Delays in carrying out revisions of O and A level exam papers forced many students to study through the summer for their re-sits without knowing whether their mark had been upgraded or not.

Candidates can ask for a revision of a paper if they are not happy with the grade awarded to them in any of the subjects. The grade may be confirmed or upgraded.

The re-sits were held this week but the Matsec examinations board confirmed that some of the revision-of-paper reports had only reached candidates towards the end of August.

The board said that in a circular accompanying the result slips of the May sessions, students had been informed there was no guarantee the reports would be published before the September re-sits.

Matsec support unit director Dario Pirotta said a number of factors had contributed to this delay but it was mainly due to lack of available revisers to go through the exam papers. “Revisers – markers who were not involved in the original marking – need to be appointed to review the candidates’ scripts.

“The revisers have less than three weeks to then carry out a close examination of the answers to see that the marks were awarded fairly. It is very difficult to find eligible revisers capable and willing to do the work in August for a meagre fee,” Mr Pirotta said

When this process is complete, a check is carried out to ensure that all questions were marked and that all marks were added correctly.

This year, the board received 1,389 requests for revision of papers in 71 of more than 90 examinations sat for. Of these requests, 46 upgrades to grades were made.

Student organisation SDM said in a statement that these results, as well as those of the September sessions, could determine students’ futures in post-secondary and tertiary education and called on Matsec to issue the results soon.