Previous communications about running exams in January 2022
As a reminder, here are the communications about running exams in January 2022 that we sent to schools and colleges in December:
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Latest updates from the DfE
On 2 January 2022, the Education Secretary repeated his message about exams and assessments going ahead in the new year, ‘so that students, who have worked so hard to prepare for them, have the chance to demonstrate what they know’. On the same day, the DfE issued updated public health guidance for centres preparing for and running exams on 1) wearing face coverings and 2) self-isolation arrangements.
The DfE stated the following on wearing face marks for exams: “We would not ordinarily expect candidates and invigilators to wear face coverings during exams but they may wear them if they wish to and settings should be sensitive to the needs of individuals.” The DfE confirmed that candidates who have symptoms, test positive or are self-isolating due to Covid, cannot attend exams.
The DfE stated: “Schools and colleges should contact awarding bodies on the candidate’s behalf to determine the next available assessment opportunity.”
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Arrangements for your students who are not able to take a Cambridge National or Cambridge Technical exam in January 2022 due to temporary issues
We hope as many of your students as possible are prepared and able to take exams this month. However, if your students have or are in self-isolation, due to COVID for example, they cannot attend exams.
For students who are due to complete their qualification in June 2022 and who are not able to take exams in January 2022 due to temporary issues including Covid, the first option to consider is to reschedule their exams in the June 2022 series instead. However, if rescheduling exams in the June 2022 series instead is not possible and your students would be disadvantaged by this, an alternative option for students planning to complete the qualification in June 2022 is to submit a request for a special consideration absence. Students who are eligible will be given an assessed grade for exams they were planning to take in the January series. See below for more details.
For students who were due to complete their qualification in January 2022 and who are not able to take exams this month due to temporary issues such as Covid, please submit a request for special consideration absence in the normal way. See below.
For students who are not due to complete their qualification until 2022/23 and who are not able to take the exams in January 2022, please reschedule their exams for June 2022 or for a series in 2022/23.
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Special consideration
If you decide to request special consideration absence for a student affected by a temporary issue at the time of assessment, and leading to an assessed grade (see below), our Special Consideration Online will be open until 31 January 2022. This applies to any student who is in a position to certificate in January 2022 or in June 2022 and misses their timetabled exam due to illness, injury, bereavement or self-isolation. If you have any queries, please get in touch with our Special Requirements Team.
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Assessed grades for students who are not able to take an exam in January 2022 due to temporary issues
A student may receive an assessed grade if they are unable to take an assessment due to circumstances outside their control. To produce an assessed grade, we estimate how a student would have performed on a missing unit by looking at their performance on other units they have completed. We will use the proportional method that calculates an average grade based on the other grades a student has achieved. We will estimate an externally assessed unit based on other externally assessed units. If your qualification only has one externally assessed unit, then we will calculate the assessed grade based on the other units in the qualification.
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