Extra exams in 2022 for pupils who miss papers due to illness

The reserve exams are planned for the end of June but an official timetable is to be confirmed by CCEA

There will be a reserve set of A-level exams this summer for pupils who miss an initial paper due to illness or self-isolation.

That is according to the Northern Ireland exams board, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA).

There will also be a reserve series of exams in some GCSE subjects.

The extra exams are planned for the end of June, but CCEA has said it will confirm the final timetable shortly.

However, there will be no option for pupils to sit reserve exams at AS-level and in the vast majority of GCSE subjects.

But pupils who miss an exam paper will have the option of having their overall mark decided based in the papers they are able to sit, a process called a "missed component calculation".

Fewer subject papers

The details of the contingency arrangements are in a guide to the summer 2022 exam series for students published by CCEA.

Formal summer exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Pupils were given grades calculated by their schools instead, but exams are due to go ahead again in 2022.

Some GCSE science exams take place in March, but the majority of exams take place in May and June.

Due to disruption caused by the pandemic, students will sit fewer papers in most subjects and will not be tested on parts of many courses.

CCEA had previously published details of which parts of GCSE, AS and A-level exams would be omitted.

But some schools and teachers have expressed concerns that the changes do not go far enough and too much is being asked of students in some subjects.

Some experts and teachers also questioned why "speaking" units had been dropped from all language qualifications.

That means that pupils do not have to be tested on how they can speak French, Irish, German or Spanish to gain GCSEs, AS or A-levels in those languages in 2022.

In a new guide for students to the summer 2022 exams, CCEA said papers would be graded more generously than in pre-pandemic years to make up for the disruption Covid had on learning.

A similar approach is being taken in England.

But CCEA also said there would be a reserve series of exams for A-Levels "to give students another chance to sit an exam they may have missed and ensure they can achieve a qualification grade this year".

"In a normal year, students who miss examinations are expected to complete them the following year," the CCEA student guide said.

"This year, the additional series will help students who may have been absent for legitimate reasons on the day of the examination to take the additional examination paper."

• More generous grading for GCSE and A-level exams

• Schools' letter raises concerns over GCSE grading

• Exams to resume in the next school year

Those reasons can include illness on the day of the exam, bereavement of an immediate family member or having to isolate due to Covid-19, according to CCEA.

However, there will only be reserve GCSE exams in a few subjects - history, religious studies, government and politics, economics, and statistics.

That is because pupils are likely to sit only one exam in those subjects so if they miss it they may not get a grade.

CCEA said pupils who have to sit reserve exams may face a slight delay in getting their results but they would receive them as close as possible to the scheduled results days.

Those are 18 August for AS and A-levels and 25 August for GCSEs.