News

Update from Cambridge International and guidance for schools on awarding grades - 07 April

08 Apr 2020

This is our fourth update on the June 2020 exam series, bringing you more guidance on providing grades for students. It also provides answers and updates to other questions we have received, where possible.

Cambridge Assessment International Education would like to thank all our schools for the very helpful feedback, insight and support you are giving us as we develop our support and processes.

We know that schools are facing challenging circumstances and we continue to provide as much clarity as we can, as quickly as we can. Some matters are complex, and we want to make sure our approach works for all Cambridge schools worldwide, in a variety of different national contexts.

Our priority continues to be making sure our actions protect students’ and teachers’ safety, and help students obtain the fairest outcome possible, with the quality and integrity they would expect from Cambridge.

Providing grades

We gave initial guidance to schools on 31 March about evidence to consider when working with us so that students receive grades in June 2020.

We can now share with you our process for awarding grades to candidates entered for Cambridge IGCSE, Cambridge O Level, Cambridge International AS & A Level, Cambridge IPQ or Cambridge Pre-U syllabuses in the June 2020 series.

Our approach remains to ask schools to collaborate with us as we make evidence-based decisions about grades for each candidate in each subject.

Our process has four steps:

Step 1. Centre determines a predicted grade for each candidate for each syllabus entered
Step 2. Centre determines a rank order of its candidates within each grade for each syllabus
Step 3. Head of centre confirms the predicted grades and rank orders, and centre sends them to Cambridge International
Step 4. Cambridge International carries out a standardisation process, combining data from the school with other data, and awards final grades

You can find detailed guidance about how to work with us through each of these four steps in our document Awarding grades for Cambridge International qualifications in the June 2020 series

Cambridge Assessment International Education has drawn on its wealth of assessment expertise to develop this process of grading students and we believe it is the most valid, fair and effective approach in these unique circumstances.

In developing this approach, we have engaged with different entities worldwide, including other awarding bodies, governments and universities. We have also engaged with the UK government’s exams regulator, Ofqual, which has developed a similar process for the GCSEs and A Levels taken by schools in England.

Private candidates

As explained previously, we will treat private candidates in the same way as school candidates, in that all the grades we award will be based on evidence.

Where centres have accepted entries from private candidates, those students should be included if the head of centre is confident that the head and their staff have seen sufficient evidence of the student’s achievement to make an objective judgement.

Where a candidate has not been taught at the centre handling their entry, centres need to carefully consider what evidence can be authenticated. Evidence from education institutions and previous schools may be acceptable.

As with schools, heads of centre will be responsible for vouching for the authenticity of the evidence gathered about every candidate.

Unfortunately, we recognise that some centres may not able to find enough evidence for some of their private candidates. It is unlikely to be possible therefore to give grades to all private candidates, some of whom may instead need to take exams in the November 2020 exam series to get their grades. If centres cannot supply a predicted grade for a candidate through lack of evidence, we will not charge the exam fee.

Private candidates with questions about this process should contact the centre with which they have registered their entry.

Fees

We understand that the current situation is having a significant impact on schools, students and parents. Some centres have asked if there will be any changes to our fees. We are working on this and we will update centres on Thursday 9 April.

We can confirm that we will not charge a fee for any entry for a student who does not receive a grade in cases where a centre cannot give a predicted grade or a place in the rank order. There will be no charges for the June series for late entries until 17 April or withdrawals up to 1 May.

Universities and recognition

The grades awarded for June 2020 series will have the same value as grades awarded in any other series.

We continue to talk to universities so they understand our approach to grading students this year as they adapt to make students are not systematically disadvantaged. We understand that universities will treat grades in the usual way.

We will update you more about their policies in future updates.

Support for teaching and learning

Many schools have now been closed for several weeks but are doing a fantastic job of delivering remote teaching and learning. We are continuing to add to the Teaching and learning when school is closed section on our website, which includes:

Tools to support remote teaching and learning
Resources for you and your learners, including tips for students and parents and Resource Plus for teachers and learners
E-books from Cambridge publishing partners
Webinars and online training.

Staying in touch

You can find our advice on our website

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us via our help section or contact your local Cambridge Associate (such as the British Council).

We have created an infographic about the process we will use to provide grades, and a communication to parents and families.

Our communications on our website may change on a daily basis, and we will send a general update to schools on 16 April.

We wish everyone in the Cambridge International community well at this difficult time.

Cambridge Early Years

Cambridge Primary

Cambridge Lower Secondary

Cambridge Upper Secondary

Cambridge Advanced

Other

Cambridge Exams Officers' Guide