Support materials and advance information in 2021 GCSE, AS and A level exams

Students’ education has been disrupted this year by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. To make exams in 2021 less daunting for GCSE, AS and A level students, for many subjects they will be told in advance some of the topics that will or won’t be on the papers, helping them to manage their revision.

For some subjects, students will be given support material in the exams, such as formulae and equations. The exact approach will vary by subject.

Before completing the survey, please make sure that you have read one of the documents on this page or watched the video below.

We’d like to hear your views on how these changes should be used. You have until 11:45pm on 20 December to respond.

Please note, this consultation does not apply to Vocational and Technical Qualifications (VTQs) as qualifications other than GCSEs, AS and A levels are dealt with under a different regulatory framework. Awarding organisations offering VTQs are already allowed to make adaptations that are appropriate to the structure, purpose and assessment methodology of their qualifications.

For  qualifications with similar structures and the same progression routes as GCSEs, AS and A levels, many of the same measures as those recently announced for GCSEs, AS and A levels would likely be appropriate – other vocational and technical qualifications will be better suited to different adaptations.

Support materials and advance information in 2021 GCSE, AS and A level exams