A-level results: clearing and appeal guide for when things don't go to plan

On Thursday, August 14, thousands of students across the country will flock to their schools and colleges to learn how they fared in their A-level exams, and see the important qualifications their hard work has earned them.

Those planning to head to university next will also likely find out the outcomes of any conditional offers – meaning they can start planning in earnest for the next stage of their lives.

Not getting the grades you had hoped for can be extremely distressing, and young people in this situation will need support so we’ve put together the following guide to help you.

How to appeal an A Level grade

Sometimes grades might seem unusually low – or it might look like there has been some kind of mistake. If this is the case, you are able to appeal them with your exam board.

Most of the time, your school (or the school where you sat your exam) will need to do this on your behalf. It’s best to speak to school staff right away if you think you might need to appeal a grade, so that they can help you make a decision.

This is especially pertinent if you have a conditional university or other course offer waiting. Exam boards typically offer a faster, priority review service for students in these situations, but they tend to have strict deadlines.

If you press ahead, your school will ask for the exam’s marking to be reviewed. Once you’ve received the outcome of this, if you’re still not happy then your school can also appeal that initial review. The exam board will then look over it again and make a final decision.

There is one final step available if you still have concerns, which is to appeal to Ofqual – the Government’s qualifications watchdog. Ofqual will only step in after the regular appeals process has been completed. The regulator will look over your case to make sure the exam board has met their standards. If it finds something wrong, it can get the exam board to take another look at your grade –although it can’t change your grade itself.

There are a few things worth noting before you make an appeal. Firstly, if you request a review and your grade isn’t changed as a result, you may be charged a fee. Sometimes this is by paper, so these can add up. Second, there usually isn’t grade protection in place. This means that your grade may also go down, depending on what reviewers find.

When are the 2025 appeal deadlines for each exam board?

The priority and regular appeal deadlines for each of England’s major exam boards this year, as listed on their websites, are the same. This includes AQA, Eduqas, OCR, and Pearson Edexcel.

These deadlines are:

• Priority review deadline: August 21
• All other review requests: September 25

And what if I don’t get the grades I need for my chosen university?

Not acheiving the grades you needed for your conditional unversity place doesn’t have to spell an end to their university aspirations.

Each year, thousands of prospective students are matched up with courses with open spaces via the Clearing process.

UCAS – the UK’s Universities and Colleges Admissions Service – says that there are more than 30,000 courses available for 2025.

How do I enter into Clearing?

In most cases, you don’t actually have to. If an applicant doesn’t get the grades needed for any conditional offers they have, or if they applied after June 30, UCAS will enter them into Clearing automatically.

It will even try and match them up with available courses that match their study interests, which can be viewed by clicking the ‘My Matches’ button on your online application. But they’re not limited to those either – UCAS also has a search function (which you can find online here), and there will be thousands of courses across dozens of universities to choose from.

This means that students upset about their results can take some much-needed downtime, to talk it out with a supportive parent or friend. UCAS also recommends that they talk to an adviser at their school or college.

I’ve found a course I’m interested in through Clearing – now what?

Once you have found a new course that catches your eye, there are a few steps you’ll need to take to lock it in.

First, you will need to reach out to the university to find out if they would consider them. The contact details for each university can be found by clicking through to its profile from the UCAS hub.

It’s usually best to give them a call, and they’ll likely have a dedicated team for this. You will need your Clearing number (you can find this on their application), personal ID, grades, and the course code for the programme your interested in.

If the university is happy with your grades, you will usually receive an offer via the UCAS hub relatively quickly. But if they’re on the lower side, an academic staff member may call you back for an over-the-phone interview before deciding whether to send an offer.

Once you’ve got the university’s approval, you can officially add them to their application by clicking ‘add Clearing choice’, and filling in the course details by the date the university gave you. This counts as accepting their offer.

When do courses open for Clearing – and when does it end?

The good news is that Clearing is technically already open for students not holding any other university offers, UCAS says. This also applies to students who applied late, have declined their offers, or who might have changed what they want to study.

It opened for the year back on July 5.

On results day itself, students wanting to add a Clearing choice can do so in their UCAS Hub from 1pm.

While it’s a good idea to get onto it quickly before courses start to fill up, there’s no big rush – clearing doesn’t close until October 20 this year.