Fears of GCSE results meltdown as grades will be awarded using algorithm behind A Level fiasco

NEARLY five million GCSEs will be awarded using a controversial model that lead to downgraded A-level results.

More than 4.6 million GCCEs in England will be assigned using the algorithm created by exam regulator Ofqual.

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About 97 per cent of GCSE results will be decided using the controversial system which led to outraged A-level students complaining about their results being lower than expected, reported.

Education Policy Institute think tank executive director Natalie Perera said there will be a repeat of the problems experienced during A-level results but "they could be more severe".

"A larger year group, combined with the fact that GCSE grades are often harder to predict, will mean that Ofqual could place even greater emphasis on its standardisation model," she said.

"There is a real risk that even more grades will be pushed down as a result."

Thousands of disappointed A-level students were rejected from their first choice universities due to downgraded exam results.

The Education Secretary has pledged the Government will cover the costs of exam results appeals.

Gavin Williamson told The Times every school in the UK will be able to appeal GCSE and A-level results for free.

The move is estimated to cost between £8 and £15 million, and help to and "shocking injustices," Mr Williamson said.

Costs per pupil can rise to up to £150 for grade reviews, but this is refunded in full if the review is successful, and the student is awarded a higher grade.

Mr Williamson said: "I do not want a youngster to feel they are in a situation where there is a strong and legitimate grounds for appeal, but an appeal is not made on grounds of cost."

Despite this, the exams regulator in England suspended its criteria for students hoping to challenge their results.

Ofqual said their challenge policy was "being reviewed".

No reason was given, and Ofqual said more information would be revealed "in due course".

The Government were lambasted with criticism as A-level students said they had been "let down and betrayed" by the marking algorithm, bought in as exams and lessons were scrapped across the country due to coronavirus.

A whopping 39 per cent of teacher-predicted grades were cut by the computer algorithm - sending results day into meltdown.

Labour branded the system “fatally flawed” and demanded No10 copy Scotland, tear up the system and give out higher grades as predicted by teachers.

But the exams regulator said it was forced to act after teachers dished out "implausibly high" grades.

Exam bosses admitted poor youngsters were more likely to see their grades slashed than their richer classmates in the A Levels chaos.

And private schools were given twice as many A and A* grades than comprehensives.

But exam bosses furiously denied the system was unfair and blamed teachers for dishing out overly generous marks to poorer kids.

Michelle Meadows, from exam bosses Ofqual said: “The research literature of A level predictions for university entrance shows there is a tendency to be more generous for students of lower socio economic status.

“So there will be a tendency for there to be more generosity.

“The important thing is to look at the analysis for the end grades students take away – you can see there is no evidence of systematic bias.”

But a higher proportion of poorer kids were booted out of the A* - C grade bracket than their counterparts, the data showed.

A staggering 49 per cent of all grades dished out to private schools were As or A*s, Ofqual data shows.