SQA Appeals 2025

Learners will be able to appeal their final grades by requesting a review of their SQA-marked assessment components. The service will continue to be free and available for learners to access directly / via the school. Alternative assessment evidence will not be required - ensuring fairness for all learners. 

The Appeals Service will include a priority service for learners with proof of a conditional offer for college, university, training or employment.  Further information can be found at Appeals service - SQA.

How does the appeals service work? 

If you appeal your grade, a senior marker will carry out a marking review of your SQA-marked assessments. They check that the marks awarded by the marker are in line with the marking standards agreed at the markers briefing and the marking instructions. Please note that after being reviewed, your result could stay the same, go up or go down.

In addition, they also check that:

• all parts of your SQA-assessments have been marked;

• the marks given for each answer have been totalled correctly

• the correct result has been entered on our system.

If you have any questions related to your SQA results and Appeals then please contact Mrs Hamilton, SQA Co-ordinator, directly at nicola.hamilton@aberdeenshire.gov.uk as all applications have to be completed by the SQA Co-ordinator.   

She will be available on Results Day on Tuesday 5th August 2025 and by email intermittently between then and school returning on Wednesday, 20th August 2025.  If a pupil completes a learner direct appeal on the SQA website then the learner will still be contacted by the school to discuss the appeal so we would ask that pupils regularly check their emails if they are expecting a response.  

The closing date for priority appeals is the 21st August 2025 (this is only for students where their results influence the offer of a place in the workplace, college or higher education) and 29th August 2025 for non-priority appeals.  This latter date means there is plenty of time to respond when you return to school if it is not a priority appeal.  Young people will be able to see Mrs Hamilton all day on Wednesday, 20th August 2025 should they wish to discuss an appeal.

To explain the Senior Phase in Scotland Education Scotland is our national education agency and you may the following link a good starting point:

Our national exams body is called the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) and you can access their website here.  You can also sign up, as a parent, for updates from them which can be useful closer to exam time and a specific page for parents can be found here. 

In terms of applying for university in the UK that goes through a body called UCAS and you can access their website which is a brilliant resource for young people and parents alike.

Beyond that, at Mackie Academy, we have our Senior Phase Pathways Information (S4-S6) that contains everything you should need to know about courses, their structures and how they are assessed here at Mackie Academy.  

In addition to this our Developing our Young Workforce site contains lots of information about how young people can access experiences around pathways they may be considering in the future.  Our DYW team is led by Mrs Lucy Angel so if you require any further advice on this she would be the person to contact. 

In addition to this students and parents can access support from Skills Development Scotland around advice for future pathways and students can have an individual appointment with our advisors in school alongside support that they will access through their Personal and Social Education lessons. 

You can find out the latest key messages to parents and carers from the SQA on their blog.  Frequently asked questions can be found and their associated answers from the SQA here.