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GCSE Resits and Remarks Thread

Welcome to the GCSE resits and remarks thread. As you are all aware, GCSE results are looming just around the corner, so this thread has been put together to give information on resits and remarks for exams, and to answer any questions you may have in what is the right option for you and how to go about putting your decisions into action.

What options do I have if I don’t get the grades?
If you have been put in the position where your grades aren’t quite what you needed to progress, you can either get a paper remarked, resit a paper or reassess your next steps in life.

What would be the best thing to do for me?
If your UMS scores are very close to the next grade boundary, a remark of one or more papers might be beneficial. However you need to take into consideration that marks can go down as well as up, and as remarks are costly, you must decide carefully if this is the right option. If you are fairly certain that you did better on a paper than your initial mark suggests. It is rare, but sometimes things do go wrong and the only way to find that out is by requesting a remark so if you ended up with a very low grade for a paper when you felt like you achieved a relatively high mark, then a remark may be beneficial. Remarks are not usually beneficial to those who’s marks are mid boundary, particularly at higher grades.
If a remark is not for you, then you can resit some exams to bring up a grade. Before deciding to resit, you should ask yourself the following:

Is/Are one or more result(s) significantly lower than the others and holding your overall grade down? - Yes? A resit is a good option

Did you work as hard and/or as effectively as you could have done the first time round? -No? A resit is a good option, however if you did work as hard as you could, don’t think that you couldn’t get a better grade a 2nd time around! More information is remembered the more you study, so you may find you remember more content for the exam the 2nd time around.

Do you have the time to study for the resit alongside any other upcoming exams without jeopardising your potential to achieve good grades in them? - Only do resits if you have the time to study for them



Remark information
Usual cost for a remark, per module/component, is around £33. However please be aware that this can vary between exam boards.
If you would like to request a remark, contact your school/colleges examination department. They can direct you in the right direction as well as quoting you a cost for the remark.

Also, be aware that the grade issued after a remark is final. You cannot revert back to the previous grade given.


Resit information
You can choose which examination period in which to resit an exam. Most GCSE exams are taken in January or in May/June, however occasionally modules are available to be taken in November and March. Your examination department at your school/college will have more details on the availability as to when you can resit exams. This decision is down to the protocols of the examination centre and personal preference.

If you do not gain sufficient grades to move on to your next stage, speak to who is in charge of admissions and discuss your situation with them. Occasionally, it is possible to move on to your next level of education (e.g. AS levels) and retake some GCSE modules alongside your AS exams. This is usually only the case if you have not achieved a grade C or above in Maths or English Language, and entry into further education is always at the desecration of the school/college.
You may have to pay a fee for entries into resits. These prices vary between schools/colleges so ask your examinations department for information .
If none of the above is suitable for you, you could reconsider your options and start looking into vocational courses and apprenticeships. The apprenticeship forum can give you some more information on where to look for apprenticeships in your local area.


If you are unsure on what your next step should be, ask a teacher or your personal tutor for help and guidance.

If you have any questions, please post below.

Best of luck to all of you!

Useful resources:
More information on Remarks
More information on Resits

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
I took my english language GCSE in november and got a B, but I was 3 marks from an A
My teacher told me there was no point in resitting, even though I wanted to, as he knew my dislike for the lesson.
Is it too late for it to be remarked?
Do they send the final grades now or trhe results for the papers I did this time?

Reason is My school for some reason didn't give any of us a pin to access the results online and sent us the results through email. I got a B for Physics despite having a 89% average for my previous 4 papers.......

Help anyone?
Reply 3
I took only GCSE Business Studies and IGCSE ICT paper this year and got:
A for ICT
A* for Business Studies
Reply 4
I got 100% in my History coursework.
I got an A* in every single mock exam paper I took.
It's my best subject, and the one I thought I would definitely get an A* in after the exam because it felt like it went well.
I got a B and a C in the two exam papers in June, which brought my overall grade down to a B :'(
Is it worth a resit? Or should I just leave it and move on? (I'm doing it for A level.)
Reply 5
Edexcel spanish I got 269 and its 270 for A*
worth a remark?

