Edexcel GCSE Music: November 2021 update

Summer 2022

Contingency arrangements

The Department for Education and Ofqual have decided as a matter of policy that although the government is firmly committed to exams going ahead in summer 2022, there needs to be a contingency plan in place for the unlikely event that exams have to be cancelled again because of the pandemic. If exams have to be cancelled in summer 2022, students’ grades would instead be determined by their teachers, using a Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs) approach similar to that used in summer 2021.

Ofqual has published guidance for teachers on how they should collect evidence of student performance which could be used towards a TAG in the unlikely event that exams are cancelled next summer. Teachers must not attempt to determine TAGs unless exams are cancelled.

I have created an update giving more in depth detail of the plans for the contingency arrangements and what you, as a teacher, need to arrange.

Read the contingency arrangements update 

Autumn 2021 series

The additional autumn exam series is currently taking place and you may have some candidates sitting the exam on 29 November 2021. Results for this series will be released to centres on 23 February 2022 with results being issued to students on 24 February 2022.

The exam paper and resource booklet will be released online with the audio on 14 December 2021 and the mark scheme will be published on 18 January 2022.

Mocks service questionnaire

The Mocks Service provides schools and colleges with Pearson Edexcel GCSE and A level exam papers for use in mock examinations. The papers are sat by students, marked by Pearson examiners and the mock results are uploaded to ResultsPlus for item level analysis. 

This isn't available for GCSE Music yet but to gauge interest in using the service it would be appreciated if you could complete a short questionnaire:

Complete the Mocks Service Questionnaire

Key dates