If you believe a final grade doesn’t reflect your actual performance, Enquiry Upon Results (EUR) is the formal process for requesting a review — and understanding your specific options before applying can save both time and an unnecessary fee.
What Enquiry Upon Results Actually Is
EUR is the IB’s official mechanism for challenging a result, submitted through your school (not by you directly) within a set window after results are released. It isn’t a single request — it covers a few distinct options, and choosing the right one for your specific situation matters.
The Main EUR Options
Category 1: Return of Assessment Materials — you receive copies of your own marked exam scripts to review yourself, useful when you want to see exactly where marks were awarded before deciding whether a further step is worth pursuing.
Category 2: Re-marking of Externally Assessed Components — a different examiner re-marks your actual exam papers. This is the option most people mean when they say “appealing a grade,” and it can result in your grade going up, staying the same, or, in some cases, going down if the re-mark finds the original mark was too generous.
Category 3: Clerical Recheck — a check that all your marks were correctly totaled and transferred, without re-evaluating the academic quality of your work. This is a lower-cost, lower-risk option worth considering first if you suspect an administrative error rather than a marking judgment issue.
How to Decide Which Option Makes Sense
If you’re confident your work was strong and suspect a marking error, Category 2 (re-marking) is the relevant option — but go in aware that re-marks can lower a grade, not just raise or confirm it, so this only makes sense when you have genuine reason to believe the original mark was wrong, not just because the result was disappointing. If you simply want to understand where marks were lost for your own learning, Category 1 is lower-risk and often more informative than people expect.
Realistic Costs and Timing
EUR requests involve a fee, which is refunded if a re-mark results in a grade change (policies on this can vary, so confirm current terms with your coordinator). Requests must be submitted within a specific window after results release — this is a hard deadline set by the IB, not something your school can extend, so if you’re considering this, act quickly rather than waiting to decide.
How Enquiry Upon Results Differs From Retaking
EUR challenges your existing result through re-evaluation of the same exam paper. Our guide on the IB retake policy covers a different path entirely — sitting the exam again in a future session. If you believe your original exam performance was accurately graded but simply wasn’t your best work, retaking is usually the more appropriate route; if you believe the grading itself was wrong, EUR is the right tool.
Why Understanding Grade Boundaries Matters Before You Decide
Before requesting a re-mark, it’s worth understanding how IB grade boundaries actually work — sometimes a result that feels surprising is explained by where the boundary fell that session, not by a marking error, and that distinction should inform whether EUR is genuinely likely to help.
What to Discuss With Your Coordinator Before Applying
- Whether the specific component you’re concerned about is even eligible for re-marking (some components, like oral assessments, may have different rules)
- How close your result was to the next grade boundary — a result several marks away from the boundary is statistically less likely to shift than one right at the edge
- The realistic timeline, especially if a university offer is waiting on a potential grade change
Common Misconceptions About EUR
- Assuming a re-mark can only help — it can also confirm the original grade or, in some cases, lower it
- Waiting too long to decide and missing the submission deadline
- Requesting a full re-mark when a lower-cost clerical recheck would have addressed the actual concern
Final Tip
Talk to your subject teacher before submitting an EUR request — they can often give you a realistic, informed sense of whether your result seems consistent with your actual exam performance, which is far more useful input than deciding based on disappointment alone.
EUR fees, deadlines, and specific category rules are set by the IB and reviewed periodically — always confirm current details directly with your school’s IB coordinator before submitting a request.