The Student Room Group
Student at the Open University
Open University
Milton Keynes

Has anyone successfully challenged an exam result?

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Reply 20
Original post by Kat00
@Indelible15 how did you get on with it? Did you get somewhere?


Hell no. They have replied saying that everything is correct and that they cannot help me. Even if I am 2 percentage points off a first they are refusing to reconsider.

This has left such a bad taste in my mouth. I take it that a further challenge/appeal is completely futile?
Student at the Open University
Open University
Milton Keynes
Reply 21
While I can't offer any advice I do sympathise with your predicament as I had a similar experience this year on a level 2 module where my TMA scores were all in the 80's but I only managed to get a (low) pass 2 on the exam.

I had worked hard during the course and while you can always do more I was happy I had spent enough time on revision. There were no surprises on the paper and I felt I understood what the questions were asking and was confident I had sufficient subject knowledge to write good answers and had no problem recalling necessary details.

My one concern going into the exam was that my handwriting can be a bit spidery so I do wonder if the marker found parts of my script difficult to read and skimmed over them.

Even assuming a legitimate reason for my relatively low mark the complete lack of any meaningful feedback means I don't really know how to go about improving my performance next time. My tutor had no advice to give me and was as surprised as I was at the result.

Fortunately for me this is only level 2 so hopefully won't have as big an impact on my final degree classification, but like you it has soured my view of the OU. So much so that I'm seriously considering changing to an open degree so I can complete my studies without having to do another exam.
I have seen one person successfully challenge an exam this year. (there is a big problem going on with the OU the past 2 -3 years with exam marking some students dropping 3 grades or more, and it is across more than one faculty. ) It's not just you.

But there is a procedure to follow (all universities by law have to have this appeals process)

Stage1: fill in a Query Module Results Form:http://www2.open.ac.uk/students/help/topic/policies-and-complaints/category/complaints-and-appeals

(the complaints process is not that clear, so if you have any queries, phone your Regional Centre or contact the student casework office, who are more helpful in my experience).


Stage 2: if that is rejected send in a letter of complaint to Student Case work office
if that is rejected then there is a third stage
(and finally, if the OU rejects all the stages then there is the adjudicator (a government organisation for education) but the OU has to give a special letter to submit to the adjudicator.

If you appeal, have a look at Which, to see how to lay out your appeal, I think they have a template.

The OU do not do double marking, only single, I think this is one of the problems (A course team chair person stated its because of the costs).

Hope this is helpful
Your message below:
Original post by Indelible15
Hey all,

I know that all universities decline challenges to their "academic judgement" but I was wondering if there is any possibility at all of having a mark looked at again?

Just got an exam result back which is too inconsistent with the rest of my results on this particular module. I studied around 40 hours for this exam and because I was on for a first class honours, I put blood, sweat and tears into everything. A distinction in the exam was always a long shot because it is a ruthless module but the grade below was all I needed, yet I got two grades below by 2 percentage points and they didn't even bother to take my coursework mark/essay marks (all distinctions) into account in order to bump me up. They just flat out slapped me in the face.

Don't get me wrong, I take poor results on the chin like a real man but this one just can't be right. One of my course tutors from a previous module told me that these script markers are paid a measly £5 per paper and they get boxes of them to do in a short period and they skim read the scripts like robots looking for trigger words to give marks for. I probably had some prick who had had enough for the day and just sped through it without thought 'cause he couldn't be arsed to make out my **** handwriting. Students who had coursework and essay results nowhere near mine throughout the whole year wiped the floor with me in the exam and I just want it looked at again, or at least some proper feedback as they only give a score for each question.

According to the rules students aren't allowed to ever see their exam scripts either.

Is there anything that can be done? Does anyone know anyone who has had any success?
Original post by sootydog1
I have seen one person successfully challenge an exam this year. (there is a big problem going on with the OU the past 2 -3 years with exam marking some students dropping 3 grades or more, and it is across more than one faculty. ) It's not just you.

But there is a procedure to follow (all universities by law have to have this appeals process)

Stage1: fill in a Query Module Results Form:http://www2.open.ac.uk/students/help/topic/policies-and-complaints/category/complaints-and-appeals

(the complaints process is not that clear, so if you have any queries, phone your Regional Centre or contact the student casework office, who are more helpful in my experience).


Stage 2: if that is rejected send in a letter of complaint to Student Case work office
if that is rejected then there is a third stage
(and finally, if the OU rejects all the stages then there is the adjudicator (a government organisation for education) but the OU has to give a special letter to submit to the adjudicator.

