GCE and GCSE grading - summer 2021

The government announced earlier in the year that regular GCE and GCSE exams will not take place this academic year.

Ofqual has published guidance for centres and for students on how grading will take place this summer. You can read their latest guidance on the the Ofqual website.

JCQ (Joint Council for Qualifications) works closely with exam boards to ensure consistency across the exams boards and their guidance for students is on the JCQ website.

City Lit has written a policy about this year’s process which is attached at the bottom of the page, along with an FAQ document covering the following questions.

You can also find the information on Pearson and AQA pages.

What has happened so far? and What happens next?

JCQ have published a useful infographic timeline explaining the grading process so far.

Teacher Assessed Grades (TAG) - Frequently Asked Questions

How will my grade be determined?

Teachers will assess your work to a national standard using guidance published by the exam boards.

Exam boards have published additional assessment material, grading resources and descriptions of standard of work for each grade to help teachers.

Before it is submitted to the exam board your grade will be reviewed by the Quality team working with the curriculum teams to ensure the process to award grades was followed consistently and fairly.

Which work will be considered?

Teachers will use a range of evidence to assess your progress and achievement. This could range from past exams papers used as mock exams, assessment tasks set in class, or homework assignments.

It is up to your teacher to select the most appropriate range of evidence to assess your abilities. Your teacher will tell your class which work will be used as evidence of your grade.

The same evidence will be used for the whole class to make sure everyone’s performance is judged fairly, unless there are specific individual reasons like an illness.

Will exam boards or algorithms change the grades?

Unlike last year, students’ grades will not be changed by a formula. The internal and external quality assurance measures will all be done by humans, not an algorithm.

Will I find out which grade my teacher is submitting?

Your teacher cannot tell you the grade he/she is submitting to the exam board. Your grade will not be final until internal (City Lit) and external (Exam board) quality check have been done.

Exam boards will ask City Lit to explain our rationale for submitting the grades and they will also ask for a sample of student work.

You will find out your grade on national results days:

A levels: Tuesday 10 August 2021

GCSEs: Thursday 12 August 2021

Any pressure on teachers or other members of staff from students or parents to find our their grade early or influence the awarding of the grade will be treated as malpractice. If this behaviour is persistent, it will be reported to the exam board and may result in disqualification.

How can I appeal my grade?

If you are unhappy with your grade after results day, there are two stages to the appeals process.

1. Centre review

As a first step, please contact the Exams office at City Lit (exams@citylit.ac.uk). The exams team will check that the grade submitted to the exam board is the same grade that was signed off by the college.

We will also review the steps we took to determine your grade.

The Exams office will let you know whether an error was made.

2. Appeal to the exam board

If there was no error when determining or submitting your grade, you can ask City Lit to submit an appeal on your behalf to the exam board, who will review whether:

• City Lit made an unreasonable exercise of academic judgement in the choice of evidence from which they determined your grade and/or in the determination of your grade from that evidence.
• City Lit did not apply a procedure correctly, e.g. they did not follow their Centre Policy, did not undertake internal quality assurance, did not take account of access arrangements or mitigating circumstances, such as illness.
• the exam board made an administrative error, e.g. they changed your grade during the processing of grades.

You can find more information about appealing your grade on the GCE and GCSE grade appeals - summer 2021 page.