Key takeaways for parents:
- Stay calm if your child hasn’t got the grades they need to go to their university of first choice. Your child will likely feel their own emotions but may be led by yours. Be intentional to keep the calm if they don’t get the grades they were hoping.
- Robust systems exist that guide next steps for all outcomes. Just be sure not to delay and options available reduce as time goes on.
- Challenges in the UK University sector mean that the flexibility of grade boundaries for some courses is very much in the student’s favour, as was demonstrated last year.
A-levels are a complex and tightly regulated set of systems whose raison d’être is to provide fair, valid and reliable assessment. The exams fiasco of 2020 was largely attributable to the fact that neither parents nor schools understood the regulatory framework as operated by the JCQ and Ofqual. The exam boards operate firmly in the interests of the data and the regulator’s powerful direction, so the strategies set out below should be seen in that context.
- Early August: UK Universities receive exam results from boards.
- 13th August: UCAS Admissions (0001) and Exam Results (0800) released
- August-Sept: Students take up Firm or Insurance places or enter Clearing.
The gap between the grades release to the universities and to students allows for the boards to deal with the mass data and potential delays that might arise. Much more importantly, the window gives universities time to review the number of offers and acceptances across the institution. Rough estimates will exist from the number of UCAS Firm and Insurance places, but exact numbers can only be confirmed when the results are in their hands.
Where students exceed or meet their offers, very straightforward: they’re in. The challenge arises in the flexibility granted to students who have not quite met the terms of the offer, usually by missing a grade. Grades will be reviewed and performances set in the context of candidates and previous years. Recent trends suggest that there is considerable flexibility with narrow misses, and universities will look at individual cases before any decision. The discretion of the admissions team at the university is absolute, and they will transmit their decision to UCAS in advance of the release date.
Students can log in to UCAS at midnight on results day and learn whether they are into the university of choice. Many students will be able to infer their results from meeting their Firm or Insurance offer, or they will have a sleepless night with a message about entering Clearing.
Results: Grades and Reviews of Marking
When the results are released at 0800 either in person or online, for many it will be just reward for hard work; for others, just reward for rather less work. What it will not be, however, is negotiable. The option for ‘remarks’ has been replaced by an approach in which schools can ask only for procedural reviews of marking. Both types incur costs, although the cost is waived if the marks change.
- The first review of marking consists of a check for clerical errors.
- The second is a check by a senior examiner to ensure that the mark scheme was applied fairly. The burden of proof for the school is to demonstrate that the mark scheme was applied unreasonably.
While there are circumstances in which marks change, they are rare, not least because the exam boards build in quality assurance to ensure fairness and to avoid errors. By contrast, universities and colleges do exercise a real degree of discretion, and the recent trends suggest many students who miss out by a grade will still be accepted by their Firm choice. We would advise leaving the results as they stand in these circumstances.
Even with this flexibility, some students will be disappointed, but if students wish to ask for a review of marks, they will need to see the scripts and check the grade boundaries. They will need to act quickly if a university place is at stake, and exam boards and universities recognise this pressure in their responses; if a review leads to a change in grades, universities will honour the amended result. The student and their teacher should read the script before a decision is made, but bear in mind that reviews of marking can also reduce marks, so the student must be confident that they will stay within the same grade boundary. Our advice is as follows:
- Ask your school for a scan or a photocopy of the script immediately and get a teacher to read it through before further decisions are made.
- Deadline for priority remarks (i.e. place-sensitive) is 21 August; standard review is 25 September. The results of these reviews are returned quickly.
- Final certificates will be issued October / November 2026
The intellectual rigour and regulatory framework that underpins the system means that there are carefully delineated processes through which students, parents and schools should work. We will be happy to help you if such support is needed.