If you appeal, have a look at Which, to see how to lay out your appeal, I think they have a template.

The OU do not do double marking, only single, I think this is one of the problems (A course team chair person stated its because of the costs).

Hope this is helpful
Your message below:


What about taking your story to the media?
The OU cares a lot about its reputation ... I'm not trying to suggest to start a "war" with the institution at all, but I think the media would love to hear a story like yours.
Original post by jumperabv3
What about taking your story to the media?
The OU cares a lot about its reputation ... I'm not trying to suggest to start a "war" with the institution at all, but I think the media would love to hear a story like yours.



I am not going to the media, but anyone else who has information might want to.

Instead, I am writing up a report currently to a government organisation which is asking for information of breaches committed by universities, of the new UK laws (2014, I think they were passed) for consumer rights for students.

Reading these experiences where students final work is not being marked properly, gives me a lot of concern. I feel there is something corrupt going on when so many people, and in different faculties are experiencing the same problems.

And when the OU dismisses cases without investigation, that is a breach of consumer law. People have the right to expect a university's polices, which are part of their contract, to be applied fully.

Its not just with exam or examinable components, there are issues with breaches of disability rights.

I found a web site where OU staff were making comments, and it seems some stated bullying was rife in some departments, plus some staff being made redundant and replaced by newer, less experienced people.

I think as people are paying such a lot of money, they are entitled to better customer services, such as proper marking of final work, with copies returned to students so they can benefit from this at least by seeing what they could work on better next time.

It takes away confidence when you have no idea why you have done badly. And all you get is bullying feedback, offensive stuff, with bizarre comments that are untrue to the work submitted.

I have looked at some top universities, and their fees are not much more than the OU is charging and yet the student gets so much more support. I have also seen that some universities have much better appeals systems, such as Leicester which has two routes, informal and formal, the student can choose. If they chose the formal route, they can take a Student Union rep with them.

The OU does not even have a helpline. You are basically on your own if you get any serious problems and the OU does not want to explain itself, which in my opinion is a) arrogant, and b) uncaring and c) doing damage to its own reputation.

As who wants to study with an organisation where at the end, despite that you feel your work was superior to the marks awarded (and tutors think so too) that you are left with no idea why and no one at the OU seems to be bothered.
Original post by Persipan
Well, the OP's going to do whatever they're going to do; and I'll await an update with interest. I personally think it's just stretching out the disappointment, because in my experience these kinds of processes are incredibly black-and-white.

Incidentally, the OIA is really only interested in whether institutions have, and have followed, their own institutional procedures in responding to complaints. In relation to this particular complaint, their website specifically says:


Not sure of what is meant by 'procedural irregularity'. I wonder if feedback given does not fit answers/question paper/module materials would fit under this heading?

In my case, my appeal was not read, just dismissed despite that I had provided evidence of the feedback wrong in a number of cases.

I think it would be hopeless to appeal, except I have seen one person won their appeal.
Original post by jumperabv3
That's fine.
If he needs to "feed the system" with the "food that it eats" then he can refer to it as irregularities and not as an issue with academic judgement.

For instance, such irregularities can include the fact some students scored 50s in the exam, 60s in TMAs and got Grade 2 (I would advise the OP in such case to keep screenshots of these posts in the FB group page of the module).

Other irregularities can include the non-consideration of his individual case as he had over 80s in TMAs and with his exam result it should be a Grade 2 and not a Grade 3.

Another issue is the fact OVER 90% of the students in this exam scored less than 70%. This is definitely an irregular issue.

I don't know what are the "best grounds" to use with the appeal but I know he should send this appeal.

Moreover, please note the OIA is only his very and extremely last resort - there are a couple of stages that take place prior to that starting with the Module Query Form.


Thanks for this, as I had documentary evidence for my case, but it was not even read at the first stage, just dismissed with a standard letter. So, that my case was just dismissed without it even being read could be an irregularity. (It was received one day, acknowledgement by email sent the next day, but also that day posted out straight away, the letter dismissing my appeal. The letter was just a standard one, and my case had not been put forward to check or investigate).
Original post by sootydog1
Thanks for this, as I had documentary evidence for my case, but it was not even read at the first stage, just dismissed with a standard letter. So, that my case was just dismissed without it even being read could be an irregularity. (It was received one day, acknowledgement by email sent the next day, but also that day posted out straight away, the letter dismissing my appeal. The letter was just a standard one, and my case had not been put forward to check or investigate).


