Changes or adaptations to assessments 2021/22

Adaptations to assessments for GCSE, AS, A level and vocational qualifications

Last Autumn, we shared information with schools and colleges explaining the changes (which we call adaptations) to assessments, to give them enough time to prepare for exams this summer. Changes have been made to GCSE, AS, A level  and vocational qualifications to reflect the disruption to teaching and learning time.

The changes will depend on the design of the qualifications. For detailed information on a specific subject, please see:

WJEC Summer 2022: Adaptations to GCSE

WJEC Summer 2022: Adaptations to vocational qualifications

WJEC Summer 2022: Adaptations to AS and A levels

 What changes are in place this year?

Adjustments to non- examination assessments (NEA) 

The NEA assessment may be reduced and how or where the assessment takes place may be relaxed to increase the chance of learners being able to complete it. 

Streamlining assessment content 

Centres should still teach all the specification content, where possible. However, the streamlining allows teaching and learning time to be maximised by focusing exam preparation on a reduced amount of assessment. It helps learners to focus exam preparation time on less material.  

Advance information 

Information on what will be assessed is provided at agreed times before the assessment takes place. Where this approach has previously been used, information may be provided earlier than usual. For qualifications where this has not previously been used, it may be introduced for the first time for some qualifications. 

Removal of a whole unit 

For some qualifications, a unit of assessment is removed:  

  • where assessment of the unit usually takes place in year 10 (such as double award GCSE science). 
  • at A level, no AS units are assessed.  

Unit options (for some GCSEs) 

For unitised GCSEs (such as Welsh Second Language and History) where there is no consistent unit entry pattern across centres, there is an option to select from a choice of units. There are no changes to the content and the assessment of the units taken.