GCSEs: Students will still get extra Covid exam help in three key subjects until 2027

• The government’s education head has asked for students to be allowed formula sheets in GCSE exams for the next three years.
• It would primarily affect three subjects, including maths and two science exams.
• This was a measure introduced to help students during the pandemic, and was meant to be phased out this year.
• Ofqual is currently holding a public review on the change.

A Covid-era measure meant to help secondary school pupils in their GCSE exams is set to stick around for another three years.

In a letter to the head of Ofqual - the government’s exams regulator - last week, education secretary Bridget Phillipson asked that the use of formula sheets be continued for the 2025, 2026, and 2027 GCSE exam seasons. This would mean young people sitting their exams would not have to memorise formulae in three key subjects - mathematics, physics, and combined science.

Extra Covid-19 considerations for England’s GCSE candidates were originally slated to end this year, with the 2024 summer exam season. Secondary school exams took a two-year break during the height of the pandemic before returning in 2022.

Pupils were initially given a lot of extra support, including more generous grading, advance notice of what topics might be covered in their exams, and more topics to choose from. These considerations, to make up for the impact Covid-19 had on young people’s education, were slowly phased out - with formula sheets being the last to go.

In her letter, Phillipson wrote that “evidence shows that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have an impact on students, who missed out on vital years of education and development”. She continued: “Stakeholders have raised concerns that removing the support which formulae and equation sheets have provided in recent years is premature.

“On the basis of this evidence, I have concluded that the approach taken in 2022, 2023 and 2024 should continue, and therefore that students will not need to memorise the usual formulae and equations for GCSE mathematics, physics and combined science qualifications being taken in 2025, 2026 and 2027,” Phillipson added. “Students will continue to be expected to understand and use these formulae and equations, maintaining high standards for what students must study.”

Ofqual has already opened a rapid-fire public consultation on the matter, as it needs to for most changes to upcoming assessments. It will close in less than two weeks time, on 17 October at 11.45pm. Chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham wrote in his response to Phillipson that it was “important that there is clarity for teachers and students so they know, as soon as possible, what changes will be made to the exams for which they are preparing”.

England’s national curriculum is also currently going through a review, which may see big changes to both what students learn and the assessments they take going forward. Phillipson acknowledged this may mean further changes to what students need to memorise for exams - and what materials they can bring into the exam room - in years to come.

Do you think GCSE students should be allowed formula sheets in their maths and science exams to make up for pandemic disruption? You can have your say and make your voice heard by making a submission to Ofqual. The public consultation can be found online here.