Page 3 | Anyone still waiting for GCSE marking reviews?

ShowDownTime · 2026-09-01T17:23:40+00:00

Ours were submitted on results day. Heard nothing yet but I know some people have. Waiting on CIE and AQA.

Stowickthevast · 11/09/2026 09:20

@Teeheehee1579 though a (admittedly slightly infamous) state school near us pays for a review of every single GCSE and A level paper within 4 marks of a grade boundary!

Teeheehee1579 · 11/09/2026 09:48

Stowickthevast · 11/09/2026 09:20

@Teeheehee1579 though a (admittedly slightly infamous) state school near us pays for a review of every single GCSE and A level paper within 4 marks of a grade boundary!

Yes - I imagine there are a few notable exceptions! I don’t blame our school at all - who has the time to review anything but the most urgent (3 needing to be a 4 for a pass or 6 needing to be a 7 or whatever for A level).

OhamIreally · 11/09/2026 12:00

DD had three close to the boundary. School immediately said they would pay for review for all three. 2 have come back unchanged one has gone from a 6 to a 7. Not the one I was hoping for unfortunately but better than nothing.

MrsHamlet · 11/09/2026 17:36

bigvig · 11/09/2026 07:44

Don’t get your hopes up. The system is rigged - teacher here. Remarks are not really fair remarks anymore. Examiners are told on some papers that they shouldn’t move up more than 1% of requests and that they have to disagree by more than 2 marks on a question to move it. You cannot challenge if you don’t agree - you can only appeal against the system and have to someone prove the whole process was wrong - despite not being able to prove anything. Exam boards mark their own homework essentially. The training and pay gets less and less and the quality of marking is also now dire. I’m so frustrated as a teacher but there is no one to complain to!!!!! More parents need to know what the system is actually like these days.

It's not a remark at all, because of the OFQUAL rules. The only way it's "rigged" is because of that.

itsnotaremark · 11/09/2026 19:57

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!

ifonlytheydlisten · 11/09/2026 23:04

Stowickthevast · 11/09/2026 09:20

@Teeheehee1579 though a (admittedly slightly infamous) state school near us pays for a review of every single GCSE and A level paper within 4 marks of a grade boundary!

Intrigued which that is! London?

Stowickthevast · 12/09/2026 13:11

yes east London @ifonlytheydlisten

ifonlytheydlisten · 12/09/2026 14:25

I’m going to assume Michaela 🤣

Stowickthevast · 12/09/2026 15:07

Similar ... Mossbourne

itsnotaremark · 14/09/2026 11:06

itsnotaremark · 11/09/2026 19:57

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!

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!

Smokingtoaster · 14/09/2026 19:14

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.

itsnotaremark · 14/09/2026 20:51

Smokingtoaster · 14/09/2026 19:14

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.

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.

Smokingtoaster · 14/09/2026 21:40

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

Hepple · 14/09/2026 21:48

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!

ifonlytheydlisten · 14/09/2026 23:30

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

Doobiesista · 15/09/2026 16:30

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.

propertymug · 15/09/2026 19:09

Doobiesista · 15/09/2026 16:30

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.

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.

Doobiesista · 15/09/2026 19:29

propertymug · 15/09/2026 19:09

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.

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

ifonlytheydlisten · 15/09/2026 19:37

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

Doobiesista · 15/09/2026 19:40

ifonlytheydlisten · 15/09/2026 19:37

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

Yes

HappyEnglishTeacher · 15/09/2026 20:50

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.

MrsHamlet · 15/09/2026 20:52

HappyEnglishTeacher · 15/09/2026 20:50

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.

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.

HappyEnglishTeacher · 15/09/2026 20:59

MrsHamlet · 15/09/2026 20:52

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.

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Ah, thanks for clarifying! 🙂

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 15/09/2026 21:13

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…

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 15/09/2026 21:17

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