It's a very sad story.
As an OU graduate that is going to "celebrate" my graduation (2.1 in Computing & IT and Business) - I will always keep in mind those scary thoughts that I always had from stories like this, and from knowing that the final grade you get is "final" and if you want to challenge it - then you would have to cross the ocean to maybe, maybe get a chance to change it.

I understand the OU is trying to portray itself as a professional body that knows how to mark exams etc. but when it comes to handwriting this is impossible to always determine what's right ...

Here's a suggestion - get the students to answer the exams using a PC! They can still go into an examination room but it needs to have lots of PCs available there - so everyone will TYPE the responses so they will be clearly readable - it would also make life easier for the markers!

But right now - this is not the case - and I'm just very sad to see a good student who had worked hard and got extremely good scores with his TMA and also worked hard for the exam and revised a lot - now losing the grade just because some marker couldn't read his handwriting properly and just gave him a bad grade instead.

This is just unfair and it definitely hurts and reduces the joy or happiness or expectations I have towards my degree ceremony - I can't celebrate when I know that others are not getting a fair grade for their hard work.
Original post by jumperabv3
It's a very sad story.
As an OU graduate that is going to "celebrate" my graduation (2.1 in Computing & IT and Business) - I will always keep in mind those scary thoughts that I always had from stories like this, and from knowing that the final grade you get is "final" and if you want to challenge it - then you would have to cross the ocean to maybe, maybe get a chance to change it.

I understand the OU is trying to portray itself as a professional body that knows how to mark exams etc. but when it comes to handwriting this is impossible to always determine what's right ...

Here's a suggestion - get the students to answer the exams using a PC! They can still go into an examination room but it needs to have lots of PCs available there - so everyone will TYPE the responses so they will be clearly readable - it would also make life easier for the markers!

But right now - this is not the case - and I'm just very sad to see a good student who had worked hard and got extremely good scores with his TMA and also worked hard for the exam and revised a lot - now losing the grade just because some marker couldn't read his handwriting properly and just gave him a bad grade instead.

This is just unfair and it definitely hurts and reduces the joy or happiness or expectations I have towards my degree ceremony - I can't celebrate when I know that others are not getting a fair grade for their hard work.


Well done on your degree! I just graduated with 2:1 (couple of marks off one exam getting the second distinction I needed for a first, so darn close lol) but mine was Computing & Mathematical Sciences.

Personally I'd hate to do an exam at a PC, although I see the benefits. Just because I hate typing, I'm not that slow but my hands cramp up so much more than writing plus physically writing helps me think things through better. Lol maybe shouldn't admit it being a software developer! :colondollar:

As for this discussion, it's not unusual for students to drop marks between TMAs and exams as TMAs have the use of materials, just test a section of the module whereas exams there are none or restricted materials, in a time limit, and test the module as a whole.

I'm surprised about the marking that has been mentioned, as almost 10yrs with OU I've never come across comments like that. Ordinarily I would say it's a lost case unless like Persipan mentioned you have evidence something has been missed etc. Which there is a point because if everyone started trying to claw a few extra marks, because they believed they had done better, it could prove a logistical nightmare.

In my experience the marking has been good, although would have preferred to be bumped up in that module I narrowly missed haha especially as TMAs were averaging over 95 but they weren't summative so didn't count. (PS I did try and tried the "you made me cram in more modules near the end as degree ended up having a Dec 2014 deadline which isn't what I signed up for but although the guys on phone where understanding wasn't anything they could do)

However it seems a bit iffy that some people on OP's module have been bumped up with those scores unless they all submitted good special circumstances.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 29
Original post by jumperabv3
It's a very sad story.
As an OU graduate that is going to "celebrate" my graduation (2.1 in Computing & IT and Business) - I will always keep in mind those scary thoughts that I always had from stories like this, and from knowing that the final grade you get is "final" and if you want to challenge it - then you would have to cross the ocean to maybe, maybe get a chance to change it.

I understand the OU is trying to portray itself as a professional body that knows how to mark exams etc. but when it comes to handwriting this is impossible to always determine what's right ...

Here's a suggestion - get the students to answer the exams using a PC! They can still go into an examination room but it needs to have lots of PCs available there - so everyone will TYPE the responses so they will be clearly readable - it would also make life easier for the markers!

But right now - this is not the case - and I'm just very sad to see a good student who had worked hard and got extremely good scores with his TMA and also worked hard for the exam and revised a lot - now losing the grade just because some marker couldn't read his handwriting properly and just gave him a bad grade instead.

