Should I ask for retabulation? :(

[Kostia]

According to the previously posted brilliant thread on the grading process, each section passes through more than one grader, and doubtful answers are discussed in grader’s group. I guess it is logical that they DO NOT RE-READ and reassess what you wrote for your $100 - they just mechanically check whether they failed to add scores on any section to your total. So retab is not a matter of rechecking whether graders haven’t got your correct answer in the right way, but is just a matter of rechecking summing of scores. I believe this makes the probability of a positive outcome of a retab close to 0 (i.e., only a matter of finding a mechanical mistake).
I guess what could give at least higher chances for band10-failers is if one is absolutely sure that he did one of the failed questions correctly, describe all the logics in the e-mail to CFAI - maybe this could force them to attempt the re-reading your answer or understanding your correct, but non-typical logics, instead of just doing the mechanical check of the score.

 

[Auburn]

I would think that the best justification you could make for spending on a re-tab is NOT if you were in one of those high bands (8,9,10), but rather if you were in a low or mid band and truly felt that you had done ok. Under such circumstances, the likelihood that CFA blew the mechanical tabbing up for a 10-bander is pretty low; the chance that something truly blew up in the scoring mechanics (coffee stain on the number?) is likely much higher in the low band. However, low-banders probably never ask for a re-tab, and so the slate is clean that re-tabs never result in a changed grade.