initial marking was so inaccurate. Different exam boards too!

We only submitted last week. So it didn’t take long. It was AQA.

That's great news - well done to your DS! Was Chemistry AQA? Can I ask how long that took to come back? We are also 1 away from a 9 but only submitted on Thursday so thinking it may still be a while before we hear. Still waiting for French Speaking, Geography and English Language too.

Got two re-marks back today - chemistry, which was 1 mark below the grade boundary went up by four marks, and computer science which was 2 marks below also went up! Both from an 8 to a 9. Really pleased for DS.

Just an update - Edexcel Maths came back within 2 days (submitted on Thurs) - we got the grade increase we were hoping for - so happy as DD wants to pursue a maths degree so feels much better with the 9 under her belt. Hope those still waiting get good news soon. And a big thank you to chatgpt for identifying the error - it was in the highest marked paper which we would have been unlikely to submit for review otherwise!

Similar ... Mossbourne

I’m going to assume Michaela 🤣

yes east London @ifonlytheydlisten

Intrigued which that is! London?

So pleased for everyone who has had their papers back and had grades go up - it's a shame you had to go through this stressful process but glad your children eventually got the grades they deserved.

We are also waiting for papers. Frustratingly our school is quite high achieving so I think most people who didn't get the marks they were expecting have asked to review their papers. So despite asking on the day of the results the school only sent us our papers yesterday (and still waiting for another two). I didn't want to submit them for review until we had seen them ourselves - it's annoying as it's so late in the day now that we can't really submit one at a time and need to take a risk. Also, the school refuse to review the papers and tell us it's up to us to decide whether to submit. This is our situation

Maths - 1 mark away from a 9. We used chatgpt to help identify any mismarking - funnily enough it came back with one question on her highest scoring paper (76/80) as being mismarked. Another paper had a couple of questions that were potentially harshly marked and may receive the odd method mark where it wasn't given. So we've submitted both for review - I'll be so upset if we gain a mark on one and lose it on the other but the school process left us in an impossible situation. I never thought we'd be sending back the 76/80 paper to be reviewed but goes to show why it's important to look at the papers first.

Geography - 2 marks away from a 9. We've sent all 3 papers for review (bloody expensive!). Two different questions on two different papers look as if the extra answer at the back of the booklet have been missed. There are annotations in the answer box and then it says L2 (presume marked as a level 2 answer) but she continued her answer in the extra space at the back of the booklet but this has no annotations. All other questions have annotations on both the answer in the allocated space and annotations in the extra space at the back and all have been marked at Level 3. So we do wonder if this marker maybe missed the extra at the back for those two questions?

OCR English Language - 1 mark away from a 9. Would love an English teacher's opinion on this one - my daughter threw away an easy comprehension mark asking how we can tell the mother's clothes are in poor condition. The text talked about the fringed ends of a shawl straggling the bottom of a dirty white apron - my daughter (who is autistic but gets no special consideration) took the fringed a bit literally and stated that this shows that the shawl was worn and of low quality as opposed to the fringe being the design feature. We don't have access to the mark scheme and teachers refuse to look at papers so not sure if there is a potential mark to be had here for this alternative interpretation? Have submitted it on the off chance a friendly examiner takes pity on us or thinks some other answers have been harshly marked - hard for us to tell and think AI is less useful in reviewing English scripts. If any English teachers can advise on this (especially if they have access to the OCR marking scheme) it would be much appreciated!