By Cath Jadhav (Executive
Director for Standards, Research and Analysis)
Today (12 January 2022) is results day for students who took GCSE
English language and maths in England in the November series.
GCSE English language and maths are available every November.
Entry is restricted to students aged 16 and over. Most entries
are from students seeking to improve their grade from the
previous summer, or from students that had planned to enter in
the summer but were unable to do so.
Ofqual previously announced that exam boards would seek to
align November 2022 grading with the standard from summer
2022. This is the same approach that we took in November 2020
and 2021, when standards were aligned with the previous summer.
The adaptations that were available in summer 2022 to support
students in light of the pandemic-related disruption students
experienced (advance information and formulae and equation sheets
in maths) were also available in the November series.
Overall outcomes
Overall results for the November series
for GCSE English language and maths have been published by the
Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). This includes a
breakdown of results for each subject. Most students entering in
November are re-sitting their exams, so the cohort of students is
different to the summer. It is therefore not meaningful to make
comparisons between the results in November and the summer.
It is also not possible to make meaningful comparisons between
results this year and in previous November series, or between
exam boards. The different assessment arrangements that have been
in place over the past few years due to the pandemic mean that
entries have fluctuated, and the cohorts of students are likely
to be different. For example, final entries this November are
around 5% lower than in November 2021.
Grade boundaries
Exam boards set grade boundaries for each of their
specifications, and Ofqual monitors this process. As outlined
above, the approach to grading this November was for exam boards
to seek alignment with the standard in summer 2022. This is different to
summer 2023 when the aim of grading will be to return to
pre-pandemic standards, while providing students with some
protection against any impact of COVID-19 disruption.
This means that it’s important not to make assumptions about the
likely position of the grade boundaries in summer 2023 on the
basis of those that are published by exam boards this November.
