What happens after you have taken your exams or assessments
Published 15 January 2026
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2026
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofqual-student-guide-to-exams-and-assessments-in-2026/what-happens-after-you-have-taken-your-exams-or-assessments
How are my exams and assessments marked?
After you have taken your exam or assessment, your work will be marked. Awarding organisations decide how this is done. Your work could be marked on paper or online and could be marked by several different markers. Awarding organisations check markers’ work at every stage to make sure it is consistent and high quality.
Marking of exam papers
After you have taken your exams, your scripts are sent to the awarding organisations for marking.
Typically, exam scripts are split up into individual questions. An individual examiner marks different students’ responses to the same question, using a mark scheme that they have been trained on.
Awarding organisations check markers’ work as they progress through their allocated scripts to make sure marking is consistent and high-quality.
Exam scripts are marked completely anonymously - the marker doesn’t know who the student is, or what school or college they’re from.
Marking of non-exam assessments
If your qualification includes non-exam assessment, for example course work or a performance, this may be marked by the awarding organisation or by your teacher, depending on the awarding organisation’s requirements. If you have concerns about how your non-exam assessment has been marked or how your provisional grade has been worked out, speak to your school or college.
Where assessments for GCSE, AS, A levels and T Levels are marked by your teacher, you must be told the marks given. If you do not think your mark is correct, you can ask your school or college for a review of your teacher’s marking before your marks are given to the awarding organisation. Someone not previously involved in the marking will review your work. Speak to your school or college for information about how to do this.
The awarding organisation then checks your school or college’s marking meets its expectations. Some awarding organisations call this moderation, while others might call it standards verification.
Awarding organisations check teachers’ marking of non-exam assessments so that marking is consistent across all schools and colleges. Awarding organisations might look at a sample of work from your school or college to check that the marking is in line with the national standard. If the marking of the sample is in line with the national standard, then no change will be made to the marks given. However, if marking is found to be too strict or too generous, marks will be adjusted to make sure you receive an accurate mark. Your work might be included in that sample.
How are grade boundaries decided?
It is no more difficult to achieve a grade in a subject from one year to the next, or between different exam boards. This means that the standard of work to achieve a particular grade in 2026 will be comparable to summer 2025.
Grade boundaries often vary year to year, to reflect fairly any changes in how difficult the exam is that year. The quality of your work in your exams determines the grade you get, and no-one is advantaged or disadvantaged by the year in which they happen to sit an exam.
Awarding organisations set grade boundaries after exam papers or assessments have been marked. There are no quotas for the number of students who must pass or fail a subject each year, and no cap on the number of students that can get each grade. The proportion of students receiving different grades does vary a little each year. But the standard of work required to receive a particular grade remains comparable.
More information about how grading works in GCSE, AS and A levels can be found in Ofqual’s Understanding grading toolkit for schools and colleges.
For some VTQs, each piece of assessed work will be given a grade, and these will be combined to give your final overall grade.
Where qualifications are new, and in the first years they are awarded, we ask awarding organisations to take into account the fact that teachers and students may be less familiar with new assessments when setting grade boundaries.
This will be the case for some Technical Qualifications within T Levels, and new Alternative Academic Qualifications.
When is results day?
The date you receive your results will depend on the qualification you are taking, the way it has been assessed, and the awarding organisation.
You will receive A level, AS and T Level results on Thursday 13 August 2026.
If you are studying a Level 3 VTQ and are planning to use your results to progress to higher education, you will receive your results on or before Thursday 13 August 2026.
You will receive GCSE results on Thursday 20 August 2026.
If you are studying a Level 2 or Level 1/2 VTQ and are planning to use your results to progress to further education, you will receive your results on or before Thursday 20 August 2026.
Some VTQs are taken on-demand and results for these will be available at different times throughout the year. You can find the date you will receive your qualification results on the website of the relevant awarding organisation, or you can ask your school or college.
Results for GCSEs taken in November 2025 were released to students on Thursday 8 January 2026.
If you have concerns about when you will receive your results or what your results are, you should speak to your school or college who will be able to help you.