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Official Statistics
Special consideration in
GCSE, AS and A level:
summer 2025 exam series
Published 20 November 2025
Applies to England
  
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Special consideration in GCSE, AS and A level: summer 2025 exam series
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This release provides information on special consideration for
GCSE, AS and A levels for the summer 2025 exam series.
There are 2 categories of special consideration included in this
report: mark adjustments and qualification awards. Mark
adjustments are for students who were present for the
assessment but who might not have been able to demonstrate
their ability due to exceptional circumstances occurring at the
time of their assessment. Qualification awards are for students
who were absent from the assessment for reasons which meet
JCQ’s eligibility criteria. To be eligible for special consideration,
students must have been fully prepared for the assessment and
have covered the whole course.
The total number of applications for individuals and groups is not
the same as the total number of special consideration requests.
Special consideration applications are made by schools and
colleges to exam boards, usually after an assessment has taken
place. Each request specifies the students and components it
covers. A single request relates to one student and a specific
component. In cases where a group of students has been
affected by the same issue (for example, a fire alarm during an
exam), a group application can cover all students and any
components affected by the issue.
This release only includes special consideration given in the
form of mark adjustments and qualification awards. Special
consideration given in the form of an adjustment to the way an
assessment is taken, is reported separately in our statistics on
access arrangements.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to the cancellation of
exams in summer 2020 and summer 2021. As a result, there
were no special consideration requests for those series. Exams
and assessments resumed in summer 2022. Therefore, this
report contains information on special consideration for the
summer 2022 to summer 2025 series.
Only full-course GCSEs are included in the special
Contents
Key headlines
Provide your feedback
Special consideration
requests
Special consideration
requests for external
and internal
assessments
Special consideration
requests by subject
Special consideration
applications for
individuals and groups
Categories of special
consideration
Approved special
consideration requests
for mark adjustments
by tariff
Contextual Information
consideration and qualification results figures, in addition to AS
and A levels. In previous releases of these statistics, short-
course GCSEs were also included but these have now been
removed. This has meant that some historical figures have
changed to a small degree compared to previous releases.
Key headlines
1. In summer 2025, 168,245 individual students had at least 1
special consideration request approved. This represents
12.2% of the overall 1,376,480 GCSE, AS and A level
students with results issued in summer 2025. This is similar to
summer 2024 where 13.1% of the overall 1,349,260 GCSE,
AS and A level students had at least 1 special consideration
request approved (176,115).
2. In summer 2025, there were 725,115 GCSE, AS and A level
special consideration requests, which is similar to 2024
(721,830 special consideration requests). For context there
were 17.1 million GCSE, AS and A level scripts and non-
exam assessments marked in summer 2025 and 16.7 million
marked in summer 2024.
3. The majority of special consideration requests (96.1%) were
approved, similar to summer 2024 (95.1%).
4. Most approved requests in summer 2025 were for mark
adjustments (96.1%) rather than qualification awards (3.9%).
This is similar to summer 2024 where mark adjustments and
qualification awards constituted 95.2% and 4.8% of approved
requests respectively.
Provide your feedback
We welcome your feedback on our publications. If you
have any comments on this statistical release, or how to
improve it to meet your needs, complete our short survey
or data.analytics@ofqual.gov.uk.
Special consideration requests
There were 725,115 special consideration requests for GCSE,
AS and A level in summer 2025, which is similar to summer
2024 (721,830 requests). Out of all special consideration
requests in summer 2025, 96.1% were approved (696,655),
similar to the proportion of requests approved in summer 2024
(95.1%).
The number of special consideration requests may be affected
by the total number of scripts and non-exam assessments
marked in a summer series. In summer 2025 there were 17.1
million GCSE, AS and A level scripts and non-exam
assessments marked, an increase of 2.1% from summer 2024
(16.7 million).
In summer 2025, 168,245 individual students had at least 1
special consideration request approved. This represents 12.2%
of the overall 1,376,480 GCSE, AS and A level students with
results issued in summer 2025. This is similar to summer 2024
where 13.1% of the overall 1,349,260 GCSE, AS and A level
students had at least 1 special consideration request approved
(176,115). Note that in this release ‘results issued’ refers to
passing grades, Unclassified (U) as well as outcomes
representing the absence of a result (Q, X) as these may still
have had components with special consideration requests
approved.
