Attaining an upgraded mark on appeal will be more difficult this summer

This report from Ofqual indicates that new systems put in place this summer may make it more difficult to achieve an upgrade in marks if a student appeals against their score in all public exams. The report suggests that, whilst marking errors should be altered and marks awarded accordingly, it may no longer be the case that a review of a script is undertook by a new examiner and the marks and grade automatically upgraded. Ofsted's concern is that the temptation for awarding bodies is to increase a mark on appeal and that it was a case of one examiner's professional judgement being over-ruled by another's without sufficient justification.

A concern also exists that the appeals process, which comes at a cost, is more likely to be used by the private sector than the state sector.

Last academic year there were more than half a million appeals against results leading to over 90,000 changes in grades. There is a concern that this is adding too much pressure on the exam boards.

Some further analysis is available here in an article from the Guardian.