A-level and GCSE results to be released in August 2020 as planned

The Department for Education (DfE) in the UK has confirmed that GCSE and A-level results will be released in August 2020 on the same dates planned before the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in exams being cancelled this year.

A-level results will be published on 13 August 2020 and GCSEs on 20 August 2020.

Young people will receive their exam results in August, as agreed at the start of this academic year:
📘 A levels on Thursday 13th August
📘 GCSEs on Thursday 20th August
👉 https://t.co/9PDcnlesZ5 pic.twitter.com/WCbATl7Jd7

— Department for Education (@educationgovuk) April 16, 2020

Instead of exam results, A-level results for 2020 will be based on teacher assessments on what they expect students to achieve. The grade will be professionally judged on a balance of past exam marks, essay assignments, homework, mock exams, classwork and more.

According to the BBC, these predicted results will also be moderated by exam boards so that overall national results and grade assignments are in line with previous year’s results.

Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said, “We want to assure students that grades will be equally as valid as those in previous years, and their hard work will be rewarded and fairly recognised. There is no reason for the usual admissions cycle to be disrupted.”

“I am pleased Universities UK has confirmed institutions will be flexible and do all they can to support students to progress to higher education.”

A-level results in 2020 will be based on teacher assessments of students’ academic performance as exams were cancelled due to COVID-19. Source: Frederick Florin/AFP

For students who believe they would have scored better if they had taken the exams, they should be able to take it in autumn depending on the current COVID-19 situation and lockdown measures.

However, a joint Ucas and YouthSight survey of 500 applicants recently found that only five percent of A-level students are planning to sit their exams in autumn 2020, and the majority (86 percent) are continuing with their university applications without delay.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb told the BBC that these results will give students and their families reassurance and clarity amidst the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and university intakes.

According to a release by Ucas, the summer confirmation and clearing schedule is set to run broadly as expected, in line with previous years, as there will be no delay with exam results.

But for A-level students planning to use their results to attend university in autumn 2020, or deciding whether they should defer a year, it is still uncertain whether university campuses will reopen in the autumn or continue teaching online.

Speaking about appeals, exams regulator Ofqual proposed that they be allowed for data errors by schools or administrative mistakes by exam boards.

The watchdog said, as quoted by the Evening Standard: “We do not believe it would be meaningful or appropriate for students to appeal on the basis of their centre’s judgment of their likely performance in the exams, had they gone ahead, or on their position in the centre’s rank order.”

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