Debra is right that the injustices thrown up this results day are an amplification of injustices that bounce around the exam system in other years. There is always a glut of error, bias, & luck in the system, though much of it feels (or is) random enough that we accept it. https://twitter.com/debrakidd/status/1294570385078460416

I wrote last year about the problem of extraordinary circumstances and how the calculus works for kids who lose a parent, or a limb, in the months before an exam. Is their grade really a fair reflection? https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jun/18/ruthless-exam-system-where-bereavement-barely-matters-alevel-gcse

And I’ve highlighted before the problem of a deeply inequitous appeals system https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/aug/16/a-level-marking-grades-remark-schools

But, I’m also an advocate of a regulated exam system and not typically a fan of leaning back on teacher grades. Having been out in the US, which doesn’t regulate high school diploma scores, I was horrified at how this allowed systematic biases, esp racial ones.

Whenever I think long and hard about this issue - & trust me, I do a lot - I always end up feeling that exams are like democracy. They’re the worst of all systems, except for all the others. But that doesn’t mean ‘exams’ get a pass - as with democracy it’s about checks & balances

Getting rid of AS levels always seemed a silly thing, for a million reasons. Coursework is a more complicated debate but Debra highlights the arguments. I only learned recently that exams boards no longer all log predictions, which is a shame as they might have been useful.

Ultimately, there are problems with exams, and (big ones) with made-up regulated grades, just like there are problems with coursework or teacher assessment or anything else. Resolving more of them in future would be a good thing.