Exam season is almost under way for A-level students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Here is your full guide to this year’s exams.
Most exams begin for A-level students on 12 May, and will finish at the end of June.
Your school will give you an exam timetable and the exact dates will depend on which exam board you are using (such as AQA, OCR, Pearson, CCEA, or WJEC).
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If you are sick on the day of your exam, you should contact your school or college as soon as possible.
You will be asked to fill out a form and your school or college will use this to request “special consideration” from your exam board.
You could still be awarded a grade as long as you have completed at least one other exam or assessment for that qualification.
AS and A-level results will be released on Thursday, 14 August.
You can normally pick up your results in person anytime from 08:00 or you may receive an email, but check with your school or college as arrangements can vary.
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Each exam is graded on a scale from A* to E.
Grade boundaries show the minimum number of marks you need for each grade.
They are decided by examiners and published on results day.
If you do not think your grade is right, you should first talk to your school or college.
It will contact the exam board on your behalf and ask for your marks to be reviewed.
If you still think you have been unfairly graded after a review, you can ask your school or college to appeal.
The exam board will consider whether a correction is needed.
If you are still not satisfied, you can request a review from the exams regulator Ofqual.
The charity YoungMinds points out that exam results are not the only measure of success – and if things do not turn out how you had hoped, there are lots of ways to get to where you want to end up.
If you only just miss out on the grades you need to get on to a university or college course, the admissions office might accept you anyway or offer you a place on a different course. You could also try clearing.
It may also be possible to resit some or all of your exams. Talk to your school or college if you want to explore this route. Resits will take place in May or June 2026.
Ucas is a charity which runs a clearing process matching students with university and college courses which still have spaces.
Students can use it if they:
Clearing opens on 5 July and closes on 20 October.
Universities make an offer to a student to join a course based on qualifications and grades or the Ucas tariff points system.
Each A-level grade is worth a certain number of Ucas points. For example, an A* is worth 56 points and a D is worth 24 points.
Many students decide not to go to university and start an apprenticeship or go straight into work.
Others take a gap year so they have more time to decide what to do next.
Scotland has a different qualification system. Students take Highers, which are similar to A-levels.
Exams have already started and will finish at the beginning of June.
Results day in Scotland is on Tuesday 5 August.
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