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Exam fact
This summer we received nearly 6 million entries in over 100 subjects. Over 1.3 million students will receive a GCSE or AS/A level or GNVQ/VCE result from Edexcel.
Your results
Your results slip includes some codes and other symbols: here we decipher them for you. There is advice if you haven't yet received a result. We also answer your questions about getting your work back and correcting mistakes on results slips.
When will my results be published?
Results for summer examinations are issued on the last two Thursdays in August, with GCE first and GCSE second. November exam results are issued in January, January exam results are issued in March and March exam results are issued in April.
You can find out exact dates for the smaller exam sessions from your school or college.
What do the symbols on my results slip mean?
NO RESULT 'X'
This indicates that you have been given no result although you were entered for the examination, coursework or portfolio. This can happen for a number of reasons. The most common reason is that your overall result is one made up of a number of units or modules and one or more units/modules have not been cashed-in enabling an award to be made. (See question 'What is cashing-in?) When you sit a unitised/modular examination your results are held by Edexcel in a special file until your school or college tells us that you want to cash-in and that you want to use the result to contribute to an overall grade.
Each year we have contact schools and colleges to query cash-in instructions for individual students. A small number of schools and colleges have not yet corrected these problems. We will issue your school or college with a summary of any unresolved cash-in problems. If you suspect that your ‘No Result’ is because of a cash-in problem described above, you should contact your school or college Examinations Officer. We will act immediately on their instructions and issue a unit/module result. Edexcel cannot take this action without instructions from your Examinations Officer.
Look also at your results slips for this summer and for any results of unitised/modular examinations taken during earlier examinations that you intended to cash-in. Each results slip should carry a Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI). This number enables us at Edexcel to confirm your identity. Sometimes schools and colleges fail to supply your UCI, or issue a different UCI when entering candidates for an examination. When this happens we try to ensure a correct match by using other personal details. We deal with thousands of such instances each year. If you have different or missing UCI numbers that may be the cause of your missing grade.
Another common reason for a 'No Result' is that a grade could not be issued because the modules/units cashed-in by your school or college are ineligible. When grades are issued on the basis of a set of cashed-in modules/units (usually three, six or twelve) there are rules governing the allowable combinations. For example, some units are optional and some are mandatory. If a mandatory unit is missing a grade cannot be issued. You must contact your Examinations Officer if you suspect there is a problem. Edexcel can only act on instructions from a school or college.
Of course the most obvious reason for a 'No Result' is that you did not attend the examination! However sometimes attendance registers can be incorrect, particularly if you were entered for the examination after the final entry deadline, or were not entered at all. Because examination papers are sent out only at the last minute in order to avoid security breaches, sometimes delivery failures or other problems occur. If you suspect there is a problem with your attendance, check with your school of college who keep a copy of the attendance register.
PENDING ‘Q’
This indicates that Edexcel has not yet issued a grade although we believe that a grade should be issued: in other words the grade award is late. There are many reasons for a late grade award:
- If there has been a last-minute change to your entry due to a late cash-in or ineligible entry made by your school or college, we may not yet have had time to issue a new result. Check with your school or college to see if a problem is being resolved.
- A postal strike could delay critical mail.
- Completed examination papers are sometimes not delivered. You may have read in the press this year about post office vehicle robberies or accidents. Where we know that a completed examination paper has definitely been lost we follow a special procedure to award a grade based on your performance on other examinations, earlier exams in the missing subject and teacher estimates of your likely performance in the examination paper that has been lost. Edexcel will calculate a grade (called an aegrotat) to include in your results. Check the noticeboard for any news of lost or stolen examination papers.
A # symbol
This means that you missed part of the examinations and so scored zero for this part. Your overall grade was awarded on the examinations you actually took.
Can I see my script/completed examination paper?
If you would like to have your papers back please ask your Examinations Officer. It is important to realise that if you are having any of your examination papers re-marked we cannot send you your original completed paper. We can only send you a photocopy of it. We can only return your original completed paper if you do not apply to have it re-marked.
