The Education Blog

1st March, 2022

Key changes to 2022 exams: How you can support your teenager

What are the key changes to exams this year?

Following the government announcement on 7th February 2022, the key updates are:

• Exams are set to go ahead, unless there are exceptional circumstances which would make it unsafe to take exams and assessments in person.
• Advance information will vary between exam boards and subjects. Use this matrix to find the relevant information for your teenager’s subjects by exam board.
• Advance information mainly impacts subjects with paper-based examination assessments, such as humanities and maths. Subjects assessed solely through coursework, such as Art, will not feature advanced information.

What do the changes mean for 2022 exams?

• Advance information has been provided to help students focus and weight their revision.
• Overall, there won’t be any major structural changes to the exams themselves, and the exam format will remain more or less the same as in previous years.
• All the advance information documents include a recommendation from the exam boards to cover as much of the syllabus as possible. Topics not explicitly given in the advance information may still appear in some form in the exam.
• Ofqual, the exam regulator, has said that grade boundaries will likely be lower than previous exam years, set roughly between pre-pandemic boundary levels in 2019 and Teacher Assessed Grades in 2021. For example, last year, 45% of grades awarded were A*/A, up from 18.4% in 2019. This summer, exam boards will aim for 31% A*/A.

How to use advance information to help your teenager

Encourage your teenager to:

• Familiarise themselves with the advance information topic lists, to help guide their revision.
• Build a robust and achievable revision plan.
• Study mark schemes to understand what examiners will be looking for.
• Complete past papers and carefully review them against the mark scheme.
• Avoid excessive revision for any specific topic mentioned on the advance information list or relying solely on the topics provided in the guidance.

Wellbeing and revision

After two years of disruption, we know that the approach to exams this year will feel more daunting than usual. Take a look at these top tips from Performance Coach Pepita on getting your teenager in the right frame of mind for revision success.

If your teenager is struggling with balancing their revision and wellbeing, we are here to help. Our dedicated Head of Wellbeing, Chloe, is available for consultations to support students in the run up to exams.

How can Enjoy Education support?

Our dedicated tutors can support your teenager in the run up to exams with:

• Subject specific tuition: Identifying and tackling learning gaps
• Easter revision planning: Timetable preparation and time management
• Executive skills: Developing effective organisation and revision skills
• Performance coaching: Enhancing confidence and building effective learning strategies for success

Don’t forget to book your free 30-minute Post-Mock Consultation with one of our experienced consultants here

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Supporting teenagers to thrive post-mocks

Performance Coach Pepita shares her advice for supporting your teen following mock exams

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