A LEVEL RESULTS INFORMATION SUMMER 2020 - St Albans School

A LEVEL RESULTS INFORMATION
        SUMMER 2020

How your A level results were arrived at this year-

A level grades have been awarded by exam boards this summer through a methodology set by
the regulators. Schools were asked to send exam boards two pieces of information for each
subject. These were to be solely based on existing evidence:

• Centre Assessment Grades – the grades they believed students were most likely to achieve in
their examinations.

• Rank Orders – within each subject, the order of students, by performance, for each grade

The Centre Assessment Grades and Rank Orders were discussed within academic departments
from the starting point of the centralised data provided to them before being finalised, checked
and signed off by the Head of Department and the Second in Department and ultimately by the
Headmaster.

The standardisation system considered a school or college’s results over time and students’ prior
attainment to determine whether the Centre Assessment Grades submitted were more generous
or severe than predicted. This process allows for the standardisation of grades across schools and
colleges to ensure that results are aligned across the cohort nationally.

Differences between School Centre Assessment Grades and Examination Board Final
Grades

It was not possible for examination boards to standardise the way teachers generated their
Centre Assessment Grades this summer; there simply was not sufficient time. Instead, in the
interests of fairness, it was necessary for exam boards to standardise the judgements of centres
in order to make sure that, at a national level, grade distributions in summer 2020 were broadly
in line with previous years. Schools can therefore experience some adjustments to their Centre
Assessment Grades. The extent of any difference a school might experience may vary between
subjects because standardisation was conducted at a subject level, not at centre level. For
example, the standardisation of A level English Literature was not affected by the standardisation
of A level History.

Ofqual and CAIE Guidance Information

Ofqual, who regulate examinations for AQA, OCR and Edexcel, have produced several documents
to help you understand your grades this summer-

A useful video to explain how grades have been awarded in summer 2020 –
https://youtu.be/EX5STb0qbGI

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They have also produced a guidance document for post 16 examination students.

Cambridge Assessment International Examinations (CAIE) have provided a letter for students.

Arrangements for Appeals

Due to the extraordinary circumstances this summer there are very limited grounds for
appealing your final grades.

Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) Qualifications
There are no grounds for students to individually appeal CAIE final grades (Biology, Geography
and Pre-U French). CAIE will only consider appeals submitted by a school if they believe an error
has occurred in the application of their statistical model for an entire cohort/subject during the
process of standardisation.

Ofqual/JCQ Qualifications (awarded by AQA, OCR and Edexcel)

If you have a concern about an AQA, OCR or Edexcel A level qualification grade you have been
awarded, you can:

   1. ask the School to check whether any clerical or procedural error was made when
      submitting your Centre Assessment Grade and Rank Order to the awarding body
   2. raise a complaint to the School using the School’s appeals procedure if you feel you have
      evidence of bias or that you were discriminated against; you could also pass such evidence
      on to the awarding body who could investigate for potential malpractice

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3. ask the School to seek any information the awarding body holds in relation to how your
      final grade was calculated
   4. ask the School to provide information about the opportunity to take an exam in the
      autumn series or in summer 2021

In line with the school’s examination appeals procedure you can also appeal against the centre’s
decision
     • not to seek any information the awarding body holds that would be needed for an appeal;
        and/or
     • not to appeal to the awarding body

A candidate cannot:
    • appeal to the School against their Centre Assessment Grades and position in the Rank
    Order
    • appeal to the School or examination board in respect of the process or procedure used by
       the school in calculating their Centre Assessment Grades and position in the Rank Order
    • appeal directly in any respect to the examination board

Should you wish to know the Centre Assessed Grade that the school submitted for you please
email exams@st-albans.herts.sch.uk using the reference CAG, your full name, and the
qualification in question as the subject title. e.g. CAG Alexander Brown A level PE.

Option 1: To request a clerical/procedural check of your AQA, OCR or Edexcel A level grade, please
follow this link to the relevant form –

Request for a Clerical/ Procedural Check Form

Please do not contact your subject teachers for any result information but rest assured that Heads
of Department will be involved in the checking process. If you complete a form for one of the
methods of appeal, please note you will receive a response from the School’s Exams Office email
address.
All applications must be received by midday on Thursday 10th September.

Option 2: Should you feel you may have evidence of bias or that you were discriminated against,
please contact the Deputy Head Academic, Mr Davies (MEDavies@st-albans.herts.sch.uk), for a
statement of the processes used by the School to check the distribution of grades submitted by
the School and to make adjustments. If, having read this document, you still feel that you have
grounds and evidence to appeal the school’s procedure then you will need to follow the school’s
internal appeal procedure. This can be found on the school website by following this link
All internal appeals applications must be received by midday on Thursday 10th September.

Option 3: We expect to be provided with detailed information by awarding bodies but, where
necessary as part of our investigations into any differences between Centre Assessment Grades
and the final grades awarded, we will seek any further information that an awarding body holds
which was used to calculate a student’s final grade should it be different to the Centre Assessment
Grade that the School submitted.

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Please note that we can only answer emails which have been sent from your school email address
and cannot share any information or personal data with your parents on your behalf.

Option 4:

If you feel that your final grade awarded to you by the examination board does not reflect your
ability, then there will be an opportunity to re-take A level qualifications in an exceptional
Autumn 2020 examination series.

Please contact the Exams Office and complete the relevant A Level re-take form as soon as
possible and by midday on Thursday 3rd September 2020 at the very latest if you would like to be
entered to re-take. Late applications will not be accepted.

If you have any exam related queries, please email exams@st-albans.herts.sch.uk

Mrs N M Gull
Examinations Officer
June 2020

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