Grading of A levels, AS levels and GCSEs in summer 2020 No exams took place in summer 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. To enable students to receive qualifications, it was announced that students who were due to sit A level, AS level or GCSE exams this summer would receive a calculated grade. For each student, schools and colleges have provided a centre assessment grade for each subject; this is the grade their school or college believes they would be most likely to have achieved had exams gone ahead, taking into account a range of evidence including, for example, non-exam assessment and mock results. This grade was intended to be put through a process of standardisation, using a model developed with Ofqual, to arrive at the final calculated grade. On Monday 17 August, Ofqual confirmed that there no longer would be a standardisation process for AS and A levels or GCSEs and instead all students will be awarded the centre assessment grade submitted by their school or college, unless it is lower than their calculated grade in which case the calculated grade will stand. Unless there is evidence that a processing error has been made, these grades will be final. Students will be able to use the grades they receive in the summer to move on to their next step. The calculated grade process The centre assessment grades which schools and colleges submitted to the exam boards for A and AS levels and GCSEs were an assessment of the likely grades that students would have obtained had exams gone ahead. These were then standardised across schools and colleges. For this reason, students’ calculated grades were not necessarily the same as either the centre assessment grade put forward by their school or college, or the predicted grades used for university applications. Following the Secretary of State’s announcement on 17 August, most students have now received their centre assessment grade rather than their calculated grade. However, if their calculated grade is higher than the centre assessment grade, the calculated grade will stand.