Difference between provisional and official results

As far as I know, the hard copy you will receive next week will be the same as your provisional results, unless a rare mistake has occurred.

Reply 2

I think they call them provisional because you can get them remarked and the mark can change. The "official" results are those which are on the actual certificates you get once you complete the AS/A-Level (and if a university or someone asks for verification of results, you have to use certificates or get the provisional ones stamped by your school).

Reply 3

hh123

k_niteh

Having received my results from the January modules, I'm completely baffled, as to how they don't reflect the amount of work I put it. I read through numerous threads, and already asked my Exam Officer to organise my exam papers being pulled back, with the possibility of a remark.

I was just wondering if the official, hard copy of the results, which we receive next week, has ever been completely different from the provisional results, because nothing genuinely adds up to me. Thanks.

omg same here, i put so much work into my chemistry and i came out with a D??? im asking for a photocopy of my paper too. i heard that its very rare but there is a chance of a computer error being made and between the time we get our provisional and hard copy, they do a final remark.
but im not going to count on it changing :unsure:

Reply 4

JoseReina

provisional and hard copy, they do a final remark.

Really? Hopefully mine will go up, doubt it tho; got a D.

Reply 5

Mikaila

The Uniform Mark Scheme this year really messes up...especially AQA.

Maybe that's why your grades came out lower than expected? My raw marks came out exactly like how I expected them, but the UMS were a whole lot different...

Anyone else hates this UMS thing >"<?

Reply 6

Mikaila

The Uniform Mark Scheme this year really messes up...especially AQA.

Maybe that's why your grades came out lower than expected? My raw marks came out exactly like how I expected them, but the UMS were a whole lot different...

Anyone else hates this UMS thing >"<?

The UMS system isn't really the problem. All it does is it standardises all the A-Levels so that they're out of 600 and it allows more marks being available to one unit over another (e.g. 90 marks for unit 5 in some subject but 120 in another unit) regardless of how many marks were in the actual paper. It also makes it so that A = 80%, B = 70% etc.

What your problem should be with is the raw to UMS converter. The examiners might decide that we'll set 65/75 raw = A = 80% UMS this year for whatever reason (they may feel that this year's paper was easier than last year's where they felt 62/75 was fair enough for an A grade).

Basically, it's the raw grade boundaries that matter, not the UMS. UMS just make it easier to compare/analyse things.

(And if you're suggesting that 80% raw should always just be an A then that's silly because the difficulty of a paper does fluctuate year to year - I would have got completely screwed in many exams if I was expected to get 80% raw. To put into context, 67/75 in Edexcel FP3 Maths is enough for 100% UMS...)

Reply 7

eulerwaswrong

13

UMS is a fair system, and has to be introduced to do poor exams being written.

Ie. the ums system is fair - but the poor quality of exam papers being written
(esp OCR sciences which are actually atrociously badly written papers where UMS marks vary wildly) is definately unfair

Reply 8

OP

Thanks ppl. Just wondering if there's anyone with the experience of either having completely different provisional and hard copy results, or being informed that their results were incorrect.

Reply 9

OP

Someone please help me by answering my earlier question, cos the feeling of knowing you've worked hard, and prepared meticulously, makes it even harder to understand.

Reply 10

I don't know of anyone whose results have changed from their provisional ones to their actual certificates. If you're under the impression that the paper copy of your results is "more official" than the ones your teachers told you last Thursday then you're wrong - results slip also say at the bottom that they're provisional. It's not worth worrying about.

Reply 11

OP

Thanks. Better for me to just go for a remark then isn't it? Cos I'm genuinely convinced. I'd seen all the questions in the exams in the past papers I did, so the final exam was basically revision for me.

Reply 12

hannah17clg

1

UMS is out of 100... and 480 UMS (AQA) is an A so it's not hard to figure out how many more marks you need to get an A or whatever grade...so whats RAW marks?

Reply 13

k_niteh

Thanks. Better for me to just go for a remark then isn't it? Cos I'm genuinely convinced. I'd seen all the questions in the exams in the past papers I did, so the final exam was basically revision for me.

You can request a photocopy of your script, show it to your teachers and get their opinion before getting a remark, if you want to. Your mark on the actual results slip next will not be any different to what your teacher told you (unless s/he's an idiot).

*Edit*

Oh right, you've already done this according to the OP. Well, yeah, I guess a remark gives you a better chance of a changed result than what you're hoping for right now.

Reply 14