GCSE and A-level examiners will be asked to be more generous in 2022, as advanced information is released to help students with assessments.

The decision to publish details of topics that will appear has been taken to mitigate the pandemic’s impact on both students’ learning and the grades they will achieve this summer.

Sky News has taken a look at how some subjects may be assessed differently this year in England.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi promises that exams will go ahead this summer, despite advising schools to start preparing for #COVID staff shortages by merging classes into larger groups.

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English language and text-based subjects
The advanced information may include the genre or period that unseen texts used during the exams will be drawn from.

Art and design
Subjects such as these, which are only assessed through coursework, will not feature any advanced information.

GCSE maths, combined science and physics
Pupils will be given equation sheets to reduce the number of formulae they need to memorise.

GCSE English literature, history and geography
Advance information on which specific areas will appear in the exam will not be released on these subjects – but pupils will study, and be examined on, fewer topics. There will also be a greater choice of questions on the exam papers.

Topics for A-level and GCSE exams to be published ahead of time

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Other subjects
For “synoptic” questions, designed to cover the entire range of a syllabus, there will be no advance information because pupils could otherwise be disadvantaged through limiting their revision focus to a few select areas, exam boards said.

Such questions are designed to test pupils’ broader knowledge so it is feared that providing advance information would be restrictive.

Vocational BTEC qualifications
These will have fewer internal assessments.

When will the information be released?
Exam boards have said advance information will be given to students in February, rather than earlier in the academic year – which headteachers had been calling for – to avoid pupils covering a narrow curriculum.

The advanced information will not always list every topic covered because boards are concerned this could lead to excessive revision of one topic.

The information will only be available on exam board websites, with students warned against looking elsewhere in case they find inaccurate or misleading information.

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Why have these changes been made?
The education secretary has said the changes “put fairness [for students] at the forefront”.

Nadhim Zahawi said: “The information to help with their revision published today, as well as the range of other adaptations, will make sure they can do themselves justice in their exams this summer.”

What about grading?
Exam regulator Ofqual has said grade boundaries are likely to be lower than in previous years, which means lower scores will be needed to secure a particular grade.

The grade boundaries will be set roughly between 2019 pre-pandemic levels and boundaries in 2021 when teacher assessment was used to set grades.

What about Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?
Qualification Wales has streamlined content and relaxed the rules for coursework. The Welsh exam board, WJEC, published details of this in July and advanced information – similar to that being offered by English exam boards – has been published.

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In Northern Ireland, the CCEA exam board will allow pupils to drop an entire exam unit if they wish.

The rules around Scottish Nationals and Highers was published some time ago, and the Scottish Qualification Authority has removed, or reduced, exams needing to be sat by students or an element of coursework. The SQA has also offered guidance on topics in some exams.

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