30 Apr 2021
The June 2021 exam series started on 26 April and, for those of you who have already run exams in your centre, we hope this is going well.
This week’s update includes reminders about:
- The support available to help you run exams
- Submitting candidate details for component exemptions
- Applying for special consideration
- Our withdrawals policy
- Checking statements of entry for errors
- Storing question papers and answer booklets
- Our resources to support mental health and wellbeing.
Thank you for continuing to engage with us and share your questions. We are grateful for your continued support.
What support is available?
We appreciate this is a challenging time and we have produced guidance to help you run our exams safely and securely. You may already be familiar with what is available but here is a summary – we hope you find it useful:
- Guide to running exams – for exams officers and Heads of Centre, use this, as well as our current Cambridge Handbook, when planning exams. To make it easier to use and understand, we have structured it around the phases of the Cambridge Exams Cycle.
- Contingency planning – we recommend you make contingency plans before your exams and some tips are available.
- Keep up to date – see the latest information for a summary of our Covid update emails including changes to deadlines.
Component exemptions
If you have made final entries in the June 2021 series and have approved component exemptions (also known as Covid-19 exemptions), you must now tell us which candidates you would like to exempt from which components. You can submit these details via the 'Covid-19 Exemptions' area until 30 April 2021 (23:59 UTC+1). Support and guidance is also available.
Special consideration
If a candidate is absent from a component for an acceptable reason we may calculate and award an assessed mark for the missing component. For the June 2021 series candidates who, for an acceptable reason, miss some components they were entered for can receive a grade as long as these candidates have taken at least one component. This is a temporary measure in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. For more details, and instructions about applying, see the special consideration information.
Withdrawals
You can withdraw entries until seven days after the exam series by contacting us or contacting your local associate or British Council office. You will receive a credit for these withdrawn entries.
Check your statements of entry
Make sure you check your statements of entry on Direct carefully and tell us (or your local Cambridge Associate or British Council office) as soon as possible if there are any errors. In particular, make sure you double-check any core or extended entry options. If you enter candidates for the wrong entry option it can have serious consequences. In rare instances, we may be unable to issue a grade.
Storing unused question papers and answer booklets
To improve the security of the exam series for all our centres, we have changed the rule for how long unused question papers and answer booklets should be kept in your secure storage.
All unused question papers and answer booklets must be stored securely until at least 72 hours after the Key Time for the exam.
After this time you can dispose of the unused question papers or you can give them to candidates/centre staff if you want to. You should have received our email about this (Important information about question paper security) on 22 April 2021.
Resources to support mental health and wellbeing
During this time of disruption and uncertainty, prioritising wellbeing and conversations around mental health is very important, but can be challenging. Your learners may also be feeling more anxious about taking their exams following a loss of classroom time. On this page you will find advice, useful resources and websites, guides and webinars, to help you support learners and their wellbeing.
Staying in touch
You can find all our advice on our Covid-19 information page.
If you have any questions, you can review our frequently asked questions, or contact us via our Help website. For British Council partner schools, please contact your local British Council representative.
We wish everyone in the Cambridge International community well at this time.