How AQA remarks work

AQA is the biggest exam board in England, so if you're thinking about a remark there's a good chance it's an AQA paper you're worried about. The good news: the process is pretty well documented, the fees are published, and the deadlines are fixed. The slightly annoying news: you can't request anything directly. It all goes through your school.

This guide walks through how AQA's remark process actually works in 2026. The services they offer, the exact fees, the deadlines, who submits the request, and what happens after you've asked for one. If you're still deciding whether a remark is worth it at all, read should-i-get-a-gcse-remark first.

AQA follows the shared framework that all UK exam boards use, set by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). Under that framework AQA offers a handful of post-results services, and you need to pick the right one for what you think went wrong.

The one most students mean by "remark" is the review of marking (sometimes called service 2). A senior examiner checks the mark scheme was applied correctly and only corrects genuine errors. There's also a clerical re-check (service 1), which just confirms the marks were added up correctly and no answers were missed. For A-level students with a conditional university offer, AQA runs a priority review of marking that comes back faster.

A few free services are worth knowing about too. AQA will send a copy of the marked script before the review deadline so you and your teachers can decide whether a full review is worth requesting. That's free and often the smartest first move if you're unsure.

AQA publishes its fees on its post-results services page, and they're set per unit or component (i.e. per paper). The figures below are the ones AQA confirmed for the 2025 to 2026 academic year. If the review changes your grade in either direction, the fee is refunded. If the grade doesn't change, the fee stands.

Individual students can't submit a request directly to AQA. The request has to come through the exams officer at the school or college where you sat the exam. The exams officer logs into AQA's Centre Services portal (the system schools use to manage everything with AQA) and submits the request on your behalf, with your written consent.

In practice that means your first job is emailing the exams office. Be clear about which subject, which paper number, which service you want, and that you understand the grade can move down as well as up. Most schools will ask you to sign a consent form and to pay the fee up front, since AQA bills the school and the school passes the cost on.

Already left school? You still go through your old school. That school is your registered AQA centre for that exam series and ex-students contact their exams office every August. Email them, don't try AQA directly.

AQA sets two deadlines for the summer series. The priority service window is short and runs straight from results day. The standard window gives everyone else about five weeks. According to AQA's published 2026 dates, the priority review of marking deadline for A-level students with a university offer is 20 August 2026, and the standard review of marking deadline is 24 September 2026.

Your school will have an internal cut-off a few days earlier than AQA's deadline, because the exams officer needs time to collect consent, take payment, and submit the request through Centre Services. If you're going for a remark, talk to the exams office in the first week after results day.

AQA publishes target turnaround times for each service. Standard review of marking is up to 20 calendar days from the date the request is submitted. Priority review of marking is up to 15 calendar days, designed so the outcome lands in time for university offer decisions in early September. Clerical re-checks are usually faster, often back within 10 calendar days.

The school is told first, then they pass the outcome to you. If your grade changes, UCAS and your firm choice university are updated automatically once AQA confirms the new grade, but it's worth ringing your firm choice yourself if your offer is at risk and the timing is tight. Universities expect calls in late August and early September and they're used to handling them.

AQA's review of marking isn't a fresh second opinion in the way some students assume. A senior examiner checks the mark scheme was applied correctly and only corrects genuine errors. They're looking for marking errors, not for ways to be generous, and sound original marks must stand.

That's why big swings are uncommon. Most reviews don't change the mark at all. Among those that do, the change is usually small. If your original marker was strict, you might pick up a few marks. If they were generous, you can lose some. The reviewer can move your mark in either direction.

In plain terms: a remark is most likely to help when you're one or two marks below a grade boundary and there's a specific question where you think the marking was off. It's least likely to help when you're well below a boundary or when the grade roughly matches your mocks.

For anything to do with your individual paper, AQA's answer is the same: talk to your school. The exams officer has access to AQA Centre Services and can see everything about your entries, your script, and any post-results requests.

AQA does run a general enquiries phone line and email address for schools and the public, but they won't process student requests directly. If your school is genuinely refusing to submit a request and you've escalated to senior leaders without success, JCQ has a process for centre-level complaints that you can ask AQA's customer services to point you to.