A-level And GCSE Grade Changes Down A Quarter After Re-mark Overhaul

According to the exam regulator, Ofqual, there has been a 25% drop in the number of A-level and GCSE grades altered after being re-marked following an overhaul of the exam appeals system. This significant decrease was welcomed by the Ofqual chief, who expressed concern about the growing number of schools and pupils seeking re-marks of their summer exams in the hope of improving their grades. Fewer challenges were recorded in 2016, with more than 427,000 compared with 572,400 in 2015. The proportion of appeals that resulted in a grade change remained largely unchanged at 18% and was 19% in the previous year.

The Ofqual report revealed that there had been an increase in the number of summer exam paper errors reported, with 29 papers showing flaws, affecting over 320,000 students. The number of security breaches, mainly caused by schools handing out the wrong papers or leaks via social media, was also slightly up on last year. Sally Collier, Ofqual Chief, said that the “quality of marking is a very important issue” adding that “the ability to have marking reviewed, and corrected if necessary, is critical to a fair qualifications system.”

School leaders have expressed the opinion that even under the new rules for appeals there are 70,000 exam grades still requiring change. Leora Cruddas, Director of Policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said, “even under the new rules, 67,900 exam grades were not right the first time round” and expressed concerns about the marking system, calling for it to be improved.

The new appeals system was introduced this summer to discourage schools and pupils from trying to get “a second bite of the cherry”. Exam boards can now only change marks if a clear marking error can be demonstrated, as there was concern that legitimate marks were being changed as a result of differences of opinion between examiners. According to Ofqual, the figures indicate that the changes have increased the credibility of the marking system, and other changes to qualifications, school performance measures and university admissions will have contributed to the decline in appeals. Collier emphasised that there would be a thorough evaluation of the changes to the system to make sure that legitimate marks remained unchanged and that errors were properly identified and corrected.