GCSEs and A-levels: Grade boundaries for 2020 autumn exams to be lowered compared to past years

GCSEs and A-levels: Grade boundaries for 2020 autumn exams to be lowered compared to past years

GCSEs and A-levels: Grade boundaries for 2020 autumn exams to be lowered compared to past years

If the autumn exams were pegged to the 2019 results, students doing the resits would have been graded much more harshly than those who accepted their grades in August

GCSE and A level exam grades

The 2020 autumn’s exams, the exams grades will be relaxed to keep them in line with the much more generous results handed out in August. Which as discussed in pervious blogs utterly failed in delivering unbiased results. After the Government U-turned to teacher assessed grades. 

If the Nov 2020 exam results were pegged to the 2019 exams, candidates doing the autumn GCSE and A level exams

GCSEs and A-levels Grade boundaries

Inflated grades is now the norm defacto expectations from top to the bottom of the exam process.

The grade boundaries of the summer 2020 ,  6 per cent got an 9 at GCSE – up from 4.5 per cent in 2019.

Whereas25 per cent could get a grade 7 or above (equivalent to the old grade A) – compared to 20.6 per cent in 2019. 

In the A levels, 38.1 per cent were given an A or A* in August for the teacher assessed grades – up from the  25.2 per cent in 2019. 

There is continuing uncertainty about whether results in 2021 will be pegged to 2019 or 2020. 

Mr Barton said: “Our view is that it would be unfair to go directly back to the grade distribution of 2019 given the disruption experienced by students during the national lockdown period and the ongoing turbulence caused by rising infection rates.  

“We have proposed that an additional allowance should be applied to the 2019 grade boundaries for exams in 2021 to recognise the fact that students will have been affected to a varying extent and give more leeway to those on the boundaries between grades.  

“This is a crucial issue which the Government and Ofqual must address as soon as possible to give schools, colleges, and students certainty.” 

An Ofqual spokesperson said: “We will publish further information on the approach to setting standards in this exceptional series very shortly.” \

We wonder what the outcome will be for the autumn 2021 exams .