This is just unfair and it definitely hurts and reduces the joy or happiness or expectations I have towards my degree ceremony - I can't celebrate when I know that others are not getting a fair grade for their hard work.


I've finished with the OU after this, not happy at all, and I certainly won't be doing my Masters with them. By the way, well done on your degree, looks you and I will have the same, a 2:1 in Computing, IT & Business :smile:

Original post by sootydog1
I have seen one person successfully challenge an exam this year. (there is a big problem going on with the OU the past 2 -3 years with exam marking some students dropping 3 grades or more, and it is across more than one faculty. ) It's not just you.

But there is a procedure to follow (all universities by law have to have this appeals process)

Stage1: fill in a Query Module Results Form:http://www2.open.ac.uk/students/help/topic/policies-and-complaints/category/complaints-and-appeals

(the complaints process is not that clear, so if you have any queries, phone your Regional Centre or contact the student casework office, who are more helpful in my experience).


Stage 2: if that is rejected send in a letter of complaint to Student Case work office
if that is rejected then there is a third stage
(and finally, if the OU rejects all the stages then there is the adjudicator (a government organisation for education) but the OU has to give a special letter to submit to the adjudicator.

If you appeal, have a look at Which, to see how to lay out your appeal, I think they have a template.

The OU do not do double marking, only single, I think this is one of the problems (A course team chair person stated its because of the costs).

Hope this is helpful
Your message below:


The OU letter came back with quite a patronising tone. They portray themselves as untouchable and that whatever they decide is final and absolute, and therefore must never be challenged. I'm going ahead with stage 2 and will try take it as a far as I can until I see some justice. I'm not even trying to argue that I should have gotten a higher mark, if they can show me that I was indeed awful in my answers and provide me proper feedback, I will take it like a man.

Like you said, they treat us as customers rather than students now, so we should be able to challenge them if they frustrate our consumer rights. We shouldn't have to pay through the nose only to get shafted.
what faculty is everyone talking about here?
Original post by sootydog1
Not sure of what is meant by 'procedural irregularity'. I wonder if feedback given does not fit answers/question paper/module materials would fit under this heading?


'Procedural irregularity' means not having properly followed institutional procedures in relation to something - the OIA are very keen on universities having processes in place, telling people what they are, and then following them. So if, say, the University of Plifflethorp has a process in place that says appeals will be considered on a Tuesday, by two academic staff members, at least one of whom is called Steve; and then they actually look at your appeal on a Wednesday and one of the two staff isn't an academic and neither is called Steve, that's procedural irregularity. (Obviously this is a stupid made-up example, but you see what I mean.) Feedback given not fitting the answers - well, if it was glaringly obvious that the feedback didn't relate to the work you'd done, that would presumably fall under whichever heading it was that covered things like the marks relating to the wrong questions - except, you don't generally get exam feedback anyway?

I do have some sympathy regarding people's grades going down between OCAS and OES and have airways advocated for the OU moving to an average of the two, rather than the 'worst-of-two' system they effectively have in place at the moment. Apart from anything else, I've always thought it terribly unfair to people who get anxious in exams.

Original post by jumperabv3

Here's a suggestion - get the students to answer the exams using a PC! They can still go into an examination room but it needs to have lots of PCs available there - so everyone will TYPE the responses so they will be clearly readable - it would also make life easier for the markers!

But right now - this is not the case - and I'm just very sad to see a good student who had worked hard and got extremely good scores with his TMA and also worked hard for the exam and revised a lot - now losing the grade just because some marker couldn't read his handwriting properly and just gave him a bad grade instead.

Ermmm, my last exam required me to produce a set of orthographic drawings and illustrate my answers with sketches. So, for starters, that wouldn't work for every module. The logistics would also be hellish - the OU would need to simultaneously provide thousands of PCs at locations up and down the country, most of which wouldn't have sufficient plug sockets to power then, let alone the knowhow to set them up. And then anyone unfamiliar with the setup presented to then on the day would be at a disadvantage. I don't see this as an improvement. If someone has impaired mobility in their hands, they should get extra time or an amanuensis; otherwise, if your exam preparation reveals dodgy handwriting, then surely practising is part of that preparation?

And, in answer to the very vehement suggestion elsewhere in the thread that something must be wrong if lots of people did poorly on the module, if be curious to know what the stats for previous years were like for that module? Some are notoriously harder than others, and if this is one of them it may not be that surprising.

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