The deadlines for these services are given in the Post Results Services booklet. There is a charge to have examination papers re-marked.
Charges are made for the return of original or photocopied scripts. Please ask your Examinations Officer whether you or your school/college will pay these fees.
Will I get my coursework back?
When you hand your coursework in to your teacher, it will be marked against the marking schemes provided by Edexcel. If several teachers in a particular department mark their own groups' work, the marks that those teachers give for the work will be discussed, compared and adjusted if necessary, before they are sent off to an Edexcel moderator. The moderator will then request a sample of the coursework to verify that the marks awarded by your teacher(s) are in line with UK standards. The work that is not sent to the moderator for each subject will be kept safely in your school or college until the results are published. This is in case the school or college wishes to make an Enquiry About Results over the marks that Edexcel publishes.
Once the results have been published and your school or college is happy with those results, your coursework can be released to you. If you have any questions about the whereabouts of your coursework please talk to your subject teacher or Examinations Officer, who will know from their records whether your work was retained in school/college or was sent off to the moderator.
Any coursework sent to the Edexcel moderator in the UK will only be returned to your school or college if a request is made for that to be done by 20 September. Your coursework is not returned automatically and a charge will be made to cover the costs of dispatch.
I'm in year 12 and changing schools because my parents are moving. Will I be able to get my A levels?
Yes, special arrangements may be made if you have to move to another school or college halfway through your A level course and find that the new school or college is not able to prepare you for the A2 units in the same specification that was being taught at the old school or college. These arrangements only apply to GCE Advanced qualifications.
You are only eligible to transfer a complete AS qualification when an AS grade has been issued. Individual units cannot be transferred. Once the transfer has been agreed, re-sits of the units that made up the AS qualification cannot be made.
When you find that you must move school or college speak to your Examinations Officer straight away or, if you prefer, your subject teachers. They will contact Edexcel for approval of the transfer, but there is no guarantee that the requested transfer will be allowed. In some cases the AS course taken at your old school or college will not match up with the A2 course to be taken at your new school or college. In this case, you will need to take all six units of the new specification to obtain an A level grade. In other cases, the transfer will only be allowed if it is agreed that you take certain optional papers or read certain set texts in year 13. Your Examinations Officer can tell you which transfers have already been agreed.
Finally, when you receive your Advanced Level certificate there will be no indication that any transfer of AS credit has taken place.
Please note that only AS unit results from AQA and OCR can be transferred to Edexcel. CIE AS examination results cannot be transferred to Edexcel for an Advanced level award.
My name has been misspelt on the results slip. What can I do?
We can rectify this problem very quickly if your Examinations Officer contacts our Entries and Certification Department.What happens if I was ill over the period of my examinations?
If you become ill before or during the examination period you are eligible for special consideration. This also applies if you have been affected by an accident, bereavement or serious disturbance during an examination.
If you were ill during an examination, special consideration will have been given by Edexcel using a tariff of marks that are added to the paper mark. If you are absent from part of the examination an aegrotat grade is published, which is a grade based on your performance on other examinations, earlier examinations in the missing subject and teacher estimates of your likely performance.
Your school or college should have applied for special consideration on your behalf at the time of the examination. Normally a minimum of 50% of the examination must have been completed for a GCE Advanced qualification and 35% for a GCSE qualification. Appropriate evidence must be submitted to Edexcel to support the application for special consideration.
No mention is made about special consideration having been given on individual results slips and certificates, but your Examinations Officer will know from their list of results whether the special consideration has been given.
When will I receive my certificate?
Certificates for examinations taken in May and June are sent to schools and colleges in October. November examination series certificates are issued in February, and January examination series certificates are issued in May.
I have lost my certificate. Can I have another one?
Your certificate is a valuable document and you should keep it safe. Employers and admissions officers at colleges and universities may ask to see your certificates to prove which awards you have received.
If you have lost a certificate within six months of issue, a replacement certificate will be issued. After six months, you can request a replacement copy using this form:
Application Form for Replacement Certificate (Academic Awards)