Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National

A-level grade boundaries for 2020: AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC and CCEA grading system

You can apply for a different university if you get better A-Level grades than expected. (Picture: Getty)

In any other year A-level students would now be preparing to find out their exam results.

But after coronavirus shut down schools for much of the academic year, A-level exams were cancelled, along with GCSEs.

This means students will be graded based on submissions made by their teachers about their work. These will then be moderated by exam boards.

Students will find out their grades on Thursday, August 13.

Here, we take a look at grade boundaries this year for A-levels.

A student getting his A-level results last year (PA)

How does the A-level grading system work?

A-levels are graded on a letter-based system, from A* down to E.

Students who do not pass are given a U grade.

How will A-level results work this year due to Covid-19?

Because students were not able to take exams this year, their grades will be based on submissions made by their teachers, combined with moderations made by exam boards.

The final grades will be “a best assessment” of the work students have put in, the Government has said.

In normal years A-level results are published towards the end of August.

The Government said results for this year's students will be “indistinguishable from those provided in other years”.

Students discussing A-level results in a previous year (Getty)

It said it would aim to ensure the distribution of grades “follows a similar pattern to that in other years, so that this year’s students do not face a systematic disadvantage as a consequence of these extraordinary circumstances”.

But some MPs have warned pupils could miss out on the exam results they deserve this summer as the system risks being “unfair” to disadvantaged students, and could provide benefits to children from "sharp-elbowed" families who understand the appeals system.

The Commons Education Select Committee report said England’s exams regulator’s process for allowing students to appeal their grades if they believe discrimination has occurred is not accessible for all students.

Students in England who are unhappy with teacher-assessed grades, or who are unable to receive a calculated grade this summer, should be able to sit A-level exams in October.

A DfE spokesman said: “The vast majority of students will receive a calculated grade this summer that enables them to move on to the next stage of their education or training.

“Ofqual has developed a robust process that will take into account a range of evidence, including non-exam assessment and mock results, with the primary aim of ensuring grades are as fair as possible for all students."

What are the A-level grade boundaries this year?

There are five different exam boards used within every school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The list includes: Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), Council for Curriculum and Examinations Assessment (CCEA), Pearson Edexcel, Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Exams (OCR) and Welsh Joint Examinations Committee (WJEC).

Each exam board has its own set of grade boundaries which change annually.

Grade boundaries show the minimum number of marks you need for each grade, and are published on results day.

It is unclear whether any of the exam boards will publish grade boundaries this year following the disruption caused by coronavirus.

OCR and AQA have both said they will not publish grade boundaries in 2020.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.