The 2021 main GCSE exams have been cancelled and people are now looking towards teacher assessed grades in order to get their final GCSE grade awarded. In many instances this is vital for people to continue on to A levels, or for adult learners to get a new job or get into University as a GCSE in maths and English is now needed for all of these things. Those students in schools and colleges will get a teacher assessed grade, but may be asking will this be fair and what if I don’t get the grade I need? For adult learners and external candidates there is even more uncertainty as to how they will obtain a GCSE grade if they aren’t connected with a centre, who can offer them teacher assessed grades? What about home schooling and those who aren’t in mainstream education. The following will guide you through teacher assessed grades, how you can optimise them and what the alternatives are.
Teacher assessed grades for those in schools and colleges
To get the best result from this process you will need to do as well as you can in mock exams and ongoing work, so keep working hard! You can support your teacher assessed grade with an external controlled assessment, basically like a mock exam that you can submit to your teacher as evidence towards a higher grade. MME offer controlled assessments for GCSE maths exams to help with this. The results of the controlled assessment can be submitted to your school or college as evidence towards your final grade.
GCSE Exams and GCSE resits
There are still options to take GCSE exams in 2021. The iGCSE qualification’s are going ahead as normal and students can book in as an external candidate through the MME service. Call 020 3633 5145 and choose the exams option for more information on this. You can get information about the normal GCSE resits in November 2021 on our GCSE maths retake page.
Teacher assessed grades for external candidates
For adult learners, those being home schooled and those outside of full time education may be asking, how do I get a teacher assessed grade? Well MME is working with GCSE examiners to come up with a series of assessments that will enable external candidates to obtain GCSE grades this summer. You can book into our GCSE maths controlled assessment via our dedicated page.
Alternatives to GCSE exams and teacher assessed grades
There are also a number of alternatives to GCSE exams. When applying to University or to specific jobs, you may have seen the phrase ‘Give your GCSE or GCSE equivalent qualifications‘. The GCSE equivalent qualifications usually refer to functional skills. Functional skills are a GCSE equivalent that most employers and Universities accept in place of a GCSE grade C/level 4. The following links will take you to the dedicated functional skills pages for the level 2 qualifications that are considered to be equivalent to a GCSE:
- Functional skills maths level 2
- Functional skills English level 2
- Functional skills maths online exam
- Functional skills English online exam
Nurses and Trainee Teachers
There are also other options for those looking to get into teacher training, nursing or some other specific courses. In these instances many course providers accept a GCSE equivalency test result. As these exams are not universally accepted like the functional skills, it is always worth asking your course provider or prospective employer if they will accept this before booking in. The equivalency tests are most commonly taken by prospective trainee teachers as this test is preferred over the functional skills by the vast majority of training providers and SCITT’s.