Edit: Requested a remark of one unit, will update once I get a response.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 6
I can haz A 4 art plox i got 159 which iz B buh wah is A??!
Reply 7
Was 1 UMS off an A* in Astronomy. Can you get the coursework re-marked?
Does anyone know if Cambridge accepts GCSE resits?
Reply 9
got my AQA Art GCSE grade back...
was expecting an A* in it as I had A* coursework.
THEN I see my number.. it's 172 which is an A - how far is this off an A*? And how do you get it remarked?!
Reply 10
Original post by Vip3rgt9
Was 1 UMS off an A* in Astronomy. Can you get the coursework re-marked?





Coursework re-marks can normally only be done if the subject teacher supports the idea and I think they have to check with all the students as well, as I think the whole class gets re-moderated (and then there's the question of the total cost which is in the hundreds). Coursework cannot be re-marked for an individual AFAIK.

And with any non-priority re-mark or re-sit query, ask your Exams Officer when school resumes, even if you have left the school.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 11
I was 4 ums off worth markin?
Reply 12
I have recently received my GCSE English result and to my surprise i had received a C grade, however in all of my mock tests i had received grades A-A*, and my teacher had predicted me a grade A. I was just wondering if it was worth remarking or resitting the test. I am strongly considering resitting the test because i know i am capable of getting an A grade, however i am not to sure if resitting the test would disrupt my A level studies. Is it worth resitting the test to get the grade i need?
I got a B for English Language B IGCSE but I do not know the actual mark yet. I want to give it for recheck but is it worth it?
Reply 14
Everyone in my year is having their aqa english lit remarked. Last year 108 people went up a grade in that subject their marking is atrocious.
Original post by OphyCal
Everyone in my year is having their aqa english lit remarked. Last year 108 people went up a grade in that subject their marking is atrocious.


Same with our school! My english teacher is not very happy :tongue:
Reply 16
In my school, our science coursework has been moderated and as the examiners found an issue with some papers, all science coursework grades were brought down by approximately 17 UMS. I had my coursework checked by two teachers as I wanted to make sure it couldn't be brought down. One of these teachers in a moderator and they both agreed that I had gotten 59/60 in Biology, 58/60 in Chemistry, and 57/60 in Physics. If I get these remarked and achieve the grades they were originally marked at, I will bring my overall grades up to 3 A*'s. How much will it cost, and will it still cost if I get moved up a grade? Do you think it's worth doing, even though my school are very bad at marking?
Reply 17
Ocr geography spec b- I got an A overall

Geographical enquiry - A* 57/60
Key Themes- A* 113/120
Sustainable Decision making- d 35/60 < I am 99.9% positive something has gone wrong here in the mock for this paper I got A* and I felt the exam went really well, students who sat foundation for the other papers managed to acheive c's and b's on this.

Is there any point in sending for a remark ???? In order to bring my grade too an A*
For OCR music I'm going to go for an equiry, because I had an A* on all the units except the listening test where I scored 74 UMS and I usually get about 85-90% on the past music papers. But, I scored 347/400 UMS and an A* is 360. Would it be wise to do it? Also, with economics I got an A on two papers, but a B on the third taking me 4 UMS away from an A. I'm just a bit surprised that the things I thought I would do well on I did badly on!
Reply 19
Would really appreciate advice on this.

So my best subject is English (I was the only person in my year to get an A* in the my Language and Literature mocks) but I am really surprised to see that my only B was in English Lit. All my friends were shocked too as throughout the year I got A*s in all my coursework. According to the Edexcel grade-o-meter I'm just under the A grade (I'm probably 80% between the B and the A). Does anybody know how accurate the scale is?

Another thing is that English lit is the one subject in my school where more people got Bs than As (I go to a private school where Bs are the lowest that most people get). Is it possible that the same person marked all the scripts from my school and was being very harsh? Is it worth getting a remark? If the Edexcel grade-o-meter is accurate I'm probably 5 UMS marks (at the most) off an A in Lit and 2-3 UMS marks off an A* in language. I just don't want to waste my parents' money as they are struggling financially but if I go up (at least on the Lit) then they'll be happy.

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