General Qualifications Bulletin UK Issue 81
I hope you’ve all had a break and managed to enjoy some well-deserved time off over the summer.
As results days approach, you'll want clear information and resources to help your learners get the support they need. This special results edition of the Qualifications Bulletin brings together everything you need for A level and GCSE results days.
Before we get into the detail, I'd like to recognise everyone who's helped make this summer series possible.
Over the past few months, our examiner community has marked more than 113 million individual questions, helping 1.2 million students receive their results. Their dedication and commitment have been extraordinary.
Thank you, too, to the teachers, support staff, exams officers and administrative teams who have worked tirelessly to prepare students for their exams and support the process behind the scenes. The work you do has a real impact on learners and their futures.
In this months update:
- Key dates
- Results weeks key timeline
- Understanding your centre's results
- Grade boundaries
- Results support for students, parents and carers
- Exams Officer support
- Post-results services
- Review of marking and moderation services and appeals
- Subject updates for September teaching
- Get set for the next academic year with updates and support
Date |
Qualification |
Exam |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
12 Aug 26 |
GCE A & AS level and all other level 3 general qualifications |
Jun 26 |
Restricted release of results to centres |
13 Aug 26 |
GCE A & AS level and all other level 3 general qualifications |
Jun 26 |
Release of results to candidates |
19 Aug 26 |
GCSE, International GCSE and all other level 1 & 2 general qualifications |
Jun 26 |
Restricted release of results to centres |
20 Aug 26 |
GCSE, International GCSE and all other level 1 & 2 general qualifications |
Jun 26 |
Release of results to candidates |
Visit our Key dates page for all the key dates you need
You can also take a look at our interactive Qualifications Key Dates Calendar. It can also be downloaded and syncronised seamlessly with your own personal calendar, such as MS Outlook.
Results weeks key timeline
The next two weeks sees the release of both Level 2 and Level 3 General Qualifications results.
Results should not be issued to candidates until 08:00am (BST) on 13 or 20 August depending on the qualification. Please refer to the tables below for a final reminder of what’s happening and when.
Level 3 Qualifications
AS/A level inc, AEA, International AS/A level, Edexcel Award, Level 3 Extended Project (EPQ), Mathematics in Context.
Date |
Time |
Details |
|---|---|---|
|
00:01am |
Electronic (EDI) results released to centres via A2C |
04.00am |
Electronic results will be available for centres on Edexcel Online (EOL)
Grade boundaries will be available for Exams Officer's to download via EOL |
|
06.00am |
Statement of Results and Broadsheet reports uploaded to Exams Officer's EOL mailboxes |
|
|
06:00am |
ResultsPlus available to centres |
08.00am |
Grade boundaries published and UMS calculator available on our website |
|
08:00am |
Post Results system available to centres on Edexcel Online |
|
08:00am |
Results can be released to students |
|
09:00am |
ResultsPlus Direct available to students |
Understanding your centre’s results
There’s plenty of support to help you understand your students’ results – and as always, we’re here to help with post-results services and any questions you might have.
Take a look at our handy guide that walks you through how to understand your students’ grades and what to do if something doesn’t look quite right. It covers how to use ResultsPlus for a detailed breakdown of results and Access to Scripts to view marked exam papers.
Understanding your students’ results - a guide to our post-results services
We also recommend taking a look at Ofqual’s Understanding Grading Toolkit – it’s packed with clear explanations and answers to common questions like:
- How are exam papers marked?
- How are grade boundaries set?
- How does the quality of a student’s work affect their grade?
Ofqual’s Understanding grading: toolkit for schools and colleges
Grade Boundaries
Grade boundary information will be available to download via Edexcel Online (EOL) on 12 August (AS/A level) and 19 August (GCSE/International GCSE).
Grade boundary documents must be treated as secure and confidential information. They must not be published or distributed wider than to Exams Office staff and the Head of Centre until Thursday 13 August and Thursday 20 August, when grade boundaries and results are available to students and teachers on our website. This ensures there is no undue anxiety to learners prior to the issue of results.
As a reminder, we publish both grade boundaries and notional component grade boundaries for each qualification. The notional component grade boundaries can be useful as an indicator of grade performance when, for example, an examination paper is used as a future mock examination. There is an explanation of how grade boundaries and notional component grade boundaries and scaling work at the start of each notional component grade boundary document. It is useful to review these when considering applying for a review of marking and moderation.
To help centres understand grade boundaries for 2026 we’ve produced a short guide explaining the approach to grade boundaries that all exam boards will be taking for 2026.
