I think Edexcel screwed up a lot

I bet this happens every year. People who haven't revised enough or have overestimated their ability. Also, I'd wager a lot who make the mistake of thinking that learning course content is enough. Learn mark schemes. It isn't how exams would work in a perfect world, but learning mark schemes will get you the grades you want in the real world.

And yeah, as everyone with half an inch of common sense is saying, if you're so convinced that EDEXCEL have screwed you over (or, more accurately, your marker has) then get yourself a damn remark.

An edexcel related issue, but one which also extends to OCR - I did a level history with the former and english lit with the latter, and got a high C and low B respectively when I was predicted A*s in both and felt that neither could be worse than a high A when I came out of the exam. Since results day I've been taking about whether it was me or the exam boards who screwed up, and although I appreciate what William Turtle says above, I genuinely don't think I got what I deserved. I scored full marks over the entirety of my RS A-level and got 197/200 in A2 politics.

One thing I was thinking about, however, was my handwriting - it's absolutely disgusting, so basically my question is does anyone think it's possible that this could be the reason for these unexpectedly low marks? An examiner just giving up, perhaps motivated by this completely inappropriate bonus in the case of edexcel....

Or is this all just wishful thinking?

when an script is not legible it gets send into a pool in which a senior examiner would be looking at it and mark it.

Agreed with your last point however in the case of my friend who has received nothing but As in biology and gets straight U's in ever unit of his exam with special consideration is a bit off. He said to me that he is not being arrogant but the idea of failing never crossing his mind because it is impossible, he never failed anything ever even in exams where he wasn't as prepared as he should have been. Besides, everybody knows that to get a U you must try really hard to mess up every single answer or better yet, only put your name on the page.

I have heard about this, but I just don't believe I got a C in history - I'd have had to get 42/70 across one 30 and a 40 mark question, and whilst I was weaker in the 30 markers my 40s were really strong in the days running up to the exam. I wouldn't have thought I'd get lower then 20/30 and 35/40, and that's on a bad day. The same goes for my english - I'd cracked the mark scheme and the Assessment Objectives (but OCR, edexcel), and genuinely felt like I did alright.

Essentially, what I got doesn't corroborate with what I think I should have got, and that's not just me being desperate. I have played the devil's advocate and I think there's a realistic chance that something has gone drastically wrong on the marking side of things, but I have yet to come upon a good answer as to how this could happen in the case of two separate exam boards apart from my shoddy handwriting...

I'm desperate to contact my school's examination officer but he pretty much said "look I can't be bothered right now" and went back to holiday.

I would suggest reporting your school, that is really out of order!

Your friend may be one of the few who had a dodgy marker. But that is by no means the norm on this thread.

When you said special consideration, I immediately though that his problem might have been bad enough for him to genuinely do awfully in his exams. Special consideration won't help there.

Ask to view a photocopy of your scripts to be sure they haven't made any mistakes!

This is biology and now that I think about it I rather request a copy of maths too as that was 4 UMS off an A.

Anyone know how long scripts take to receive and also how long it will take for unpriority/priority remarking? Would doing both one after the other exceed the deadline?

At the end of year 11 I got a C in IGCSE English Language. I felt outraged because my teachers had confidently predicted me an A*. Got the paper remarked. Grade didn't change. I even asked for a photocopy of the exam sheet and could see clearly my mistakes. The exam board hadn't done anything wrong; I just messed up.

I haven't been entirely happy with some of the results I've received, but rather than blaming the exam board I blame myself, which motivates me to improve. You won't gain anything by pinning your misfortunes on people you've never even met; if you can't accept responsibility for your failures, you're not going to get very far in life, and you certainly won't be able to prevent yourself from projecting an image of laziness and entitlement.

For Edexcel scripts normally come back within a couple of hours of being ordered by the school. Remarks take anything from 1hour to 3 days, longer in September. It may take longer for your school to contact you.

A remark cannot take 1 hour and 3 working days is pushing it. The examination board needs to first look for available examiners, complete a standardisation and then they can start the remarking process.

I speak from experience - I have seen many Edexcel scripts come back within the day, generally for Sciences but also for Economics (including last Thursday). It is seldom that they take longer than 3 days during August.

I speak from experience as well since I have done remarks before, if it takes 1 hour or 1 working day then there is something seriously wrong with the system.