Many students currently in years 10 & 12 are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to taking their exams next year due to the COVID19 crisis. Students are having to teach themselves key topics which they will not have time to cover when it is safe to return to school. This is challenging for every student at all academic levels. It can have negative affects on our mental health causing stress and anxiety, not only at this difficult time in lockdown where students have been feeling demotivated working countless hours over the existing school day to insure work is complete, but also when we go back to school and are overloaded with work under pressure to catch up in time for our exams.

Therefore it is only fair that decisions should be made about next years 2021 exams, as they have been with this years. Predicted grades should be taken from all the hard work that students have been putting in over the past few years, otherwise they will be at an unfair advantage, unable to achieve the grades they were predicted before this pandemic.

Alternatively, grade boundaries should at least be fairly lowered by exam boards, as it is just unrealistic to expect students to have taught themselves more than 10 subjects at GCSE and A-Levels with the added pressure of applying for universities and apprenticeships, to the same standard as they would have been learning at school.