Challenging an exam grade or resolving a dispute with the university

Key rules

• Review window: Your first chance to challenge a grade is short, so act as soon as provisional grades appear.
• Tribunal: If the professor's answer does not satisfy you, you can ask for review by professors other than your examiner.
• Recurso de alzada: After the tribunal decides, you have one month to appeal to the rector.
• No reply: If the rector does not answer within three months, the appeal is treated as rejected.
• Defensor Universitario: It can mediate and recommend, but it cannot change your grade or stop your deadlines running.

Act in the first few days

Your first window is short. You can usually ask for a review of an exam grade within 3 to 5 working days after the provisional grades are published, so check your university's exact number. Some universities count from the day the grades are published, so start counting immediately.

When the provisional grades come out, they carry the dates for viewing your exam and asking for a review. Read those dates first.

How the route works

1. View your exam. Go to the viewing session and ask the professor to explain the marking. Sometimes this settles it.
2. File a written request. If you still disagree, file a written request for review within the deadline. A sample request is below.
3. Get the professor's answer. It comes in writing, usually within a few days. The professor can keep or change your grade.
4. Ask for a tribunal. If you are still unhappy, ask for review by a tribunal of professors other than your examiner. It usually decides within a stated deadline, often 10 to 15 days. Its decision ends the university's internal review.

Steps and timings differ between universities. Your university's evaluation rules set the details, so look for them on its website.

If the tribunal says no: the formal appeal

You can file a recurso de alzada with the rector within one month of the decision. File it with the body that made the decision or directly with the rector. Check the decision you were sent, because it states the exact deadline and where to file.

The rector must answer within three months. If you get no reply, that counts as a rejection. Filing the appeal does not normally suspend the decision.

After the rector's answer, the administrative route is over. You can then go to the administrative courts, normally within two months. For that step, get legal advice.

The Defensor Universitario

Every university has an independent Defensor Universitario. It may have another name, such as Defensor del Universitario or Síndic de Greuges. It receives complaints, investigates, mediates and makes recommendations to university bodies.

It cannot change a grade or cancel a decision, and its involvement does not normally pause your appeal deadlines. Use it alongside the steps above, not instead of them. This is also the place to take disputes that are not about a grade. Contact is usually by email, an online form on the university's website, or in person at its office.

Keep a paper trail

Keep a copy of every request and every written answer. Use the checklist below to track your dates.

Grade review and appeal step by step

• Read the provisional grades and note the dates set for viewing the exam and asking for a review: when the provisional grades are published

• View your exam and ask the professor to explain the marking: in the days after the grades are published, in the session the professor sets

• Wait for the professor's written answer, which keeps or changes your grade: usually within a few days of your request

• If you still disagree, ask for review by a tribunal of professors other than your examiner, filed through a registry so the date is on record: after the professor's answer, within the deadline stated in it

• Wait for the tribunal's decision, which ends the university's internal review: often 10 to 15 days after your request

• Wait for the rector's answer; no reply means the appeal is rejected: the rector has three months to decide and notify you

• Contact the Defensor Universitario, the university's independent ombudsman, if you want mediation. It can recommend but cannot change a grade, and your appeal deadlines keep running: at any stage, alongside the steps above

• Go to the administrative courts (contencioso-administrativo) if the rector rejects your appeal: normally within two months of the rector's decision

Checklist

• Check the dates for exam viewing and review that came with your provisional grades.

• File a written request for review within 3 to 5 working days of the provisional grades being published, using your university's exact number.

• Ask for review by a tribunal of other professors if you still disagree after the professor's answer.

• Check the notified decision for the exact deadline and the body to file with.

Academic deadlines that students miss

• The review window is only a few days: You can usually ask for a review of an exam grade within 3 to 5 working days after the provisional grades are published. Once it closes, you lose the easiest way to change the grade. Find your university's exact number of days as soon as grades come out, and file your written request early.

• The appeal deadline is one month: After a review is denied, you can file a recurso de alzada with the rector within one month of the decision. Filing does not normally suspend the decision. Check the date on the notified decision and file through a registry so the submission date is on record.

• Withdrawal deadlines come early in the year: Cancelling enrolment in single subjects (anulación parcial) is often possible only until around October or November for first-semester or annual subjects, and until about February or March for second-semester ones. Full cancellation (anulación total) usually closes between late October and December. After that, only justified exceptional reasons count, decided by the rector or dean. Look up the cancellation dates in your university's academic calendar at the start of each semester.

• Resit sittings follow soon after the ordinary one: Each subject has an ordinary and an extraordinary sitting each year. The ordinary one follows each semester, in January-February or May-June. The extraordinary one is usually late June to July, and some universities use early September. Note your university's sitting dates in your calendar when you enrol.

• Progression rules can end your place: Each public university sets minimum credits you must pass, often in first year, and a maximum number of enrolments per subject, usually four. Missing them can stop you continuing the degree. Read your university's current rules on continuing studies (normas de permanencia) and count your passed credits after each sitting.

Request to review an exam (solicitud de revisión)

Subject: Solicitud de revisión de calificación – [subject name], convocatoria [ordinaria/extraordinaria], curso [year]

Dear Professor [surname] / Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is [full name], DNI/NIE or student ID [number], a student of [degree] at [faculty and university]. You can reach me at [email] and [phone].

I am writing to request a review (solicitud de revisión) of my grade in the exam for [subject], from the [ordinaria/extraordinaria] convocatoria of the academic year [year]. The exam took place on [date of exam]. The grade published was [grade], on [date the grades were published].

I disagree with this grade for the following reasons:

1. [Question or section, and what you think was missed or marked wrongly.]
2. [Second question or criterion, if any.]
3. [Any other reason, for example a mistake adding up marks or a criterion that was not applied.]

I therefore ask for a review of my exam and a decision on whether the grade should change. I would also like to see my exam and the marking criteria, and to have a copy of the exam if possible.

I attach the following documents: [copy of the exam, if you have it / marking criteria / other proof / none].

Yours faithfully,

[Full name] [Signature] [Place and date]

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Before you send it

• Use your own university's form (instancia or formulario) if it has one. Many post it on their website or in the sede electrónica. Copy the text above into it if the form has a free-text box.
• For a formal request, send it through a registry so the date is on record. Your options are the sede electrónica (with a digital certificate, Cl@ve or your university login), the registry at your faculty or the central office, or the registry of another public office. Email or the virtual campus can work for a first informal review with the professor, but email alone is often not enough for a formal request or appeal.
• Which channels your university accepts differs from one place to another. Check with your faculty office.
• Keep a stamped copy or the receipt with the registration number.

Frequently asked questions

Can the Defensor Universitario change my grade?

No, the Defensor Universitario cannot change a grade or cancel a decision. It can listen to your complaint, investigate, mediate and make recommendations to university bodies, but those are not binding. Contacting it does not normally pause your appeal deadlines, so keep them running.

How do I contact the Defensor Universitario?

You usually contact the Defensor Universitario by email, through an online form on your university's website, or in person at its office. The office may have a different name, such as Defensor del Universitario or Síndic de Greuges. It is open to students at public and private universities.

Does filing a recurso de alzada suspend my grade?

No, filing a recurso de alzada does not normally suspend the decision you are challenging. You can file it with the body that issued the decision or directly with the rector. If the rector does not answer within three months, you should treat the appeal as rejected.

Can I go to court after the rector rejects my appeal?

Yes, once the rector's decision ends the administrative route, you can go to the contencioso-administrativo courts, normally within two months. The same applies if the rector does not answer in time and the appeal counts as rejected.