A-level results day: How grades are being calculated in 2021

Thousands of students, who have again seen their lessons disrupted by lockdowns, remote learning and self-isolation, will discover on Tuesday morning whether they have secured the grades needed for their next stages of their lives.

It is always a nervous time, but this year things have been made more complicated by the fact that grades are not being marked in the traditional way.

How are A-level grades being calculated?

Students have missed varying amounts of the curriculum over the past academic year.

As a result, the Government has said students have been assessed on what they have been taught, and not include topics they've missed.

Students' teachers have been the ones deciding the grades.

They have used a range of evidence, including mock exams, coursework and other work completed during the year, such as essays or in-class tests.

Exam boards also provided optional sets of questions for teachers to help them gather more evidence. If they decided to use them, they could select groups of questions that reflect what they have taught, rather than making students answer every question.

Exam boards have also published guidance for teachers on how grades should be determined. This includes advice on collecting and evaluating evidence of student work and using the grade descriptors and example answers to support them in their grading decisions.

What about the algorithm?

Last year the grading of students became chaotic when teachers submitted estimated grades for their students and a ranking, comparing each student with all their peers at that school within the same estimated grade. These were then examined by an algorithm which also factored in the school's performance in each subject over the past three year.

The idea was that grades would be consistent with how schools have performed in recent years, with Ofqual - the exams regulator - arguing this was a more accurate way of just relying on teachers who, it said, were more likely to be generous and lead to grade inflation.

However, 39.1% of pupils’ grades in England were marked down by one grade or more – amounting to 280,000 entries being adjusted – leading to thousands of students missing out on university places.

After days of protests from fuming students, the algorithm was scrapped and grades reissued based on teachers' assessments.

In February this year Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said there would be “no algorithms whatsoever” used in determining grades for students this summer, and the Government was "putting trust in teachers", consigning the loathed system to history.

BTEC grades

BTEC - and other vocational or technical students - will also receive grades assessed by teachers, rather than sitting exams.

Appeals

Any student who believes their grade is wrong can still appeal.

The Government says awarding organisations have their own processes, but if qualifications are awarded through teacher assessments students will have access to a right of appeal on the same basis as those set out for GCSEs, AS and A-levels.