2022 GCSE dates

[LifestyleReset]

Can anyone give me an approximate idea of when 2022 GCSE's start and end? Is results day usually mid August? Thank you!

Look to see when half term is (the week with the first may bank holiday).
Then they are usually ~ 2 weeks before half term going on to up to 3 weeks after, with a 'reserve' day after that.
Results day on a Thursday probably 25th August next year but could be 18th I guess.
Also remember there may be practical exams such as food or art of drama outside of these dates.
Plus who knows what will happen after the disruption this year and last.
(I haven't bothered to google).

And after all that I still got it wrong.
The half term is the week of the second May bank holiday, so normally the week finishing May & starting June.

Don't book a holiday until after the reserve date.
Check with school calendar for prom if desired.
Also there may well be transition days for 6th form unless staying in current school (or even if). Round here (Hants) they are usually first week in July.

Thank you!

It was holiday dates I was looking for.

I think we'll have a few days away at Easter and avoid the summer months completely.

For DD1 6 years ago we went away good Friday-Easter Monday but only to Channel islands and she was revising otherwise.
Schools have in the past run revision sessions over the Easter holidays so consider that.
Co-operative performance based subjects Dance & Drama may want DC to be around for rehearsals.
You should be fine with last 2-3 weeks in July and first fortnight in August.

I think your plan to avoid the summer months is right. The advice given above about dates is correct for a normal year but next year will not be normal.

Usually the exam boards and JCQ would have published provisional exam timetables for summer 2022 several months ago. Nothing has been published so far this year. No one knows anything for sure yet about next summer exams. Not dates, not content, not how they will run. It's just a wait and see what happens until something is decided. Which will inevitably be either too late or last minute for teachers/students/schools.

I wouldn't be goiung away at Easter though for GCSEs - that is when revision gets going and many schools have revision sessions then.

The provisional timetables will be published in Autumn so I would wait for them on the exam board websites but also factor in the catch up day.

@xyzandabc the provisional timetables haven't yet been issued because they have had to add in the additional autumn set of exams. They will be presumably published in Autumn.

I have been trying to figure out the same as doing a bit of forward planning. This is partly because I have to move a booking that fell through (son and other half got the Rona in July) to a date next year. If I moved our booking to Feb half term would that avoid mocks and not clash with when revision kicks off for the actual exams? Or is it best to avoid holidays in Spring and early Summer altogether? Your sage advice is most welcome. TIA

I would think that usually Feb half term would be safe, as schools normally do mocks either in November or January.
However next year who knows?

My personal guess is they will want to stick with exams next year:

• 3 years of TAGs will mean grades become less reliable
• any earlier is pointless and eats in to teaching time
• any later causes issues for marking & results, plus the break part way through with half term is valuable

But I'm not a teacher and have no insider knowledge, so what do I know?

You can check with individual exam boards for precise dates. Results generally last week of August. I looked up dates last year, but of course this hasn't been a regular exam year. Just be mindful that things could be thrown off course (but I really hope not).

Your dc will need to revise at Easter...

The consultation my car says they have already ruled out moving the exams later. So three weeks before half term and three weeks after will be the key periods.

Would not go in holiday in Easter - need to revise. Best to go straight after end of term or after exam reserve date if your school doesn’t do any end of term activities for year 11

For my 2 dc we went away Xmas, Feb midterm and few days around Easter.

Results day is earlier this year than usual, A Levels is usually a Thursday mid August with GCSEs a week later, this time they are both much earlier than usual. Provisional timetable did originally have GCSE results day as the Thursday before the August Bank Holiday so not much time before term start date.

I've booked our first holiday since 2019 for 11 July. I hope I did the right thing as I banked on them being over by end June......like usual

And moving our October holiday to Easter. He can learn some Spanish on our holiday 😂

DS's comp is doing pre mocks and mocks this year - so they will have three sets of exams if they all go ahead. Dec, March and the actual GCSE's, poor kids. It's going to be full on but we will have 2 or 3 days away in the UK at Easter and May half term as there's more to life and DS will need a break. We'll go abroad 2 or three times in the long summer hol, I don't care if we're away when the results come out, he can have them emailed.

@Tal45 do you mean the May half term in the middle of GCSEs?

I was thinking not going away at all until the summer but I think you're right, too much studying without a break can be counterproductive.

A short break at Easter would be good depending on the pandemic and the likelihood of getting stuck somewhere abroad.

My thoughts fwiw are that there will be a more typical timetable next year but the exams will have to be adapted because of missed schooling.

GCSE Results days next year should be Thursday 18 August but if the choice is made to put A levels and GCSEs all in 1 week again it could be Thursday 1 1August. The final decision has not been made.

Choosing to go away in Easter has proved problematical in previous years. In April 2010 a relatively small Volcano in Iceland erupted causing carnage to air travel all over Europe. I had students who couldn't get home for the early exams in April/May such a Speaking exams for MFL subjects and Art, Drama, Dance Practical's. The chances of something like this happening again are probably slim but I wouldn't chance it.

As for exam dates they should be from Monday 16 May to Friday 17 June but the reserved days (know officially as contingency days) have not be set yet.

I do hope some of this may help

Willing to risk a volcano here. Only practical is cooking and I believe that's done in spring term so can finish project and hand in. Won't go tho if Covid takes a turn for the worse and will postpone again. I think a nice week off before hard revision may be good for the soul after a tough few years school wise.

So it sounds like I would be safe in booking a long weekend away first weekend of July (1st to 4th)? Does that sound ok?

@IThinkIMadeItWorse

So it sounds like I would be safe in booking a long weekend away first weekend of July (1st to 4th)? Does that sound ok?

I've avoided that weekend in case it's prom but doubt my DS will want to go anyway

For those that are interested, AQA published their provisional timetable for next summer today. Scroll down to the bottom of this page for both GCSE and A-Level dates/times.

www.aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/dates-and-timetables

The exam timetable is a joint effort between all of the exam boards, to minimise clashes, so generally they will all run the same exam at the same time. EG all boards will run their Maths GCSE at the same date/time, all will run geography A-Level at the same date/time.

This is still only a provisional timetable though so it is possible that it could change and with COVID, perhaps even more likely that it will change, who knows. But it gives an idea of what dates the boards are working towards at the moment.

Other boards may also have published timetables, I haven't looked.

Dates have been confirmed today
A Levels Thursday 18 August 2022
GCSEs Thursday 25 August 2022