What can we expect from this summer’s exam results?

Exam regulators have been restoring pre-pandemic grading after Covid-19 led to a surge in top GCSE and A-level grades in 2020 and 2021.

(David Davies/PA) (PA Wire)

Hundreds of thousands of pupils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to find out their A-level and GCSE results. Here is your guide to this year’s exams ahead of results day:

– When are exam results this year?

A-level and AS results are out on August 15, while GCSE results will be released on August 22.

Students in England will also receive results for T-level qualifications – which were launched to provide high-quality technical alternatives to A-levels – on August 15.

Thousands of pupils will also receive results for vocational technical qualifications (VTQs) this month.

Results for VTQs at Level 3 taken alongside or instead of A-levels, such as BTecs, will be released to students on or before August 15.

Results for many Level 2 VTQs are expected on or before August 22.

– What can we expect?

In England, exams regulator Ofqual has said it expects this summer’s national results to be “broadly similar” to last summer, when grades were brought back in line with pre-Covid levels.

Last year, 27.2% of UK A-level entries achieved an A or above, down on 2022 when the figure was 36.4%.

However, this was still higher than in 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic – when 25.4% of entries were awarded A or A* grades.

The aim to return to pre-pandemic grading comes after Covid-19 led to an increase in top GCSE and A-level grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

– How does the situation differ in the devolved nations?

Last year, GCSEs and A-levels returned to pre-pandemic grading arrangements in England.

In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators are aiming to return to pre-pandemic grading this summer – a year later than in England.

Scotland has a different qualification system and students received their results on Tuesday last week.

Figures released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) showed that 77.2% of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C – down from 78.8% last year.

For Highers, 74.9% passed with the top bands, down from 77.1% last year, and for Advanced Highers 75.3% of students achieved A to C grades, falling from 79.8% in 2023.

– Were pupils given additional support in exams?

In England, GCSE students who took mathematics, physics and combined science were given formulae and equation sheets during exams this summer to limit the impact of Covid-19 on learning.

The exam aids were also given to pupils last year, but they are not expected to be in place next summer.

Most pupils who took their GCSE exams this summer were in Year 7 when schools closed after the national lockdown in 2020.

– Will pupils in schools affected by crumbling concrete be given extra help?

A report by Durham University academics in January called for pupils at schools where teaching has been badly affected by collapse-risk reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) – such as St Leonard’s Catholic School in Durham – to have their exam results lifted by up to 10%.

But the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) said “special consideration” – which is given to a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury or some other event outside their control at the time of their assessment –  will not be granted for disruption to teaching and learning due to Raac.

This year, exam boards have offered extended coursework deadlines to schools and colleges which have struggled to access specialist facilities for non-examination assessments due to Raac.

Schools and colleges will have been able to apply to exam boards for special consideration  – where marks can be adjusted to take into account unforeseen circumstances – if pupils had to sit exams in conditions which were “less favourable than normal” as a result of Raac, Ofqual’s chief regulator has said.

Last week, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the Department for Education (DfE), Ofqual, Ucas and the Office for Students (OfS) have worked to ensure higher education providers are aware of the circumstances that students in schools with Raac have faced and they have been asked “to take the impact of disruption into account when considering admissions”.

– Will students face tougher competition for university places?

Ucas figures show there has been a rise in the number of UK 18-year-olds applying to university this year, which the admissions service has suggested shows a desire among young people to go to university.

But education experts have predicted that British universities will be competing for school and college leavers on A-level results day in a bid to fill their places amid financial pressures.

The competition among institutions to recruit more students comes amid a decline in the proportion of UK school leavers applying to higher education and a fall in demand from overseas.

Analysis by the PA news agency found that more top institutions in the UK had courses available through clearing – which matches applicants to university places yet to be filled – in the week before A-level results day than at the same point last year.

It found that 18 of the 24 elite Russell Group universities had vacancies on 2024/25 courses for English undergraduates  – a total of 3,892 courses between them – eight days before results day.

– What can students do if they are not happy with their results and they do not get accepted to their first choice university?

Clearing is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day, as well as those who did not receive any offers.

Students who have changed their mind about what or where they wish to study, and also those who have applied outside the normal application window, can also use the clearing process through Ucas.

Applicants will be able to add a clearing choice from 1pm on results day.

In England, if a student is unhappy with their grade they can ask their school or college to request that the exam board review the marking.

If there are still concerns after the review, the student can ask their school or college to appeal against the result.