20 years ago when I was a teacher (I escaped!) we used to enter our A' Level Economics pupils for two separate exams with separate Exam Boards. The variation was such that some pupils gained an A with one and a D with the other!!!! Most ended up with a high grade from one or other.

CR, Essex, UK

This is another awful story of this country's decent into mediocrity and apathetic administration.We know exam marking cannot be perfect but they can now miss by a mile and meet expectations.
"You can't pass me the can,i've got my hands in my pocket".

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

So my children have a better attitude to their exam preparation than the markershave to their paid employment! Either exam boards train markers not be subjective and to follow well set out mark schemes OR they stop setting essay questions.

Diana, derby, UK

Liz, that's awful! But surely Cambridge is at fault too, there?

Lucy, Chester-le-Street,

English students should be pleased that they can at least resit or get a remark if they suspect inaccurate marking whereas in Scotland, there is no such thing as a remark and your final grade is determined by a single paper at the end of the year. English students have it way too easy.

Melissa, Glasgow, UK

It happened to me, my a level exams were inaccurately marked and i found out after i asked for my papers back which cost me £15. When i tried getting it remarked early September i was told it was too late and they couldn't help me . Can u imagine i was paying the price for their inadequacies!

naomi, preston,

Must do better!

Peter, Brixham, Devon

Forget newspaper headlines; students were certainly not told not to expect their results to be accurate, and the Education Editor knows that. Anyone with half a brain knows that marking essays in subjects like English does not allow the precision of the tick box. Can we ever have a serious debate?

John Udy, Exeter, UK

It is quite easy to game an English literature exam because the aims of the teaching - largely, to introduce pupils to serious literature - cannot easily be tested. Attempts to make marking more rigorous only increase the pressure to game. Hence York notes.

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK

So ETS are getting complaints from schools. The Sats exam markers will not be at all surprised. They are all waiting to mark the scripts which have yet to appear from ETS HQ. It is now ten days since the Maths exam and markers have none yet because of disorganisation.

d brand, croydon, uk

Exam results by and large have always been inaccurate. There are too many variables to make them worth much.

judy, liverpool, england

So why have a system which can be open to "abuse'

Hamad Lone, London, England

Kathleen is saying it as it is; please don't pillory her for being honest and open. Examinations inevitably vary from year to year as does the quality of a small minority of the marking. The wonder is that such a vast exercise manages to produce pretty good results in such a brief period of time.

Geoffrey Carver, Surtainville, France

Judgement-based grades are always going to be open to a certain amount of discrepancies, but Ms Tattersall's comments are not only unhelpful at this time, but also a little defeatist. Better training for examiners, double-marking, cross-board discussions and accountability should improve things.

Ella, London,

Given the mess in the system, perhaps UK universities need to move away from conditional offers to unconditional offers. They have already seen the students GCSE results, their AS level results and - in the case of Oxbridge - interviewed and tested them again. That should be enough for an offer

Chottu, Singapore,

I taught for many years. Inaccurate exam. marking is rife, but - much worse - exam. boards so often refuse to own up to big mistakes on re-mark/ appeal. Boards retain re-mark fees if grades do not rise, and re-marking examiners already know the original mark. No external appeals body. Faces saved.

Gary, London, UK

The problem is only going to get worse with E-marking. An examiner cannot annotate a scanned script on a page, this is vital if the marker is to be able to look back over a paper and remind themselves what the candidate did well, or not so well.
Imagine marking hundreds in this way.

Matt Radford, Cirencester, uk

As a teacher within this system it is clear that the different examinations are being chosen by schools to improve their positions in league tables. A single government examination provider is required to offer reliable exams that are standard for each subject. Then a league table may be relevant.

David, London, Australia

Life has just been made easier and easier . If they can't achieve a set standard, the standard wil be lowered for the next time.After ten of fifteen years, thats what we have ended up here now.It is not only the standard of the pupils , its also the standard of some of the teachers as well.

Jim , Bradford, UK

Here we go again. Words words words. Another quango, more interference from the usual suspects. More taxpayers' money about to be wasted on politically correct enforcement. Watch standards plummet yet further under a welter of more micromanagement.

Sean, Droitwich, UK

The main problem with Ms Tattersall’s remark is that she made it at all. She has sown the seeds of doubt in a fertile plain of suspicion – where students and relatives may be all too willing to question or challenge a disappointing exam result.

This was her big mistake!

Dr Neil Scott, Edinburgh, Scotland

It`s little wonder that thousands of school leavers are neither numerate nor literate.
Answer, create yet another Quango, or NGO or whatever - and who will regulate the regulators?
We all know that exam performance can be variable, with many external factors like hayfever or stress.

Brian Thompson, Sutton Coldfield, England

Yet another great worry added to the educational woes of our children. How many children have been labelled failures as a consequence of this incompetence? Incompetent exam markers who are also teachers should be sacked. Random checks on exam markers' work and appeals will provide the evidence.

Des, Edinburgh,

3 years ago my daughter lost her Cambridge place because of poor marking. On results day she got AAD (she needed AAA) after the remark her results were AAA but this took 8 weeks and she lost her cambridge place and that at her insurance uni (offer of ABB). The exam board didnt even apologize.

Liz, York,

The country is obsessed by examinations which
are not apparently capable of being accurately marked. Coursework grades are often determined on the basis of personality rather than ability and the work itself is usually a collaboration. Pointless!

Steve, Argyll,

Is this government deliberately undermining our education system so that no-one will be employable?

SO, UK,

Why should they be accurate? Crime, unemployment, immigration, benefits details are all wildly inaccurate as well. It's called living under a lying cheating Government.

Roger, Surrey,

Set a low standard and don't bother to achieve it. The current mantra of the British Eduction System. Little wonder China complains about the quality of returning students. The devil is in the detail. Low quality for low standards. see current MP's as reference.

Alexander , Victoria,

We had this problem when I did my AS and A-levels a few years ago. One classmate received a lower grade in one subject than anyone else despite clear ability. It was discovered that despite the double marking policy, SEVERAL PAGES of marks had been missed out.
It could have cost him a uni place!

Eleanor, Yorkshire,