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Challenging Results

 appeals and mark-checks.

All results are processed according to unique candidate numbers; the results that are emailed to you are definitely your results and not another student's.

We are confident that our assessment process is robust and that the results we have sent you will be accurate. 

Results are processed according to your unique candidate number, not your name. The results that are emailed to you are definitely your results. 

The School has extension, deferral, and exceptional circumstances processes to make it easy for students to seek additional time to complete assessments, postpone their assessment or alert their sub-board to exceptional circumstances. You must follow the these procedures in the first instance. The appeals process is designed as a last resort only for students that can clearly demonstrate they were unable to follow School procedures at the time of assessment.

If you submitted Exceptional Circumstances before the deadline they will have been considered by the sub-board of examiners, and when you have a full mark profile, a recommendation will be made to the School Board of Examiners or Graduate School Board of Examiners.  

Marking / Re-marking of Papers

LSE's view is that there are three acceptable approaches to marking which provide a highly rigourous assessment procedure.

• Double-blind marking (this is the default position)
• Sighted double marking
• Moderated single marking, involving a second examiner

External examiners also review summative work from across the full range of marks for that course to enable them to ensure that the internal marking is consistent and of an appropriate standard.

Where assessments are anonymous, marking is carried out with reference to candidate numbers only. This means that examiners are wholly unaware of the identity of the candidates. 

The School is confident that its standard approach to the marking summative work is sufficiently robust and thus you are not able to call into question the academic judgement of the relevant Board of Examiners. 

There is therefore no provision for summative work to be re-marked.

Accessing exam scripts.

Exam scripts are exempted from the access rules covered by the UK's Data Protection Act. Access to scripts is therefore at the discretion of the School and will be determined by local practice within departments. 

For more information visit our Data Protection page.

Administrative Mark Checks

LSE permit students to  request an administrative mark check  for course results in certain circumstances.

This process verifies that the published final mark for a course corresponds to the marks you were awarded by the relevant academic department. This is an administrative check that records are correct, it is not a remark of work.

Given that this process focuses on individual courses you can request a mark check as soon as the final mark is published. You do not need to wait until you have a full set of marks. 

You can only request administrative mark checks on final marks; you cannot request them for provisional marks or missing marks. 

Administrative mark checks and appeals are separate processes , please see below for detailed information about the Appeals process. .

Appeal Process Overview

• Appeals must be submitted using the Appeal Submission Form in the section below. It should be completed in full, and together with any relevant supporting information (such as a medical certificate/doctor's letter) and be submitted to [email protected] . Appeals that are not submitted using the standard form will not be accepted.
• You must submit your appeal by  11.59pm (23.59, UK time)  within 10 working days of receiving all of your final results. Appeals submitted after this deadline will not be accepted under any circumstances.
• Please clearly and concisely set out all of the information using the appeal form. 
• Challenging the academic judgement of individual examiners or the Examination Boards cannot form the basis of any appeal.
• It can take up to 180 working days to fully conclude an appeal. 
• There are two appeal stages, if your appeal is rejected under Stage One you have the opportunity to request a review of this decision or to provide further information under Stage Two. The outcome you receive under Stage Two is final.
• Appeals can only be made against results released in July (undergraduate students, and 9/10 month master's students), September (students who have taken assessments in IRDAP), November (12 month master's students), or March (postgraduate students who have taken assessments in January RDAP). 
• Finalists can only submit appeals once they have received their final classification. You cannot submit an appeal if you have received a provisional classification.
• You can only submit an appeal once your final results have been formally released. You must submit your appeal within 10 working days of the release of all of your results. 
• Complaints about dissertation supervision and/or dissatisfaction with the teaching of a course cannot be considered under the School’s appeals regulations. These are matters to be considered under the School’s complaints procedure .
• It is not possible to appeal for exceptional progression or repeat teaching, these are separate procedures. You can find further information via the Repeat Teaching and Exceptional Progression pages. 

Appeals can only be made when you have your final, ratified results following an exam period

It is not possible to appeal against provisional marks. You can only appeal when you have your final, ratified results for an exam period.

