Exam result chaos: a perspective from a student 

From start to finish, A level students have been let down every step of the way during the exam process. 

On the morning of August 13th 2020, I was one of the hundreds of thousands of students who were anxiously awaiting the results that would determine their place in University or employment. Referring to the grades awarded as ‘results’ is rather a misnomer, as this year no exams were taken. Instead, teachers were asked to rank their pupils and predict what they thought they would have achieved had exams taken place. These grades (Centre Assessed Grades, or CAGs) were then taken and moderated according to national averages and the school’s past performance. 

With a four-month wait between school closures and results day, a dramatic backtrack of exam results handling in Scotland, and the announcement of a poorly prepared ‘triple lock’ system just days before, students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland had anything but clarity on what to expect.  

As results were opened, stories of shock, resentment and anger quickly emerged. Around 40% exam grades had been downgraded from teacher’s predictions by at least one grade, meaning that many were finding that they had missed out on a place at University as a result of an algorithm.  

One student who had her ABB grades dropped to DDD – causing her to miss her offer of studying Veterinary Medicine – told the schools minister that he had “ruined her life”. This sentiment was shared by many, who took to social media to share their anger. 

Accusations of classism followed as it became clear private schools had fared significantly better under the system than their state school counterparts. Although they do on average tend to achieve higher A level results, the percentage of private school pupils achieving an A or higher this year was up by 4.7 percentage points. For state-ran sixth forms, further education and tertiary colleges, the increase was by just 0.3 points. 

These statistics imply the system of moderation, although keeping the proportion of grades awarded relatively constant nationally, shifted in favour of students from well-off backgrounds. 

This is likely related to a flaw where, for smaller classes, the CAGs were given greater weight than moderation in determining the final grade, with classes of five pupils or lower receiving no moderation at all. Even before results day, Ofqual admitted this might lead to smaller cohorts being advantaged; however, they stated that there would be “no widening of the attainment gap between students according to their backgrounds”. 

Given that it is common knowledge that private schools tend to have smaller class sizes, this statement seems at best overly-optimistic, at worst blatantly ignorant. 

Due to the immense public pressure from students and their parents, it was announced on August 17th that students would be able to use their CAG without moderation to give them a higher result. This is precisely the kind of U-turn that Education Secretary Gavin Williamson definitively stated he would not make a few days previously. 

The announcement has come too late for some. Although Universities were ‘encouraged’ to keep places open while students appealed, the pressure to fill places has meant many have already rejected former offer holders so numbers can be made up through Clearing. How Admissions Departments are expected to respond when students they rejected now meet the conditions of their original offer is, like every other stage of this messy process, unclear. 

After being stuck in months of limbo, our results were supposed to finally give us the green light to move on. Our lives were completely overturned when the exams we spent the best part of two years gearing up for were cancelled. The closure of schools left us wondering when, if ever, we would see our classmates again. August 13th was meant to bring a sense of closure. Instead, we were rewarded with yet more uncertainty. 

I was one of the lucky ones. Although UCAS Track crashed first thing on exam results day, I was able to see from an online exam results portal that my grades would secure me a place at my first choice University. This is exactly what I had been working towards. Although I was relieved, I found it very difficult to feel proud of the grades themselves.

The day before, a local radio station had contacted me. I was asked if I would like to take part in their results day coverage, and I had hoped to talk about the excitement of going to my dream University. Instead, the next morning I found myself angrily ranting about how meaningless the grades I had worked hard to achieve felt when I knew an arbitrary algorithm had let so many down. 

Even after the moderation was scrapped, I still feel cheated. The poorly thought through handling of this has placed students under crippling stress while simultaneously de-valuing the very grades that they’ve been forced to fight for.

It can certainly be argued that our exam system was never fair in the first place – with two years of study coming down to a handful of examinations over a few weeks – but this year falls far short of previous standards. 

We’ve anxiously followed every news item about appeals or using our mock results but were never given any guidance on how these ‘safety-nets’ could have been accessed. Instead, these headlines just caused waves of anxiety without providing any solutions.

Results day returned many students to a state of limbo, which a virus did not cause this time, but complete mismanagement of a system the government has had four months to perfect. The resulting stress and anger will not fade quickly, and many students will remember it when the next election rolls around. I know I will. 

Sarah Swift

Follow @sarahswift

Featured image via Nick Youngson on Alpha Stock Images. Image licence found here.