GCSE grades explained - equivalent results and understanding the numbers and letters

Students taking their GCSEs over the past few years have faced a lot of changes. This summer was the first that teenagers sat exams for 24 months, due to disruption from the Coronavirus pandemic.

Regulators Ofqual said that GCSE results this summer will 'reflect a midpoint between summer 2019 and 2021'. They added that grades 'will be higher than when summer exams were last sat, but lower than in 2021, when grades were awarded by teacher assessment'.

"Schools’ and colleges’ results are highly likely to be lower than in 2021 when exams did not go ahead. Very few schools or colleges, if any, will get higher results than in 2021," Ofqual said.

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Another change students have seen in the past few years the grading system. The lettered system, with grades from A* to U, was replaced with a numbers instead.

It was fully implemented in 2018 for all subjects and was reformed to keep pace with university and employer demands. It's based on new and more comprehensive subject content, and also has a higher grade than the old A*.

It follows a numerical format as opposed to letters running from 9 (the highest grade) to 1 (the lowest grade).

Ofqual states the following: "The bottom of a grade 7 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade A. The bottom of a new grade 4 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade C, and the bottom of the new grade 1 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade G.

"We have been clear to employers, universities and others that if they previously set entry requirements of at least a grade C, then the equivalent now would be to require at least grade 4."

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