You cannot appeal against provisional marks because we have not yet finished our processing and things may change. This means that Undergraduates cannot appeal on the basis of provisional marks released in early July, they must wait for their final results later in July. Masters students cannot appeal on the basis of provisional marks released in August, they must wait for their final results in November. 

Appeals Submission Form and Guidance Notes

You can only submit an appeal once your final results have been published.

If you believe you have valid grounds for appealing against the decision of the board of examiners, you should carefully read the  Appeals Regulations .

The appeals process is a last resort for candidates who were unable to engage with the School's other procedures at the right time. If you have any issues during your studies, it is very important that you seek advice and assistance at the earliest opportunity.  If you encounter difficulties of any nature, we recommend that you contact your Academic Mentor and/or the  Student Advice and Engagement Team  in the first instance.  

Please also be aware of the  Exceptional Circumstances  procedure and its deadlines. The vast majority of appeals that we receive are unsuccessful as the student did not submit Exceptional Circumstances when they were able to do so. 

To submit your appeal please complete the following  Appeals submission form  and any appropriate evidence to the following e-mail address: [email protected] . Please ensure you submit by the relevant deadline as listed in the ‘Appeal Deadline’ section below. If, having read the guidance you have any questions before you would like submit please see ‘Appeal Advice’ section below for sources of help.

Please note that since the 2020 Summer Term results release, we have resolved 864 appeals. 143 (16.55%) of these were upheld; 721 (83.45%) were rejected.

Appeals deadlines and timeline

You must submit your appeal within 10 working days of your final results being published. it is not possible to appeal provisional marks.  , the appeal form and supporting information must be received by 23.59 (london time) on the deadline day. for example, if your final results are emailed to you on tuesday 19 november 2024, you must submit your appeal by 23:59 on tuesday 03 december 2024..

After submitting an appeal, you will receive an automated e-mail confirming that it has been received. If you do not think you have received the confirmation please check your spam or junk folders, if you still cannot find it please  contact us .

You can normally expect to receive a decision about whether or not you have identified valid grounds to appeal within 180 working days after the acknowledgment.

If you do identify valid grounds to appeal, it will take approximately an additional 15-20 working days to conclude while it is considered by the relevant Exam Boards. Therefore, adjustments may not be made before the In-Year Resit and Deferred Assessment Period or the January week zero assessment period. 

LSE will retain your appeal file for seven years from the date if the final decision. After this time it will be destroyed.

Grounds for Appeals

You can make an appeal on either or both of the following grounds (reasons):

• (Paragraph 2.1.1 of the appeals regulations) that the examination board did not follow the correct procedure such that there is reasonable doubt that the decision would have been the same if board had followed the correct procedure
• (Paragraph 2.1.2) that there is new information about exceptional (mitigating) circumstances that affected the examination outcome. If you are appealing against a final degree classification for this reason you must also be able to meet the following conditions: (a) that your mark profile is no more than three marks below the next higher classification in a single course; or (b) that your mark profile is no more than ten marks away from the next higher classification on aggregate (only where local rules state an aggregate applies for PG students).

(Paragraph 2.2) If appealing under paragraph 2.1.2, you must provide: (Paragraph 2.2.1) evidence of why you did not report those circumstances at the time, as set out in the procedure for submitting exceptional (mitigating) circumstances; and (Paragraph 2.2.2) evidence of the exceptional circumstances.

Appeals Advice

Independent advice about making an appeal and the process can be obtained from the  LSE Students' Union Advice Centre

If you have a query for the Assessment Regulations Team which is not answered in the Appeals Guidance, please submit an enquiry . 

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator

If, following the completion of the School's internal procedures - that is, having had an unsuccessful outcome after the second, review stage of the appeals process - you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your appeal, you may be eligible to appeal to the  Office of the Independent Adjudicator .

This is the independent ombudsman of last resort for all universities in England

University of London International Programmes 

LSE cannot assist with enquiries from students on the University of London International Programmes.  

Any student studying on the University of London International Programmes (UoLIP) who has a question about their examination results should log an enquiry via the  UoLIP Portal  .  

Please follow the instructions via the "Notification of Results" link on the "Assessment" section of the "My Account" area on the Student Portal.

Assessment FAQs Frequently asked questions

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