We have systems in place to allow students to highlight that they believe their exam grade is inaccurate. This flags the exam to us, and it is checked to ensure the provided grade is accurate.

BTL1 Exam Reviews

BTL1 exams are marked by our clever robotic grader. For each question within the exam bank, we've added a list of accepted answers to account for variations in format. This means that in most cases, even if your answer is slightly off, you'll still get the mark.

Students have the ability to flag an exam result for review. At this point one of our team will manually review the submitted answers against the correct answer lists to see if any questions marked as incorrect should be marked as correct instead. In some cases the score may increase.

BTL1 exam reviews are typically completed within 5 working days.

You'll be notified via email when it has been processed. Please do not raise a support ticket for an exam review - simply mark it for review, and we'll get to it. You'll be notified via email and in our platform when the exam attempt has been reviewed. Once a review has been processed, further reviews are not possible.

BTL2 Exam Reviews

All BTL2 exams are hand-marked by a human, because of the report-based format for this assessment. This means that BTL2 exams are not eligible for a review, as a human has already determined the score to be valid based on our internal marking criteria.

Please note exams will not be manually reviewed if you fail to upload and submit an exam report within the 72-hour time period, resulting in an automatic score of 0.

BTL2 exam reviews are typically completed within 15 working days.

CSOM Exam Reviews

CSOM exams, like BTL1, use a mix of automated and manual grading. Our system is designed to recognize slight variations in answers, meaning even if your response isn't exact, it may still be accepted. If you believe your exam was graded incorrectly, you can flag it for review.

Once flagged, our team will manually review your answers. While the review may result in a higher score, your score cannot decrease.

Reviews are typically completed within 5 working days for practical assessments and 15 working days for theory-based assessments.

You’ll be notified via email and in the platform once it’s processed. Note that only one review is allowed per exam attempt.

Independent Marking Policy

Each exam attempt is marked independently and in isolation, using a consistent and predefined marking scheme. This means:

• Feedback or scores from previous attempts are not considered when marking a new submission.

• Markers are not shown your previous submissions, ensuring objectivity and consistency.

• The marking scheme has remained unchanged, though we’ve improved efficiency through internal tools and standardisation.
  
  

Feedback Expectations

We provide broad, non-specific feedback for learning purposes while preserving exam integrity. This means:

• We will not tell you the correct answers or confirm exact steps.

• If a mistake in your report blocks the path to other artefacts, feedback may only refer to what was accessible.

• Scores may vary between attempts due to different strengths or oversights in each report.

Review Process

If you believe your report has been misjudged, you may request a review. Here's what you need to know:

• Reviews must be requested within 5 working days of receiving your result.

• Each exam attempt is eligible for one review only.

• We may reassess the report, but we do not provide side-by-side comparisons between attempts.

• Reports submitted for review are re-evaluated based on the same original marking scheme.

• Marking may increase following a review, but the outcome of the review is considered final.

   

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Exam Review

Why did I score lower on my second attempt even after receiving feedback?
Each attempt is assessed independently. If you corrected one part but missed another critical section (e.g. initial access or ransomware artifacts), the score may still be lower.

Does the reviewer see my first submission when reviewing my second?
No. Reviewers assess each report on its own merits. Your previous report is not taken into account.

Can I receive a breakdown comparing both of my submissions?
Unfortunately, we do not provide comparative analyses between exam attempts. We only assess what was submitted, not prior efforts or feedback.

Can I challenge a review outcome?
The review decision is final. All marking is aligned with our strict internal criteria and reviewed by qualified examiners.

Why does the same feedback message appear more than once in my BTL1 exam result?

While it might seem like a system glitch, this is actually how our automated feedback engine is designed to work. 

If you didn’t quite meet the criteria on more than one of those questions, the system may display the same feedback message multiple times — even though it's referring to different responses in your submission.

This repetition doesn’t mean you were penalised more than once. It’s simply a reflection that the same skill or topic wasn’t clearly demonstrated in multiple parts of your exam.