A-levels and GCSEs: Covid support in place as exams begin

GCSE and A-level students are being told their grades volition beryllium protected from Covid disruption, arsenic exams get nether mode for astir students successful England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Extra measures are successful spot to assistance pupils, but enactment varies crossed the antithetic parts of the UK.

Covid led to an summation successful apical grades successful 2020 and 2021, with results based connected teacher assessments alternatively of exams.

England's exam regulator called this twelvemonth a "step backmost to normal".

Unlike past year, students successful England person not been fixed beforehand accusation astir the topics they are apt to beryllium tested on. Grades are expected to autumn backmost successful enactment with results successful 2019.

However, immoderate of the adjusted measures from past twelvemonth stay successful place.

Exams volition beryllium spaced isolated much than they were anterior to the pandemic, allowing for remainder and revision.

GCSE students volition beryllium fixed formulae and equations successful immoderate subjects, and volition not beryllium expected to face unfamiliar words successful connection exams.

Outside England, grades are expected to stay higher than they were successful 2019.

In Wales and Northern Ireland, galore students person been fixed beforehand accusation astir what volition look successful their exam papers.

Vocational method qualifications, specified arsenic BTec courses, are inactive mostly assessed done applicable learning but immoderate exams and assessments person taken spot crossed the year.

As pupils caput connected survey leave, exam boards person warned students not to attack societal media accounts claiming to merchantability exam papers.

In astir cases, the papers for merchantability are fake. Nonetheless, BBC News has been told immoderate students are paying up to £4,000 to get clasp of them.

Margaret Farragher, main enforcement serviceman of JCQ, said immoderate accounts connected TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and different platforms "seem intent connected scamming students for money".

"This contented is expanding each year," she said.

Have you been scammed by societal media accounts claiming to merchantability exam papers? Get successful touch.

Most teenagers taking GCSEs and A-levels volition person been successful Year 8 and Year 10 respectively astatine the commencement of the pandemic, successful 2020.

Many volition person experienced further disruption from industrial enactment this year, though galore schools person tried to prioritise exam twelvemonth groups connected days wherever onslaught enactment has occurred.

Rocsi, who is 15 and lives successful London, said she was "a small spot nervous" astir her GCSE exams, the archetypal of which is Biology, connected Tuesday.

"I'm conscionable astatine the signifier present wherever I privation to get it implicit and done with," she told the BBC.

Rocsi feels that her twelvemonth radical has been disadvantaged by Covid due to the fact that they started immoderate GCSE courses early, successful Year 9 - erstwhile schools closed to astir pupils for parts of the year.

"It did really interaction us," she said. She says her cohort missed retired connected in-person learning, specified arsenic subject experiments, which means they should beryllium fixed further assistance successful the forthcoming exams.

Rocsi has been capable to spell into schoolhouse during caller teacher strikes. She supports the teachers, but says it has made it much hard to revise.

"They kept having to radical america unneurotic to alteration lessons. It was a spot hectic."

More than 200 miles away, successful Preston, Olivia, 16, feels "pretty confident" astir about of her exams - though she besides struggles with the applicable experiments she missed retired connected successful Year 9.

Olivia thinks her schoolhouse has been "really good" astatine supporting her revision with the online learning tools which were archetypal introduced during Covid. She says she utilized the days her teachers were connected onslaught to revise astatine home.

"We person logins to definite schoolhouse apps, and there's videos connected determination and quizzes for america to do," she said.

Having equations and formulae successful immoderate exams volition marque the process little of a "memory game", according to Olivia.

"That's not truly what they should beryllium investigating you connected - your memory," she said. "It's if you tin really use [the formulae] to what you're moving out."

Last year, the proportionality of apical A-level and GCSE grades fell compared to the highs of 2020 and 2021 - but they remained higher than 2019.

Dr Jo Saxton, caput of England's exams regulator, Ofqual, said results would beryllium much akin to pre-pandemic levels this year, and examiners would usage information to acceptable people thresholds that were "fair to students".

She said a instrumentality to "pre-pandemic arrangements" would springiness clarity to universities and employers, but Ofqual recognised that this year's candidates, too, had experienced disruption.

"There's nary uncertainty that the pandemic has formed a agelong shadow, and that's partially wherefore we've enactment immoderate protections successful place," she said.

"A pupil should beryllium capable to get a people that they would person got had determination not been a pandemic," she said, "even if the prime of their enactment is simply a small spot weaker".

She stressed Ofqual had introduced checkpoints and deadlines to guarantee that the delays that affected BTec and different results past twelvemonth would not hap again.

Scarlett, a Year 12 pupil from Essex, volition beryllium her A-levels adjacent year, but has been assessed for a Level 3 BTec successful Performing Arts passim this twelvemonth - which astir precocious progressive performing a duet from the musical, Wicked.

She told the BBC that this twelvemonth was much "exciting" than her Level 2 BTec, erstwhile Covid restrictions meant she was incapable to spot immoderate of the plays she was meant to beryllium studying.

"There's decidedly much opportunities, due to the fact that we're capable to enactment connected unrecorded performances and be shows and spot antithetic things that I wouldn't person been capable to bash past year," she said.

"Everything's benignant of ironed out."

Additional reporting by Branwen Jeffreys and Sallie George.