When exam results start to land with students next week, it is inevitable that a significant proportion will be disappointed with some or all of their results, and will wonder if there is something that they can do about it.

This feeling will be especially strong for those who have worked hard and been successful throughout the year, achieving A-grade scores in prelims, mock tests, and assignments, only to find that a weaker performance on one single day had seen then awarded a B, a C, or perhaps even nothing at all.

Surely, they might ask, there is a way to have what seem to be especially erroneous grades reconsidered, even within the framework of a system that places so much emphasis on a high-stakes final exam?

Can’t a school submit evidence showing that a student deserves a higher grade than the one awarded to them, and have the exam board take that into account?

Isn’t there the option to appeal?

If you ask Qualifications Scotland, they will say yes – but what they now call an appeals system isn’t really anything of the sort.

Students do have the option of requesting that their paper for a particular subject is reviewed, but the options available from the exam board are extremely limited.

The........

© Herald Scotland