Table 1. Special consideration requests and approvals
between summer 2022 and summer 2025
Special
Consideration
Level 2022 2023 2024 2025
requests
Requests
made
AS
and A
level
122,500 139,170 140,860 139,745
Requests
made
GCSE 464,605 560,410 580,970 585,375
Requests
made
Total 587,105 699,580 721,830 725,115
Requests
approved
AS
and A
level
116,475 133,575 134,680 134,290
Requests
approved
GCSE 434,850 531,700 551,915 562,365
Requests
approved
Total 551,325 665,275 686,595 696,655
Special consideration requests
for external and internal
assessments
Requests relating to internal assessments (non-exam
assessments) represent a small proportion of the total number
of requests. In summer 2025, 1.3% of requests were for internal
assessments (9,125 requests) and 98.7% of requests were for
external assessments (715,990 requests). The proportions of
requests were similar to 2024, where 1.5% of requests were for
internal assessments (11,120 requests) and 98.5% were for
external assessments (710,710 requests).
Table 2. Special consideration requests for external and
internal assessments from summer 2022 to summer 2025
Assessment type 2022 2023 2024 2025
External 581,225 688,190 710,710 715,990
Internal 5,880 11,395 11,120 9,125
Special consideration requests
by subject
The charts in this section present 2 sets of data by subject:
special consideration requests at component level and the
number of qualification results issued.
Note, in this release ‘results issued’ refers to passing grades,
Unclassified (U) as well as outcomes representing the absence
of a result (Q, X) as these may still have had components with
special consideration requested.
The qualification results issued chart is provided to show the
relative size of subjects according to result volumes. Typically,
we would anticipate a relationship between the number of
special consideration requests and the number of qualification
results. However, because special consideration requests are at
component level, subjects that include more components may
also have more special consideration requests. It is, therefore,
not appropriate to calculate proportions between the number of
special consideration requests at component level and total
results issued at qualification level. We are currently exploring
ways in which we can improve our presentation of these figures,
to allow for more direct comparisons.
 Note: for reasons explained above, it is not appropriate to
calculate proportions between the number of special
consideration requests at component level and total results
issued at qualification level.
Table 3. AS and A level subjects with the highest number
of special consideration requests made in summer 2025
and the number of qualification results issued
Subject Number of requests
(component level)
Total results issued
(qualification level)
Mathematics 19,010 112,230
Biology 13,530 69,905
Psychology 13,005 77,735
Chemistry 11,140 63,275
Physics 8,635 44,725
History 7,250 42,660
Sociology 7,145 45,230
Economics 7,105 43,975
English
literature
6,725 36,285
Business
studies
6,350 44,220
For AS and A level, the subjects with the most special
consideration requests were generally those with the largest
number of qualification results issued. Figures for all subjects
can be found in the accompanying data tables.
Note 1: for reasons explained above, it is not appropriate to
calculate proportions between the number of special
consideration requests at component level and total results
issued at qualification level.
Note 2: results for GCSE combined science are double-counted
in this release, because the qualification is the size of 2 single
GCSEs.
Table 4. GCSE subjects with the highest number of
requests made in summer 2025 with number of
qualification certifications
Subject Number of requests
(component level)
Total results issued
(qualification level)
Combined
science
122,930 934,125
Mathematics 88,655 851,435
English 62,225 823,905
language
English
literature
54,530 613,250
History 41,655 291,940
Geography 37,135 290,420
Religious
studies
23,045 218,965
Spanish 20,885 131,055
French 19,700 127,405
Biology 14,125 171,170
Similar to AS and A level, for GCSE the subjects with the most
special consideration requests were those with the largest
number of qualification results issued. Figures for all subjects
can be found in the accompanying data tables.
