‘I am so angry’: I watched the injustice of the A-Level results unfold. Now I anxiously await my GCSEs

Like hundreds of thousands of GCSE students, Qais Hussain watched his older peers get their A-Level results on Thursday. Now, he wonders if his envelope will be just as disappointing

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Wednesday 18 March was the best day of my life. Or so I thought. I’d just been told I no longer had to do my GCSE exams. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, all our examinations, and A-Levels, had been called off. Now, four months later, having watched the A-Level results be given out (and see the problems many students are facing) I wish I still had those exams.

Last Wednesday, the night before A-Level results day, I couldn’t sleep. Despite not getting my results for another week [GCSE results day is 20 August] my heart was pounding like a drum. I was nervous watching the A-Level students and knowing we were next.

My worries weren’t in vain – students across the country are now angry and upset, with many missing out on university places they feel they could have got if they’d sat exams.

Nearly 40 per cent of students had their grades marked down in the moderation process. As Sir Keir Stammer, the Labour leader said “the system has fundamentally failed [students].” Now, waiting for my GCSEs I can’t help but feel the same fate awaits us.

I will get my results via email on Thursday – I’m not sure if that is worse than in person. At least going to school you could get support, reassurance and some comfort from school staff, something I have been longing for during this time.

Some people will say – well now the government is letting students use mock grades if they appeal – but going off mock exams is ludicrous. There is no standardised process, all schools conduct mocks in different ways, some are extremely strict and close to the real thing, others are not. Teachers have even warned that some students could have cheated.

Even those who did them completely honestly still might not have been as prepared as they would have been for the real summer exams – many have not even finished their whole syllabus by the time mock exams happen.

I didn’t complete all my mock exams – including business, history and further maths. And my English literature paper I didn’t take in exam conditions. Science mocks happened in December – a whole six months before the real things. I vividly remember a teacher telling me “not to stress” as “it wasn’t the real thing”. How I wish things were different.

A-Level students on Thursday (Getty Images)

Another option provided by the government is to re-sit in autumn with an actual exam but this doesn’t feel like an option either – not only have students not received any face-to-face schooling in months, but this will put them behind their peers, and quite simply many have no choice but to make a decision about their future before September.

I’m afraid that this will disproportionately impact ethnic minority students too. Lockdown has widened the gap between privileged and deprived students and there are well-cited reports of BAME students being disadvantaged by predicted grades. This really scared me as a comprehensive student, who goes to a school in a deprived area. I didn’t want to be judged on who I was or where I came from.

I’m so angry at the injustice of this process. It is another way to exacerbate inequality. Young people have been sold short again. If we cannot give kids the opportunity to flourish and create a better future, it is a damning indictment of the society we have become. This will have a profound effect on my generation – with the most vulnerable students suffering.

I don’t believe that the government or the exam regulator handled this situation well. I believe education secretary, Gavin Williamson, and the exam regulator, Ofqual, have blamed everyone but themselves. They will not accept responsibility that they have gambled with thousands of student’s futures. A tweet by Williamson on 13 August, congratulating students on results, illustrated to me how outuned he is. With no remorse, regret or sympathy for students who have suffered at the hands of a broken education system.

Lots of adults, particularly celebrities, talk about how irrelevant grades are these days; but unfortunately grades mean everything. Every young person has every right to be angry and upset at the government.

This cannot be allowed to stand, it is an injustice that can last a lifetime. We have to fight to ensure accountability and work with teachers and parents in support. Whilst I wait patiently for my results, I ask myself: should I be rejoicing or regretting? I feel as if any celebration will be muted as chaos unfolds.