Although, technically, grades can go down as well as up following an appeal, downgrading is rare.
Universities will keep offers of places open during the appeal procedure, which has to be instigated by the school, not by a student or parents. The procedure is set out by the independent Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).
There are several levels of possible appeal, starting with a request for a clerical check, which means the exam board has to make sure that all pages of an exam paper have been marked and all marks counted into the total.
The next stage is that the school asks to see the exam papers and then either accepts the result, recognising that the student has performed below expectation, or requests a re-mark.
There is then the option of a further appeal to an independent exams panel, where a new assessor will look at the paper.
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The QCA allows 20 days for an appeal but most exam boards work quicker than that. One exam body, Edexcel, says that it tries to turn appeals around in under a week — particularly where a university place is in the balance.
For more details click “appeals” at www.theeab.org.uk