All A-level students can do is wait as crisis deepens

The sheer scale of the A-level downgrading scandal, revealed yesterday, will deal yet another blow to public confidence in what was once seen as a "gold standard" exam.

The call for more than 300,000 A-level papers to be reviewed because of suspicions of unfair grading adds to schools' existing concerns about what goes on behind closed doors during the examining process.

The final figures, produced by Mike Tomlinson, chairman of the inquiry into the fiasco, show that the problem – affecting 304,205 papers across 31 qualifications – is far bigger than anybody had imagined.

Staggeringly, 104 of the 1,438 A-level or AS-level units sat this summer will be included in the review. This means that the results of almost 10 per cent of this summer's papers are to be investigated to see if students have been downgraded.

In addition, the exam board at the centre of the fiasco, the Oxford and Cambridge and RSA (OCR) board, has agreed to review grades in all units of its English literature and psychology exams because of the huge number of complaints concerning these exam papers. This will involve a further 136,558 entries.

But the students and the universities were none the wiser yesterday about exactly how they would be affected.

Mr Tomlinson was unable to say exactly how many students would be affected. But his announcement reveals that his estimate of the extent of the problem has more than doubled since Friday, when he published his first report into the crisis. Then, he predicted that the debacle would require the review of exams in about 12 subjects. But the reality appears to be far more serious.

The country's three main exam boards are named in Mr Tomlinson's latest recommendations and will have to review some of their grade boundary decisions.

Although the OCR will bear the brunt of the massive re-grading exercise, Britain's two largest boards, the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) and Edexcel will also have to review some of the grades awarded this summer.

Edexcel said it expected about 250 students to be affected while AQA said the maximum would be "just over 300". OCR could not confirm how many candidates would have their grades reviewed.

In his report on Friday, Mr Tomlinson confirmed what schools, students and parents had been claiming for weeks – that some of this summer's exams had their grade boundaries changed at the 11th hour.

The accusations have always centred around OCR and evidence submitted to Mr Tomlinson's inquiry showed that 423 of the grade boundaries originally recommended by examiners were altered at a later stage.

At least 80 of these changes are believed to have involved significant adjustments – of between eight and 13 marks – on papers.

Yesterday's announcement follows two days of discussions with the exam boards. The boards have identified every individual exam – or unit, where six units make up a full A-level – where the chief executives of the boards intervened to move the boundaries recommended by their chief examiners by more than the historical average this year.

The intervention of the chief executives is a normal part of the grade-setting process, but this year their changes were, in 104 cases, significantly larger than had been the case for A-levels over the previous five years.

Students who fear they have been downgraded are being told not to get their hopes up. The review could result in no change to grade boundaries if the re-grading panel upholds the chief executives' original decision. The upgrading of a single unit might not be enough to raise the overall grade of an A-level or AS-level exam.

The message to parents of students that might be affected is to "sit tight". Addressing them, Mr Tomlinson said: "I can only imagine how difficult a period it has been for you. Sit tight and wait until this process is over. I am seeking to ensure that your son or your daughter gets their just desserts in the sense of getting the grade their work this summer deserves."

Unfortunately, yesterday's announcement has done little to clarify the situation for students or universities potentially affected by the re-grading.

Furthermore, it has extended their agonising wait by pushing back the deadline for the boards to deliver the new grades, by four days to 15 October. Universities UK, which represents university leaders, said: "We still don't know the scale of the problem or how many students might be involved. Our advice for students remains to wait until they hear the revised results before contacting the universities."

Any student who is upgraded will have their new grades passed to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Ucas will then notify the students and universities to which they applied and advise students of their options.

Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education, has guaranteed that no students will have their grades reduced. She has also pledged to make extra funding available so that no university loses out because of student movement. But Ms Morris clearly hopes that many students who have already settled into second-choice institutions will choose to stay there.

If a student is upgraded and finds that they have A-level grades qualifying them for their first-choice course, it will be up to them to approach that university and ask for a place.

Ucas expects that most courses will be full and says the prevailing advice has been that students wanting to switch courses will have to take a year off.

The scale of the problem will prompt renewed calls for ministers to shoulder the blame for the shambolic introduction of the new-style A-level system and to ensure that such a fiasco never happens again. The question is whether the second stage of Mr Tomlinson's investigation can restore confidence in the A-level system in time for next year's exams.

The subjects affected

AQA

Two units will be regraded, one each in English literature and French (language A).

Edexcel

Five individual units, one in each of the following subjects: Arabic, French, modern Greek, ICT and Spanish.

OCR

97 individual units drawn from the following subjects: accounting, art, chemistry A, classical Greek, computing, economics, electronics, French, geography A, geography B, German, government and politics, history, ICT, Latin, media studies, music, physical education, physics B, religious education, science and Spanish. OCR has also agreed to also regrade all units in English literature and psychology in the light of the concerns that have been expressed by schools about the marking of these exams.