Overview of November 2021 results

The November 2021 exam series was exceptional due to COVID-19 and the ongoing disruption to teaching and learning throughout the year.

We would like to commend the resilience of all learners who took these exams and thank all the schools, colleges and other centres who worked hard to put on this exam series during the pandemic.  

In November 2021, learners entered GCSE Mathematics, GCSE Mathematics-Numeracy, GCSE English Language and GCSE Welsh Language. We published official statistics [1] on the entries on 3 December 2021.  

There were 13,105 entries in total in the November 2021 exam series, up 7,490 (133%) from November 2020. Despite the large increase this year, entries remain lower than in pre-pandemic November series. The majority (91%) of November 2021 GCSE entries were for learners in year 11, up by 31% compared to November 2020. 

Learners were assessed as per WJEC’s adapted assessment requirements in this series. We closely monitored WJEC’s delivery of this series and the approach taken to awarding grades in this context. We are confident that agreed processes were followed and that the awards were as fair as possible to learners.  

WJEC published results for the November 2021 series on its website on Thursday 13 January 2022. 

[1] Qualifications Wales / Provisional November 2021 GCSE Entries for Wales