Cambridge to soon announce new A/O level results of Pakistani students

Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood has congratulated the Pakistani students of O and A level after the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) said that they will be announcing new results soon.

On August 11, the CIE announced the results for their O and A-Level exam. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, students could not take their exams, therefore an evidence-based grading system or teachers' 'predicted grades' was used this year.

However, students protested their grades, claiming that their grades did not match the expected grades their teachers had submitted to the board. Mahmood said that as a result of the government’s intervention the Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) has agreed to review its grading procedure and will announce new results soon.

Cambridge has decided that grades for June 2020 would not be less than predicted grades sent by schools. "Where a grade issued last week was HIGHER THAN THE PREDICTED GRADE, THE HIGHER GRADE WILL STAND," Mahmood said.

He said he is glad that this issue has reached a successful conclusion and 'the anxiety caused to students and their parents can now ease'.

In the UK, Boris Johnson led government has u-turned on its decision to award grades to A-level and GCSE students based on an algorithm. In order to access the results, teachers provided predicted scores based on students’ previous work and practice A-levels, which were then reviewed by an education regulator Ofqual. Ofqual used an algorithm that took into account each school’s past exam performance.

However, once the results were announced, tens of thousands of students learned that their preliminary grades had been lowered. Following protests, the government has allowed predicted grades allocated by teachers to stand.

British Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson said that the government would scrap the controversial standardisation model and will revert to centre-assessed grades.

“We now believe it is better to offer young people and parents certainty by moving to teacher assessed grades for both A- and AS level and GCSE results. I am sorry for the distress this has caused young people and their parents, but hope this announcement will now provide the certainty and reassurance they deserve,” Williamson said.