August 2026 Psychology subject update
Hi everyone,
Your August Psychology update is here! We have updated and collected together all the key advice and guidance for teachers supporting students on results day, and with post-results services. There's also news of 'all set for 2025-26' training events in September for GCSE, A Level and IAL teachers.
As ever, do get in touch if I might be able to help with any aspect of your teaching - follow the link below to the bottom of the page to book a Teams call with me or to get in touch via email.
Best wishes,
Tim Lawrence
Psychology Subject Advisor
This update includes:
- Key dates
- Results day support: key information on post-results services and other sources of support.
- Training and professional development: 'all set...' events in September exam feedback training in November.
- FAQs from psychology teachers
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1 August | The 2025 exam materials will be unpadlocked* |
| 13 August | Results Day for A levels and IAL |
| 18 August | A level and IAL examiners' reports released |
| 20 August | Results Day for GCSE |
| 25 August | GCSE examiners' reports released |
| 21 September | GCSE Psychology 'All Set for 2026-27' training 4pm |
| 23 September | IAL Psychology 'All Set for 2026-27' training 12pm |
| 23 September | A Level Psychology 'All Set for 2026-27' training 4pm |
*June 2026 exam papers and mark schemes are available now as locked exam materials on the qualification web pages.
Final exam timetables for the summer 2027 exam series are available on our webpage linked below.
We have collected together all the key advice and guidance for teachers regarding results day and the post-results services available (including 'access to scripts' and the Review of Marking and Moderation service) on the page linked below.
In September we will repeat the 'All set...' events that we ran in 2025. These are free, online training sessions consisting of a presentation of around 40 minutes focused on useful resources available on the website and reminders of key guidance around course delivery, followed by a Q&A. The aim is to get teachers ready for the year ahead, and last year feedback from experienced and new teachers was very positive. These sessions will not give detailed feedback on the May/June 2026 exam series (see below regarding that) but will cover recurring themes from recent examiner reports. The dates and tmes are:
- GCSE Psychology - Monday 21 September 16.00-17.00 UK time
- IAL Psychology - Wednesday 23 September 12.00-13.00 UK time
- UK A Level Psychology - Wednesday 23 September 16.00-17.00 UK time
At the time of writing these events are not yet open for booking but they will be shortly via the link below.
Live, free, online exam feedback events in November are now available for booking for A Level Psychology (on 10 November) and for GCSE Psychology (on 18 November). Pre-recorded exam feedback training for IAL Psychology will also be available around this time.
Follow the link below to find out more.
The link above will also show options to access recordings of past training content, including the following playlists:
We also provide centre-based training opportunities. If this is something you would like to explore, please visit our training page below.
The UK A Leven and GCSE Psychology courses are linear qualifications. This means that any students wishing to improve their grade following results needs to re-sit all the exams, and the next opportunity will be May/June 2027. While this option is not taken by many, some students (particularly A Level students) do independently prepare, re-sit and significantly improve their grade after a gap year before going to university.
IAL Psychology is a fully modular qualification, so students have the option to re-sit any number of units in January or May/June. There is no limit to the number of times they can take a particular unit, and no time-window in which they must do so (other than the 'lifetime of the specification' - it has no end-date announced currently). A new 'cash-in' entry can be made in any exam series in which an exam is taken in the subject. This will generate a new grade and certificate, which will automatically use the best result for each unit, from the previous two attempts. This rule is to discourage students from large numbers of resits. It means that iff they resit a unit and improve their mark, there is no risk in another attempt. However if they resit and score lower, there is a risk that a third attempt could 'lose' their original mark if it fails to improve on it.
While you are always welcome to get in touch with me to share any questions or concerns, Subject Advisors cannot make any comments myself on the accuracy of marking by examiners. Our advice if you feel the mark scheme has not been fairly applied must always be to use the Review of Marking and Moderation (RoMM) process - see details on our 'results support' page linked at the top of this update. A RoMM request results in a senior examiner checking the marking of a paper. The cost is refunded if errors are identified and additional marks are awarded which lead to an increase in the candidate's grade.
Subject advisor
Tim Lawrence
Psychology and international Science
