GCSEs and A-levels: most measures to reduce Covid-19 disruption for students to be dropped this exam season

The UK's exam regulator says 2023 will signal a “step back to normal”, as a raft of measures designed to reduce disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic are done away this exam season.

Tens of thousands of students are gearing up for exam season, with this year's GCSE, AS level and A level exams kicking off on Monday (15 May), with the final exam due to take place on 27 June.

But the exams themselves will look a little different than the last few years, after Covid-19 led to an increase in the number of students scoring top grades in 2020 and 2021.

Dr Jo Saxton, head of England’s exams regulator, Ofqual, told the BBC results will be closer to pre-pandemic levels this year, with some of the support measures and adjustments introduced during the disruption of Covid removed and scaled back.

Students in England have not been given advance information about the topics they were likely to be tested on - as they had during the pandemic. With that measure removed, grades this year are expected to fall back in line with results from 2019, and Dr Saxton said these “pre-pandemic arrangements” will give more clarity to universities and employers.

However, some of the adjusted measures from the Covid years will remain in place - including spacing exams apart, and giving GCSE students the formulae and equations they will need to use in some subjects. Students will also not be expected to confront unfamiliar words in language exams.

Dr Saxton said examiners will use a data-driven approach to set grade thresholds that are “fair to students”.

“There’s no doubt that the pandemic has cast a long shadow, and that’s partly why we’ve put some protections in place," she said. “A student should be able to get a grade that they would have got had there not been a pandemic, even if the quality of their work is a little bit weaker”.

Outside England though, grades are expected to remain higher than they were in 2019, due to exam regulators in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland maintaining their Covid-era modifications.