On 18 March, five days before the UK-wide lockdown, education secretary Gavin Williamson announced that all schools and colleges were to close and examinations, including A-Levels and GCSEs, would be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

More than half a million young people were due to sit their GCSEs and around 300,000 were meant to be taking A-level exams, leaving the government to come up with an alternative.

There was some speculation that students could sit the exams remotely and officials were discouraged from relying on predicted grades: Juliana Mohamad Noor, vice president for further education at the National Union of Students (NUS) warned that using the method would “rob” thousands of students who outperform their predictions.

But the government confirmed on 27 March that students were going to be given speculative grades, rather than sit exams at home or elsewhere. Exam boards were to work with teachers to come up with a “calculated grade”, to be given to students in the summer.

So how are exams being graded this year? What do you do if you don’t get the results you want? And what is the appeal process? Here is everything you need to know.

What is the difference between GCSEs and A-Levels?

GCSE stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education. GCSE examinations are taken by most pupils at the end of compulsory school education (year 11) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There are three compulsory GCSEs that students must take, known as core subjects: English, maths and science.

A Levels stand for Advanced-level qualifications and they are optional subjects that can lead to university, further study, training, or work. They are taken two years later than GCSEs.

How will exams be graded this year?

This year teachers will predict GCSE and A-level grades for their students, a process which will be externally monitored by the exam boards. At the request of the government, all schools were asked by Ofqual (the office of qualifications and examinations regulation) to send exam boards two pieces of information for each subject, by 29 May.

This information included:

• The grade schools believe students would have most likely got if exams had happened as planned (these are referred to as CAGs or Centre Assessed Grades).

• A ranked list of all students within each grade for each subject. For example: If a school or college had 30 pupils for GCSE English Language with a centre assessment grade of 6, they should be ranked from 1 to 30, where 1 is the “most secure/highest attaining”, 2 is the next most secure, and so on.

Every school was asked to consider a wide range of evidence, including classwork, non-exam assessment, mock exams, and previous results. Teachers were told to be “fair, objective, and carefully considered” when submitting the grades.

The Department for Education said that exam boards will then “combine this information with other relevant data, including prior attainment, and use this information to produce a calculated grade for each student”.

And if grading judgments in some schools or colleges appeared to have been more severe, or more generous than others across the board, then the exam boards will adjust grades accordingly, the regulator says.

Are there concerns about this system?

The NUS was not the only body to express concerns about the emergency system. Ex-Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw said predicted grades could be affected by “unreliable” assessment in “weak” schools. And Baroness Blackstone, in the House of Lords, said she believed cancelling exams was a “mistake” and that teacher assessment does “lead to questions about accuracy and fairness”.

Research by the Equality Act Review suggests that black, Asian, or minority ethnic students, and those from working class families are disproportionately affected by the prediction of grades. It said: “The current grade predictions system does not account for learning style, mitigating circumstances or BAME bias.”

Those with special educational needs could also be unfairly treated, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said. “Research suggests there may be patterns of conscious or unconscious race bias when predicting grades. With this in mind, there is a danger that predicted grading may have an adverse impact on some disadvantaged groups.”

Students are concerned too: the Student Room carried out a snap poll of more than 750 teenagers on whether they thought they would be “given a fair grade” this summer: 66 per cent said no and only a third said yes. The Equality Act Review also found 80 per cent of students were concerned about predicted grades.

A spokesperson for Ofqual has defended the system. “We have extensively tested the model to ensure it gives students the fairest, most accurate results possible and, so far as possible, that students are not advantaged or disadvantaged on the basis of their socioeconomic background or particular protected characteristics, and we will evaluate outcomes.”

What do I do if I’m unhappy with my grade?

A-Level results day (Thursday 13 August) is a week before GCSE results day (20 August). Some students will be able to go into schools and colleges to collect results. Whilst most students will receive them via email.

Williamson has repeatedly said if students feel they did not get fair predicted grades, there will be a chance to take an exam at a later date to rectify this. In a written statement on 23 March, he said: “There will also be an option, for students who do not feel this grade reflects their performance, to sit an exam.”

Ofqual has also repeated this, saying: “If a student does not feel their grade from the summer reflects their ability, then they have the opportunity to take their exam in autumn, or next summer. If they choose to do this, both grades will stand.”

However, Ofqual have made it clear, a dissatisfied student, does not necessarily mean grounds for an appeal. Appeals can only be made if both the student and the school suspect a technical or administrative error has occurred in the process.

Students are allowed to request to view their CAGs, which were submitted on their behalf to the exam board. This can be done using the Ofqual CAG request form, which you can get from your school. Students must request these, not parents. Most schools plan to release the CAGs (to those who request them) a week or so after results day anyway.

What to do if you still don’t get the results you want?

For A Level students who don’t get the necessary grades to go to university have a few options (apart from resitting your exams either at college or online).

Find a course through clearing: Clearing allows you to apply for university places that haven’t been filled in the first round of applications. You might end up having to go to a different uni or to study a completely different course than you had planned, but if you’re certain that university is the right path for you, then this is your best chance of getting in.

Study for a professional or vocational qualification: Some university degrees like medicine have a defined career path after graduation, but professional and vocational qualifications offer a more straightforward path into certain professions.

Become an apprentice: Apprenticeships are a great way to enter the world of work and get valuable training at the same time. You’ll get to study for a qualification and get on-the-job experience at the same time.

For GCSE students the situation is different. As of 2016, the government requires pupils in England to get at least a 4 grade in GCSE English and maths. If this does not happen you have to resit your exams. If you get a 1,2 or 3 grade then you also have the chance to resit whether you wish to or not.

If you achieve the required grades at GCSE you have the option to go down the apprenticeship route.

Instead of taking A Levels, students can take BTECS, which give students the skills they need to enter higher education or employment, obtained through practical, work-related activities, allowing the students to apply what they have learned.

If your grades are too low to get into your chosen college or sixth form, it is advisable to contact them immediately to see if they may still offer you a place. It is possible they will allow you to transfer to a similar course or provide information about other colleges.

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