SQA Urgent Appeal Information
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Changes to the SQA ‘Appeals’ Service
From August 2014, SQA’s new Results Services has replaced the traditional Appeals Service, for all National Courses where an exam or coursework contributes to a candidate’s final grade.
The Post Results Service runs AFTER candidates have received their certificates. The new Post Results Services have been introduced for all National Courses that are externally assessed. ‘External’ assessments are marked by specialists appointed by SQA. The qualifications that the Post Results Services apply to include: Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher.
If a school is concerned by a candidate's result it can ask the SQA for one of the following services:
1) a Clerical Check
2) a Marking Review
Please note that both these services come at a cost and the SQA are very clear about the rationale for requesting the Post Results Service:
'The school should have clear and compelling evidence that there is a reasonable possibility that an error may have occurred with the marking or totalling of marks in a candidate’s script. Where the candidate’s final grade is markedly at odds with the totality of assessment evidence gathered during the year and out of line with the performance of other candidates with similar profiles'
1. A CLERICAL CHECK (Cost: £10 per script)
SQA staff will check that:
· all parts of the script have been marked
· the marks given for each answer on the script have been totalled-up correctly
· the correct total/result was entered into the system for that script. The system evaluates all the results received in the different parts of the Course, in order to calculate the final grade.
2. A MARKING REVIEW ( £29.75 - includes Clerical Check)
This will include:
· a clerical check (same as above)
· SQA Senior Examiner reviewing the marks that the candidate was given for each question/component/item in the exam paper, to check whether the original marking was in line with the national standard
A Priority Marking Review costs £39.75 (for candidates with provisional offers from University only)
SQA have 2 criteria for eligibility for the Post Results Service
· The candidate has not been entered under the Exceptional Circumstances Consideration Service
· The subject script (paper) is not electronically marked.
It is also worth noting that a result may go down as well as up as a result of the above service being requested therefore it will be important that parents are made aware of this and even give permission prior to a request being made. When a result is changed (either up or down), this will be amended by SQA and a new certificate will be issued to the candidate.
As marks may go down as well as up we need to be sure that requesting either of the above services is in the best interest of the candidate. In order to this we must consider the following questions -
· Has the candidate passed all internal units of the course?
· Has the candidate has shown consistent performance (at the estimated grade) throughout the year in CLASS TESTS/COURSEWORK/MOCK EXAM?
· Are the estimates for ALL candidates in the particular subject are concordant?
If, after consideration of the above, it is felt that this would be in the best interest of the candidate then we will go ahead and request the most appropriate service after seeking written consent from the candidate and parent / carer.
If you wish to discuss this further then please speak to Pastoral Care staff in the first instance.
Please note the relevant SQA deadline dates below:
· 5 August 2014 Opening date for clerical check or marking review requests, for all qualifications
· 20 August 2014 Closing date for priority marking review requests (for candidates with a conditional offer at university or college)
· 27 August 2014 Closing date for clerical check