Results support for students, parents and carers
Understanding results and grades
Our Understanding results and grades: a guide for students, parents and carers provides helpful information for students about results day including understanding results, grades and grade boundaries, plus where to find further support.
We also have a dedicated results support page for students, parents and carers where they’ll find all the information they need to help them understand their results.
The Joint Council for Qualifications has also produced information to help students review their options after they've received their grades.
Please do pass this important information on to students, parents and carers.
Exams Officer support
To help your results day go smoothly, please take a look at our Essential Information EO Support: Results Days 2026 that provides detailed guidance and links to further support to help resolve general issues.
Explore the Essential Information EO Support: Results Days 2026
JCQ support for results days
Please do also refer to the JCQ documentation for results day support.
JCQ Release of results: June 2026 examinations guidance
JCQ Post-results services: Information and guidance to centres
Post-results fees and key dates – Summer 2026
Please take a look at the fees for all our post-results services and our post-results key dates for summer 2026.
Fees for post-results services (from 1 August 2025 to 31 December 2026)
Should you need to raise a query with us please include the name of the product, service, system you are contacting us about in the description or subject line. For example, of you are contacting us about a priority Review of Moderation please use 'RoMM' or for a missing A level result please use 'GCE result'. This will help us prioritise any queries which are time sensitive and ensure your learners receive the outcomes they deserve.
Post-results services
ResultsPlus
ResultsPlus - our online results analysis tool can provide you with a detailed breakdown of student performance on each question at individual student, class or cohort level.
Take a closer look at ResultsPlus
Access to Scripts
Our popular Access to Scripts* service provides visibility and transparency of marking and helps to inform future teaching and learning. It also helps you make decisions about requests for Review of Marking and Moderation (RoMM) as grades can go up, down or stay the same.
You can find out more about Access to Scripts on our website, along with FAQs and a step-by-step User Guide. If a paper has been traditionally marked (not online) then these will not be available through Access to Scripts, but you can still request a free copy through the post results section of Edexcel Online.
Access to Scripts availability for Learner Work Transfer
The Access to Scripts service will be removed for most qualifications where work has been uploaded to the Learner Work Transfer portal for the summer 2026 series.
This means you will no longer have to wait for our processing team to respond to any access to script copy (ATSC) requests with the examiner’s mark breakdown to support any review of marking decisions.
From learner results day, the Learner Work Transfer portal will be available for you to view learner work previously submitted and which the examiner has based their marks on.
You can access the breakdown of marks for individual questions on the learner material via ResultsPlus.
Read more about availability of Access to Scripts and Learner Work Transfer
*This service is available for any exam paper that has been marked online. Written permission must be gained from candidates before scripts can be accessed.
Review of marking and moderation services and appeals
You can read about the review of marking and moderation (RoMM) services available to you, alongside our information on post-results deadlines.
We also have a guide to applying for post-results services on our support portal which includes a video walk-through of requesting a post results service.
Read the guide to Post-results services (PRS): Hows to Apply
If you need to consider making an appeal after you've received the outcome of a post-results service, you can view our guide to making an appeal on the support portal.
Post-results services: Appeals
Subject updates for September teaching
History - AS and A level History specification amendments
We've made some minor amendments to the Edexcel GCE AS and A level History specifications for first teaching from September 2026.
The updated specifications are now available on our website:
- Issue 4 of the A level History specification
- Issue 5 of the AS level History specification
You'll find a summary of all changes at the start of each specification, making it easier to see what has been updated and whether it affects your planning and delivery.
Read the full details in the June History update
Politics - AS and A level Politics specification amendments
We've made some minor amendments to the Edexcel GCE AS and A level Politics specifications for first teaching from September 2026, with first assessment in June 2027 for AS level and June 2028 for A level.
The updated specifications are now available on our website:
- Issue 4 of the A level Politics specification
- Issue 3 of the AS level Politics specification
You'll find a summary of the changes at the start of each specification, so you can quickly review what's changed and whether it affects your planning and delivery.
Get set for the next academic year with updates and support
Join our Pearson Edexcel Facebook group to stay up to date and get the support you need for your centre.
In the group, you can:
- see key updates from the Pearson General Qualifications Bulletin
- access support materials for students, parents and carers
- find examiner recruitment opportunities
- connect with other centres and share ideas
Join our Pearson Edexcel Facebook Group today
Looking for subject-specific support?
You can also join your Pearson Edexcel subject group. Go to the Pearson Facebook page, select About, then choose Groups to find the right one for your subject.