You can appeal against your exam result (after results are released), using our Assessment Appeals process, if:
Ground One: There was irregular procedure or improper conduct of an assessment. You believe we did not follow the correct procedures in the assessment process, including question setting, marking, or result moderation of your assessment.
Ground Two: There were mitigating circumstances:
If you wish to make an appeal you need to complete an Assessment application within 21 calendar days of the release of your exam result.
Regardless of the grounds, you will need to provide evidence to support your appeal. Without such evidence, it is unlikely that your appeal will be successful. All supporting evidence must be provided at the time of your appeal, as it will only be assessed on the basis of the information submitted at that time.
Where you believe, an irregular procedure has occurred including a marking/moderation error (Ground One), you will need to provide a detailed explanation giving your reasoning for this. This must be supported with evidence as appropriate.
For appeals made under Ground Two, we require independently verified evidence. This should be typed, signed and dated and on letter-headed paper. In cases, where your appeal is relating to procedural irregularity or an administrative error this must also be evidenced.
Further information can be found in the Assessment Appeals policy.
If you submitted a Mitigating application before the deadline given and your situation met the criteria for the Mitigating Circumstances, this will have been considered by the Mitigating panel.
We will carry out a thorough review of your application. We aim to communicate the outcome of your appeal, with reasons, within 30 days from the receipt of your appeal fee, unless we have explained to you that there will be a delay in communicating the outcome to you.
Please refer to the Assessment Appeals policy for details of how we investigate your appeal.
If you have submitted a Mitigating Circumstances application at the time of your exam, you can still make an appeal based on your mitigating circumstances if you believe a procedural irregularity or administrative error occurred when considering your original application or you now have new evidence that was not previously made available (refer to Assessment policy for further guidance).
Your appeal may be upheld, partially upheld or it could be deemed unsuccessful.
If we either uphold or partially uphold your appeal application, your appeal fee will be refunded. Should your appeal be upheld, this does not necessarily mean that your mark or pass/fail decision will be amended.
For example, you may receive (but is not limited to):
The outcome of your Assessment Appeal is final and once this has been communicated to you we are unable to consider your appeal further.
If you are awaiting the outcome of an Assessment appeal and your decision on whether to book a resit during the next session is dependant on this, we would strongly advise you to go ahead with the booking before the closing date.
If your Assessment appeal results in your assessment being moved to a Pass then we will arrange for your entry fee (for the same subject as you are appealing) to be refunded to you.
We will be unable to accept late entries, after the booking period has closed, as a result of a delayed Assessment appeal outcome.
If you believe your Assessment appeal was not correctly investigated, you have the option to raise a complaint. For further information on how to do this, please visit the Choosing the Right Avenue for your Complaint webpage.
If you have been investigated for a breach of our Assessment Regulations and have received an investigation outcome, you can use our Inappropriate Conduct appeals process, if you believe you have grounds to do so.
You will have received a letter from us explaining that you have been in breach of the Assessment regulations. You can appeal against the outcome of an investigation if:
If you wish to make an appeal you need to complete an Inappropriate Conduct Stage One application form within 30 calendar days of receiving your investigation outcome.
It is essential that before you submit your application, you have read and understood our Inappropriate Conduct Appeals Policy (130 KB PDF). We are unable to consider your application if you have not provided any new evidence or where you have solely used the same evidence or testimony already provided during the initial investigation.
We will review your application and the evidence you have submitted. If this meets our threshold for consideration your appeal will be sent to our Appeals Panel to make a decision on an appropriate outcome.
If your appeal is upheld this does not necessarily mean that the outcome of the original investigation will be amended. You may receive an explanation or apology, a review of the relevant administrative procedures, or a correction to the outcome previously given. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list.
If your appeal is not successful, meaning that you have not met the acceptable grounds, we will advise you of this in writing.
We aim to provide you with a written outcome within 30 calendar days of receipt of your appeal application.
If you have any questions about membership please email us or call us on +44 (0) 131 240 1325. Response times can be found in our membership FAQs.