Special consideration
applications for individuals and
groups
According to JCQ guidelines, special consideration applications
can be made either on an individual or group basis. An individual
application involves just one student but can relate to one or
more assessment components. In cases where a group of
students has been affected by the same issue (for example, a
fire alarm during an exam), a group application can cover all
students and any components affected by the issue.
The total number of applications for individuals and groups is not
the same as the total number of special consideration requests.
For instance, a group application can represent more than a
hundred requests, because requests are counted at individual
student and component level.
Table 5 shows the percentage of applications relating to
individuals or groups as a percentage of all special
consideration applications.
Table 5. Percentage of special consideration applications
relating to individuals or groups from summer 2022 to
summer 2025
Application type 2022 2023 2024 2025
Individual 97.0% 96.2% 96.8% 96.6%
Group 3.0% 3.8% 3.2% 3.4%
Table 6 gives a breakdown of group applications in summer
2025 by number of students in the group. For instance, 25.9%
of group applications included between 2 and 5 students.
Table 6. Percentage of group applications in summer 2025
by size of group application
Size of group
application
Percentage of all
applications
Percentage of group
applications
2 to 5 0.9% 25.9%
6 to 10 0.7% 20.2%
11 to 20 0.7% 20.9%
21 to 50 0.6% 18.5%
51 to 100 0.3% 9.3%
101 to 200 0.2% 4.5%
more than 200 less than 0.1% 0.6%
Categories of special
consideration
There are 2 categories of special consideration included in this
report: mark adjustments and qualification awards. Mark
adjustments are for students who were present for the
assessment but who might not have been able to demonstrate
their ability due to exceptional circumstances occurring at the
time of their assessment. Qualification awards are for students
who were absent from the assessment for reasons which meet
JCQ’s eligibility criteria.
Most approved requests in summer 2025 were for mark
adjustments (96.1%) rather than qualification awards (3.9%),
similar to summer 2024 (where mark adjustments and
qualification awards constituted 95.2% and 4.8% of approved
requests respectively).
Table 7. Approved requests for mark adjustments and
qualification awards from summer 2022 to summer 2025
Special
consideration type
2022 2023 2024 2025
Number of approved 501,245 632,460 653,550 669,470
requests for mark
adjustments
Number of approved
requests for
qualification awards
50,080 32,810 33,045 27,185
Approved special consideration
requests for mark adjustments
by tariff
The guidelines published by JCQ allow for percentage
adjustments to the mark given for a student’s work according to
a tariff of up to 5% of the maximum raw mark of a component.
Mark adjustments in summer 2025 were most frequently made
at the 3% tariff (30.2% of mark adjustments), compared with
summer 2024 where mark adjustments were most frequently
made at the 4% tariff (28.4% of mark adjustments).
Table 8 shows the percentage of mark adjustments by tariff.
Table 8. Percentage of mark adjustments by tariff from
summer 2022 to summer 2025
Mark
adjustment
tariff
Percentage
of mark
adjustments
in 2022
Percentage
of mark
adjustments
in 2023
Percentage
of mark
adjustments
in 2024
Percentage
of mark
adjustments
0% less than 0.1 less than 0.1 less than 0.1
1% 16.2 13.3 15.1
2% 24.4 27.0 22.5
3% 26.8 28.0 28.1
4% 24.0 26.2 28.4
5% 8.6 5.5 5.9
More information on the 0% tariff can be found in the
accompanying background notes.
Contextual Information
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), a membership
organisation of 8 providers of qualifications, including the 4
exam boards offering GCSE, AS and A levels in England,
publishes guidelines and procedures on special consideration.
There may be small changes year-on-year to this document that
reflect the procedures in place for a particular exam series.
Special consideration applications are made by schools and
colleges to exam boards, usually after an assessment has taken
place. Requests specify which students and which components
the application is for. In cases where a group of students has
been affected by the same issue (for example, a fire alarm
during an exam), a group application can cover all students and
any components affected by the issue.
To ensure confidentiality, the data in this report has been
rounded in line with Ofqual’s rounding policy. Where data is
presented by qualification level, AS and A level have been
combined.
Further information on this release is available in the background
information and data tables accompanying this report.
Head of profession: Ben Cuff
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