Exam Results & Appeals

Results for most qualifications are available as soon as they are released from the awarding organisation. Certificates for these qualifications are posted to your registered address as soon as they are received by the college. Some certificates will be issued throughout the year (this most commonly applies to short courses). The majority of certificates will be posted between July and mid-September.

Some qualifications have a specified release date, a full list of qualifications that fall into this category are listed here.

During your course, tutors will share in-year results with you as they are released/confirmed and discuss your next steps.

During the summer break, results for externally-assessed units (usually sat in May/June on a nationally-set date) will be posted to you first class on the date of release whenever the awarding organisation make them available. For Qualifications that have a nationally set release date, the results will be available collection at specified campuses.  If not collected they will be posted.  Externally assessed unit results will also be emailed after 1pm on the date of release.

For learners who are midflight, most awarding organisations will not release any interim certificates or internally-assessed unit results. If your awarding organisation are issuing interim results, these will be sent to your home address as soon as they are released.

(This most often applies to learners who were aged 18 or over at the start of their Level 3 vocational course)

Once your assignments have been marked by your tutor, they are internally quality assured. This means that they are reviewed by a team of Internal Verifiers before the results can be confirmed.

In some cases the college are then able to make immediate contact with the awarding organisation and advise them of your success in each unit/full qualification.

However, for many qualifications, the awarding organisation also requires an External Quality Assurance visit to take place. In this instance, the awarding organisation send their own staff to the college to look at samples of work and review the quality of the marking and the processes. The EQA files a report following their visit.

Once approval is granted, the college contact the awarding organisation and advise them of the units/qualification you have been successful in.

For many Higher Education courses, the assignment marks are internally quality assured (by the university IQA if applicable) and then reviewed by an external examiner or external quality assessor. The marks are then sent to an exam board. They are ratified by the chair of the exam board. The college/university faculty are then able to claim the units/qualification you have been successful in.

This process of quality assurance may delay the release of your certificate; however, this means that you can be reassured that all learners completing qualifications are issued a fair grade based upon their performance and the standards are nationally consistent. 

Once all units that make up the qualification are achieved and are accepted by the awarding body/university, a certificate is printed and sent to the college. The confirmed grade is added to your student record. 

Some awarding bodies will also issue a certificate of unit credit, when units towards a full qualification are awarded. 

For many qualifications, the teacher will be able to inform you if have passed as soon as you complete the course.

In some cases where quality assurance is still to take place, or where there are units or exams that need to be externally marked by an awarding organisation, the final confirmation if achievement may be released after the course has finished. This may take a number of weeks depending on awarding organisation timeframes.

The awarding organisation will then release certificates to the college. Certificates will then be sent to your registered address as soon as possible and within three weeks of receipt.

GCSE, A Level and Extended Project certificates are not printed by the awarding organisations until November. They will be posted to your registered address within three weeks of receipt at college. You should receive them no later than 23 December.

Certificates for the UAL awarding body are received in college in October and will be posted within three weeks of receipt.

For all other certificates, we aim to post them to your registered address within three weeks of receipt at college.

Please note, the process of quality assurance may delay the release of your certificate in some instances.

If you have applied through UCAS, the universities will already have evidence of your grades. They will have been supplied to UCAS by the awarding organisations.

In most cases, the statement of results provided on the national results days will be sufficient. Universities will be aware that certificates for nationally released results will not be available until November/December.

All awarding organisations have a post results service. The process and cost of this service will vary dependent on the awarding organisation. The most common are listed here.

If your External Exam result is not what you expected, and you believe there has been an error, you can access the Post Result Services and if you are still concerned you can appeal.

There are deadlines for Post result Services and a cost. To enable you to make an informed decision, you may find it useful to speak to your tutor first. They may have access to your marks and the grade boundaries. They may recommend an ‘access to script’ service first if this is available.

In order for the college to access your scripts, you will need to provide consent. Your teacher will review the paper and discuss options with you.

Please be aware of the Post Results deadlines – late applications cannot be accepted, and fees must be paid in advance.

A link to request and pay for post results services will be available in your results envelope and your results email.

If your awarding organisation is not listed, please discuss deadlines and fees with your tutor or the examinations office.

Where an overall qualification grade is changed because of a review of marking, then any fees will be refunded.

Be aware that marks may go down as well as up, or may stay the same.

Key deadlines for a review of marking Summer 2026

Level 3 Priority Review of Marking (Only students applying to higher education and wish to appeal an A Level or other Level 3 qualification result)

Students must have submitted their request by Tuesday 18 August 2026 at 3pm

Non priority Review of Marking – all other students.

Students must have submitted their request by Friday 11 September at 3pm

To request a Post Result service, you MUST request it by the deadline and pay the fee.

If you need further advice on the appeal process for External Assessments, please contact your local Exams Office during normal office hours.

Please read The Bedford College Group Appeal Policy carefully.

If you believe that a piece of work submitted for assessment has been assessed unfairly, inconsistently or not in accordance with the standards and level required by the awarding organisation, you have the right to appeal against the assessment mark, grade or final outcome.

In the first instance, any concerns should be discussed with your personal tutor or a member of the teaching team. While it is recognised that in most circumstances queries relating to assessment can and will be resolved informally, the formal appeals procedure is available to support students in their appeal.

If you need help in making an appeal, this can be obtained by contacting your teacher or a member of the Quality department.

The College Appeals Policy & Procedure enables students to make a formal appeal against a recommendation or decision relating to:

• The mark or grade for an individual item of coursework
• The result of an individual course
• Entitlement to an award
• The class or grade of an award