A-Level Students Anger As They See A 40% Downgrade From Predicted Grades

13 August 2020, 15:47

40% of A-level students have has results downgraded, leading to calls for an overhaul of the exam boards in the UK as some miss out on university places.

There are calls for an 'overhaul' in exam boards as it emerged 39.9% of A-level students had their final grade downgraded from what their teacher's predicted them by an algorithm as pupils across the UK receive their results.

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 A-level exams were cancelled and instead, students were graded based on teachers predictions which were moderated by exam boards.

The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (OfQual) showed 39% of entries were downgraded by one or more grades compared with teacher predictions.

3% of entries were downgraded by two grades- but, overall results across England, Northern Ireland and Wales show record highs for A* and A grades.

The Department of Education supported this 40% downgrade statistic, tweeting 'almost 60% of grades students received are exactly the same as those submitted by schools'.

This, naturally, has caused many to question what happened in the case of the other 40%.

One student revealed they've been declined from all of their university choices because of these downgrades and took to Twitter to question the DoE, writing:

"What about those people in the 40%."

"My predicted grades and mock grades were AAA(A) and they got moved down by the government to ABB(A), I got declined for all my University Choices."

Another angry parent wrote, "Rubbish ! My daughter and all her friends are downgraded!" and the tales of those being rejected by various schools and institutions because of these downgrades are all over social media.

An upset sibling wrote: "That was unfortunately, my brother missed out on a medical uni because he got ABB and needed AAB, now he has to change his career. Disgrace."

Various politicians including Sadiq Khan have condemned the system of downgrading which has caused students considerable distress (on top of the stresses of the pandemic), and many are waiting to see if the government will respond to this.

Sadiq tweeted: "Young Londoners have worked incredibly hard for these results, yet too many now face uncertain futures after shambolic Govt decisions."

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