Coronavirus: Exam cancellation and where to look for information

Volunteer Note: For advice, guidance and up-to-date information on Coronavirus/COVID-19, please check out the NHS, UK Government, and Mind (mental health) web-pages.

The situation with coronavirus is changing very rapidly, and announcements have already been made about this summer's school exams, with more to follow.

There's a lot of misinformation travelling about on the web at the moment and so the first rule is, don't believe everything you read.

The second thing is to make sure that you're following the official sources of information on this.

JCQ and Ofqual
The Joint Qualifications Council sets the rules for most of the examinations you're going to take, and its members include all the major exam boards. Ofqual is the part of the government that deals with education qualifications and standards.

If there are alterations to planned examinations across the country, JCQ and Ofqual are the ones who will decide that. If an announcement is made, you will find JCQ and Ofqual as the official sources of information, along with the Secretary of State.

Other Exam Boards
It's possible that some changes will be made to individual assessments, or that exam boards will make available additional resources to help staff and students manage their revision during a rather stressful period. Pearson have already done this but others may well follow.

Also expect to see statements about covid-19 and the exam board's responses on their websites. Not every board has done this so far (at the time of writing), but Pearson, OCR and WJEC certainly have.

Your School
Follow closely what your school/college are planning to do. By and large they'll know about as much as you will about exams, but if you're aware of specifics to you and your local area then this will be helpful. Be careful again to differentiate between rumours among students, speculations from individual teachers and official advice from the exams office or headteacher.

Moving onto university?
UCAS have their statement very clear on this page. They have said they'll email you directly if your application status may be affected by any changes to exams etc. So regardless of what you hear through word of mouth, if you don't have an email your application isn't affected.

If you're worried about interviews with particular institutions or are looking to attend offer holder days / open days or any other event held at universities, then check that institution's website for details. If there is nothing very clear there, get in contact with them and see what's what. Expect a slow response due to a high volume of inquiries and potentially fewer staff / staff working from home.

Social Media accounts to follow

If you don't already, it's worth keeping an eye on the social media accounts for all of the above organisations, because any updates will likely be posted there, and you're more likely to be scrolling through your feeds and see it than you are to go back and refresh those news pages every day. The more of these accounts you follow, the more likely and quickly you're going to pick up the news.

Ofqual
Facebook
Twitter
Main Website
(Also government Education Twitter)

JCQ
Twitter
Main website

AQA
Twitter
Facebook
Main website

OCR
Twitter
Facebook
Main website

Edexcel / Pearson
Twitter
Facebook
Main website

WJEC
Twitter
Facebook
Main website

UCAS
Main website
Twitter
Facebook page
Instagram

And of course... :tsr2:

Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

N.B. Promoting social media accounts and platforms isn't usually permitted on TSR, however this thread has been given approval for the purpose of helping and supporting students to get the correct information.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

What do you expect to happen?

Has your school officially informed you about any plans?

How disruptive will this be to your studies?

Post your thoughts below.

Reply 2

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Reply 3

Starlight15

Study Forum Helper

Original post by 04MR17

What do you expect to happen?

Has your school officially informed you about any plans?

How disruptive will this be to your studies?

Post your thoughts below.

Probaby give the year 11s and 13s predicted grades then if they disagree sit in November.... I know it's not reliable.... but urgh it's the best-worst option (feel free to comment anything better than mines)

No as I'm a first year student a uni

Not much since we're doing online learning now