This blogpost outlines the Appeals 2022 process, eligibility criteria and important deadlines if your child decides to submit an appeal.
An information booklet called Appeals 2022 – What you need to know has been sent to learners waiting on National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher results. It is also available for you or your child to download from our website.
Appeals overview
All learners will have their results certificates delivered to their home address by first class post on Tuesday 9 August. Those who have signed-up for and activated their MySQA account will also receive their results by text and/or email the same morning.
Appeals 2022 provides learners with the opportunity to have their certificated grade reviewed if they have not achieved the exam results that they expected. The appeals service is free and will be open for eligible learners to appeal either directly to SQA, or through their school, college or training provider. The service will open on Tuesday 9 August at 9 am.
Who can submit an appeal?
We understand that for many young people, this was their first time sitting exams and they may feel they have under-performed due to nerves or anxiety. The appeals service is available to eligible learners if they feel they have under-performed on the day of their exam.
They must meet the following criteria:
- Your child’s school, college or training provider must have submitted an estimate to SQA for the subject and level they would like to appeal. This estimate is based on their performance in assessments that they have taken throughout the year.
- The grade on your child’s certificate must be lower than their estimate. For example, your child receives a C grade on their certificate, but their estimate was an A or B.
- Your child must have taken and/or submitted all SQA coursework assessments and formal coursework including exams.
The following subjects are not eligible for an appeal as they do not include at least one assessment that is marked by SQA:
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- National 5 Practical Electronics
- National 5 Practical Metalworking
- National 5 Practical Woodworking
If your child has already submitted an Examination Exceptional Circumstances Consideration Service request that has been accepted, reviewed and an award has been made, they are not eligible to use the appeals service. This service already includes a review of alternative evidence to award a grade.
Priority appeals
An appeal can be prioritised if your child has a conditional offer for university, college or training, or if an employment opportunity depends on their grade. All priority appeals must be validated by their school, college or training provider.
If your child’s school, college or training provider is submitting the appeal, please tell them that your child has a conditional offer.
How to submit an appeal
The appeals service will open on Tuesday 9 August at 9 am, the same day that certificates are delivered. The service can be accessed directly by you or your child on our website and will detail exactly what information is required to submit an appeal. Appeals must be submitted by Tuesday 16 August at 11.59 pm for priority appeals and by Tuesday 30 August at 11.59 pm for all other appeals.
Your child’s school, college or training provider must submit priority appeals by Friday 19 August at 5 pm and Friday 2 September at 5 pm for all other appeals.
To register for the service, you will be required to provide your child’s name, date of birth, Scottish Candidate Number (you can find this on their certificate), the subject and the level of the course, and whether your child is waiting for a result for a university or college place or for an employment, or training programme. Once registered, you or your child can submit and withdraw an appeal.
What happens after you appeal?
Once an eligible appeal is submitted, we will carry out a clerical check on your child’s exam script(s) and coursework where applicable. We will check that the exam script has been correctly and thoroughly marked, and that the final result was entered correctly into our system.
SQA appointees — who are experienced teachers and lecturers – will also review the alternative evidence gathered throughout the year that was submitted by your child’s school, college or training provider in order to provide a final grade.
Outcome of appeals
In most cases, your child’s grade will either go up or stay the same. However, there is a very small chance that their grade could go down. This will only happen if the clerical checks carried out highlight that both the exam paper and alternative assessment evidence support a lower grade.
Before your child submits an appeal, we would encourage them to discuss their decision with their teacher, lecturer or another member of staff to determine if an appeal is in their best interests.
We will send the final result to your child’s school, college or training provider and if their appeal has resulted in a grade change, we will issue a new certificate. Priority appeal results will be confirmed by Monday 5 September in order to meet the UCAS deadline. The grade your child is awarded from Appeals 2022 will be final and they will not be able to appeal it again.
Keeping you informed
To stay up to date, please visit sqa.org.uk/nq2022 and follow us on Facebook @ScottishQualificationsAuthority and Twitter @sqanews
