It will be easier to get good exam grades this summer than pre-pandemic, the main exam board for Wales has promised.
As exam years across Wales prepare for mocks after half term, ahead of the first summer sat exams for two years, students and teachers have expressed fears they won’t be fair.
While grading will be lower than for the last two years of assessed grades, exam content has been cut by as much as 40% in summer 2022 and “grading will be more generous than in a normal year”, said the WJEC.
Headteachers and exam candidates say there still won’t be a level playing field because schools and individuals have had such widely varying levels of disruption. Some fear that A level students in Wales will also be disadvantaged compared to English exam candidates when competing for university places.
A level students across the border have been told what topics are coming up, while in Wales the content has been cut but schools have not been told what topics of the remaining content they will be asked questions on.
Responding to fears that students in Wales will be at a disadvantage a WJEC spokesperson said: “We recognise that learners in Wales will have missed out on learning time and have already made a series of changes to the way GCSEs and AS/A levels will be assessed this summer.
‘Unlike in England, GCSEs and A levels in Wales were adapted prior to the start of the current school year. Assessment content was reduced for both exam and non-examination assessments. These changes were communicated to schools and colleges last summer, so they could appropriately plan their teaching from the start of the academic year.
“In addition, A level learners will not be assessed on AS units. Their A level grade will be based on the outcomes of the A2 units alone . This amounts to a 40% reduction in assessment across the full A level qualification.
“Reductions to non-examination assessment, which were first communicated to schools and colleges last July, has seen the removal of content or tasks, reduction in duration of performance tasks, and changes from external to internal assessment.
“In addition to this, Advance Information has been shared for some subjects in Wales; to account for where it wasn’t possible to reduce assessment content or NEA, or introduce optionality.
“It’s also important to note that grading will be more generous in 2022 than in a normal year, and outcomes are likely to be higher than in 2019 when summer exams last took place.”
The WJEC added that it wanted to “reassure” learners that grades awarded this summer will be an accurate reflection of what they know, understand and can do, and will be of equal value to those awarded in previous years.
A level student Mollie Weston from Lewis School for Girls in Caerphilly, is among those not convinced. Mollie, 17, is taking A level law, criminology, RE and the Welsh Baccalaureate. She needs ABB to meet her offer to study at he first choice Swansea University..
The A level student said she, and others in her year, fear they will be less likely to get good grades than those across the border applying to the same university courses.
“We have had to revise everything but students in England have been told what to revise.
“It’s so unfair. At the end of all this we are applying to the same universities. If someone from England knows their topics and gets better grades because of that it’s unfair. Wales should do the same.”
Mollie said students generally wanted to sit exams to prove what they could do, but feel they are still disadvantaged.
“It’s not that we don’t want to do the work or take exams. We want the opportunity to take exams. But we just hope it’s fair and it doesn’t look fair.”
A Qualifications Wales spokesperson said: “We know that learners in Wales have faced disruption over the past two years, that’s why changes have been put in place to support them.
“WJEC has made changes (or adaptations) to GCSE, AS and A level and the Welsh Baccalaureate Skills Challenge Certificate qualifications this year to address the disruption to education caused by the pandemic.
"Most of the changes were shared with schools and colleges in Wales before the start of this academic year.
“The changes have been put in place to help learners to focus their time when it comes to preparing for exams.
"The changes vary for each qualification, for example, for some qualifications a whole unit assessment might be removed and in others, the amount of content being assessed might be reduced.”
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