About 20% of appealed exam results end up with higher grade

Any student who thinks they should have been given a higher grade on any subject can appeal the result to the State Examinations Commission.

Each year, thousands of students have their exams re-marked and around one fifth of those results are upgraded. The biggest number of appeals last year was the 1,340 higher-level Leaving Certificate English candidates, of whom 185 (or almost one in seven) had their grade increased.

More than 1,000 biology students appealed their grade, resulting in 276upgrades, while one in five of the 559 appealed higher level maths results was increased after re-marking.