The Value of IB Remarking and IB Retakes: Risks, Rewards, and University Policies
When results fall short of expectations, the instinct for many students and parents is to act immediately. In the recent TutorsPlus IB Results Day webinar, university admissions expert Dr Daniele Labriola walked through the most common pitfalls families fall into on results day, along with the more measured strategies, including retakes, gap years, and building a stronger case with universities, that tend to actually move the needle.
To watch the complete webinar, please go to this link. Otherwise read on for a summary of what, and what not, to do.
Pitfall One: Panic Calling Without a Plan
Daniele made it clear that when you receive lower than expected results, there isn’t necessarily a need to immediately think about retakes or remarking.
Your first option is to calmly think things through and revert to your action plan, or create one if you haven’t already. He explained that universities “will expect you to get on the phone… and explain your situation,” so if a student calls without being able to explain clearly what happened, whether there were mitigating circumstances, an issue during testing, or something else that affected performance, that opportunity to be heard can be lost.
Timing matters here too. Daniele explained that many UK universities, in particular, will simply hold IB results until A Level results are released in mid-August before making any firm decision, a wait he described as “especially nerve wracking.” Calling immediately after IB results often results in little more than an acknowledgment that the university is aware and will weigh everything up later.
The takeaway: take the extra time to make sure your account and your story check out before making contact, since there is usually a meaningful gap between results day and a university’s formal decision.
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Pitfall Two: Not knowing your options
The second major pitfall Daniele flagged was simply not having a Plan B in place. The UK system, in a sense, builds this in by requiring students to nominate both a firm and an insurance choice, with the insurance typically carrying a lower grade requirement. If a firm offer falls through, the insurance can often still come through in its place.
But Daniele encouraged families to think a step further: what happens if even the insurance offer isn’t met? This is where the UK’s Clearing system becomes genuinely useful. Clearing typically opens a few days before results are released, giving students a head start on researching which universities and courses are likely to have places available. Even before knowing the final outcome, students can begin identifying institutions that might realistically consider a range of possible results, so there’s already a shortlist ready if it’s needed.
For US-bound students, the dynamic is different since there typically isn’t an equivalent insurance offer. Daniele’s advice there was to focus on what a student has already achieved. As he explained, “the bulk of the assessment of your academic ability is made on what you’ve done to date,” rather than solely on predicted grades, which can work in a student’s favor if a university needs to be persuaded to reconsider. When contacting a US university, emphasise what you’ve achieved academically or personally since initially making your application when making your case for consideration.
Pitfall 3: Ignoring School’s advice for retakes or remarks
Students who don’t get the IB results they were expecting have formal, well-established options to consider. One is a remark, officially called an Enquiry Upon Results (EUR), where a senior examiner takes a fresh look at the paper. This is generally worth doing when a score falls just a mark or two short of the next grade boundary, or when the outcome was notably below predicted grades.
Even so, it’s not a call to make quickly or on your own. Applications have to be submitted through the school’s IB Coordinator, and it’s worth knowing that a remark can push a grade up, leave it unchanged, or even lower it. Before requesting one, it’s wise to talk openly with teachers and the school first, so you have a clearer idea of whether it’s actually likely to make a difference.
Another route is resitting a subject in a future exam session—an option that can be especially helpful for students trying to meet a university’s conditional offer, secure a scholarship, or otherwise strengthen their application. Neither of these decisions has to be made right away when results come out, but do inquire about the deadlines. Simply knowing that both options are available can make what initially feels like a setback seem more like a manageable next step.
Consider a Retake or Gap Year
Woven throughout this advice is the reminder that an IB retake, potentially combined with a gap year, remains a legitimate and often underused option. Rather than treating July as the end of the process, Daniele encouraged families to use the weeks around IB results day to research alternatives, explore whether a retake makes sense, and think through what a gap year paired with a retake plan might realistically look like.
As he summed it up, “there’s always going to be ideally some constructive plan B or plan C here for you.”
Webinar Q&A: University Policies
During the webinar, parents had some particular questions about US universities and IB results.
Webinar Q&A: Can US Universities Rescind Offers Over IB Results?
A question from an attendee during the webinar raised a common concern: since US offers aren’t formally conditional, some Ivy League universities, Columbia among them, do reserve the right to rescind based on final IB scores. Daniele’s advice was to avoid being overly casual about this, particularly at the very top tier. His guidance was that if a student has a coherent explanation, particularly one tied to genuine difficulties during the IB itself, it’s worth providing, even if it doesn’t carry the same formal weight as a documented mitigating circumstance.
He also emphasised that the process of building a case doesn’t stop when exams end. Continuing to develop academically over the summer, whether through SAT scores, competitions, external qualifications, or other achievements, can genuinely help.
As Daniele explained, American universities operating under a holistic admissions philosophy “could be, dare I say, rather forgiving” toward a candidate who continues to show strong potential, even if the IB result itself came in below prediction. He was candid that this isn’t a guarantee. Universities can still say no. But as he put it, “that’s your fighting chance.”
Webinar Q&A: Can American Universities Accurately Interpret IB Scores?
Another attendee raised a related issue: American universities sometimes struggle to accurately convert IB scores into their own grading systems. Daniele noted that where a school provides a thorough academic profile explaining the IB alongside a student’s other achievements, most admissions officers are now well equipped to interpret it correctly. The trickier moments tend to arise later, during matriculation, when advisors are deciding how a specific higher level score translates into credit equivalency.
Increasingly, universities use a rough rubric for this, but Daniele acknowledged that with thousands of American universities involved, familiarity with the IB still varies considerably from one institution to the next.
Keeping Families Aligned
Finally, Daniele touched on the role parents play in all of this. Families who are just as informed as their students, understanding that Clearing opens early, that American universities may still be reachable later in the summer, and that retakes remain a real option, tend to approach results day with far more composure. Having these conversations before results are released, rather than in the middle of an emotional morning, allows everyone to think through next steps in a calmer, more measured way.
This post is based on insights shared during the TutorsPlus webinar “IB Results Day: Stay Calm, Know Your Options,” featuring university admissions expert Dr Daniele Labriola.
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