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How long do GCSE remarks take? An increasingly long time…

Pupils needing GCSE remarks before confirming a college place are waiting increasingly long times, Ofqual figures show.

On average, pupils waited an average 11 days last year before receiving the results of remarked individual exams, known as Priority Service 2 reviews.

In 2013 the figure was 10 days, and in 2010 it was just seven.

The steady increase in wait time reflects the jump in enquiries made about GCSEs last year.

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Overall, 301,400 GCSE results were queried last year – an increase of 56 per cent on the previous cohort.

Mark times varied dramatically depending on the exam board.

Pupils waited an average 22 days for remarks by OCR, who almost missed their results reporting deadline last summer due to a series of internal process issues.

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An OCR spokesperson said: “While OCR is well within the [government required] deadline of 30 days, we acknowledge that our resolution time could be better.

“We have introduced a number of upgrades to our processes that will take effect from this year and align OCR with the other exam boards”.

At the other end of the scale, exam board Pearson took just five days last year to remark papers.

Ofqual said that more than one in five (22 per cent) of the challenged results led to a change in the overall qualification grades.

It added: “The proportion has remained fairly constant over the last five years. In 2010, it was also 22 per cent.”

The watchdog said last year that the average response times in 2014 were due to increased volumes of entries. Ofqual said it would publish figures on this year’s remarking times later in the year and would not want to speculate on remarking times for this summer’s GCSE cohort.

GCSE results will be delivered to candidates on Thursday morning. Check back with www.schoolsweek.co.uk for our analysis and reporting.

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4 Comments

  1. My sons school let him down in 1 subject he excelled at and enjoyed, due to 5 staff changes in year 11!!! I had to hire a Private Tutor who brought him on in leaps and bounds, predicting a B pass! He got a D is devestated and a remark has been requested. I have to blame so many staff changes I’m afraid! But schools should not let their pupils down like this at such a crucial time. What can I as a parent do a out this?

  2. Aui yee

    My child in the the same boat. Had many changes of teachers throughout the whole of the GCSE period. School not invested in the new curriculum and not maintaining their best teachers.
    Headteacher don’t think it’s a problem and the attitude is like if you are not happy send your child elsewhere. There is not much choice of school in my area though.

  3. Stefania Parocki

    Whilst my son passed all his exams we were both stunned by his grade for English Language – well below his predicted grades, no concerns about his progress in this subject or mock exams that would have indicated such a decline. I have sent an email to the school requesting options open to my son which include maybe a re-sit to try and request a remark or a resit to improve his grade. IMO Schools only seem interested in getting their students a pass. I received a letter from my son’s high school in Year 7 indicating that he was identified as Gifted and Talented etc. Certainly feel let down by the school!!! All reports and parents evening count for nothing.