London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 17, 2025

GCSE and A-level changes give pupils advance warning of exam content

GCSE and A-level changes give pupils advance warning of exam content

Teenagers in England will be given advance warning of some exam content next year because of disruption caused by Covid, the government says.

New plans also say GCSE and A-level students should sit three sets of mock exams to help decide grades, if exams are cancelled.

Teacher-assessed grades have been used for the past two years.

The headteachers' union said schools would be relieved - but that it placed "a great deal of pressure" on pupils.

Labour criticised the government for a "delay" in confirming a Covid backup plan.

Under plans confirmed by the Department for Education (DfE), AS and A-level students will be given some indication of the content exams will focus on, to help with revision.

There will be more changes to GCSEs - with formulae provided in maths exams, and equations in physics and combined science assessments.

In English literature, history and geography, schools will be advised to focus on a narrower range of content.

Advance warnings about content for both sets of exams will be issued by early February.

The DfE has also issued a back-up plan in the "unlikely" event that exams are cancelled.

It advises that, for subjects which are usually assessed with exams, schools assess pupils three times: in the second half of the autumn term, in the spring term and in the first half of the summer term.

It says these should be held "under exam-like conditions wherever possible" - meaning they should be timed, and without access to books and revision notes.

Julie McCulloch from the Association of School and College Leaders said having a contingency plan would mean a lot of extra work.

She said it would "probably" mean that students take both mock exams - which "may or may not count" towards their ' final grades - and formal exams.

"This is far from ideal and places them under a great deal of pressure," she said.

"But not having a contingency plan would risk a repeat of the chaos of the past two years, and therefore, on balance, this seems like the right course of action, and the confirmed set of measures appears to be sensible enough."

Two years of replacement grades, after exams were cancelled in the pandemic, have had significantly higher results for GCSEs and A-levels.


The cancellations mean that next summer more than 700,000 teenagers in England will sit high-stakes real exams for the first time in their lives.

The regulator Ofqual said overall grades would be moderated to be halfway between 2019 and 2021.

Jo Saxton, its chief regulator, said in a letter to students "exam boards will set the grade boundaries so that more students get higher grades in 2022 than before the pandemic".

She said this would provide a "safety net" for students who may otherwise "just miss out" on a higher grade.

"We have taken this decision to reflect the disruption that you as a cohort have experienced already in your course," she wrote.

Kate Green MP, Labour's shadow education secretary, said that students and teachers had already "had weeks of unnecessary uncertainty waiting for confirmation of assessment and contingency plans for 2022".

She said Labour had published a "plan B" for exams at the beginning of the academic year, adding: "The government's dither and delay has left teachers with less time and capacity to gather the samples of work needed."

Ministers have made clear they expect exams to go ahead in 2022, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

"The government believes that exams and other formal assessments are the best and fairest means of assessment, and the government's firm intention is that students will take national exams in summer 2022, set and marked by the exam boards," the DfE said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
×