Don’t rush to apply for a re-mark or retake the exam just because your results are lower than expected. Read the following before making a decision.
Right after the results were released, many students told me they were upset because they dropped from 90. They had cross-checked their answers and thought they were confident, especially those who scored around 87, 88, or 89. So, it’s clear that high scores in the AS level were severely suppressed this year due to too many students scoring high raw marks.
Does a score of 90 UMS mean that the student scored 90% of the total marks? For example, if the total score is 90 in AS, did the student score above 81?
The answer is NO. UMS (Uniform Mark Scale) represents the student's score level. If the exam paper is very difficult and most students don't score well, resulting in a low grade boundary, then even if a student's raw score is relatively low, they could still receive a high UMS. So, this score of 90 can be understood as the student's performance surpassing 90% of other students.
For those students who dropped from the A* bracket and are aiming for universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, or LSE, they’re all thinking about applying for a re-mark to push their scores above 90. But don’t rush—whether you should apply for a re-mark or retake the exam depends on three factors:
1. Predicted Grades: First, check the score your school is predicting for an A* in AS. For example, if your school predicts an A* for scores above 85, then there shouldn’t be much of an issue—just focus on doing well in A2.
2. Raw marks: The second point is to consider your raw marks. The final grade is actually a combination of the raw marks from AS and A2 across the four papers. If your raw mark is high and not too far from the 90+ range, but your percentile rank dropped this year, it’s not a big problem—just study hard next year.
3. Re-marking in High-Scoring Range is Not Recommended: Another reason I don’t recommend a re-mark for those in the high-scoring range is that in recent years, more re-mark results have ended up lowering scores rather than increasing them. Also, control over scores above 90 in AS has become increasingly strict. If your predicted grades and raw scores are fine, there’s no need to take this risk.
Since last year, the number of students scoring above 90 in AS has been strictly controlled, so this is a clear trend. However, the new syllabus offers more opportunities to improve in A2 compared to the old syllabus, making it easier, and the overall grade boundaries have also been lowered. This year, my students, as well as those shared by other teachers, have seen more students achieving A* in A2. I have several students who improved from a B in AS to an A* in A2, and others who went from a C in AS to an A in A2. Instead of retaking AS, it’s better to focus on doing well in A2.
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