Learner's GCSE and A-level exams will be graded more generously this year as compared to pre-pandemic years owing to the disruptions caused by COVID-19.

National exams are going ahead this year across the UK, for the first time since the pandemic began.

Grade boundaries are likely to be lower than in previous years, England's exams regulator Ofqual says. But it does not expect grade inflation from last year.

It comes as details of exam content are released to help pupils revise with exceptions to English literature, history, ancient history, geography and art and design.

The exam details will not be given with the intention of reducing the amount of content taught but to help both teachers and students prepare and focus their revision.

School leaders' union NAHT said the material will not be a simple list of what will appear in the exam and won't include specific details to allow answers to be prepared or memorised.

"The information is more complex, covers only high tariff questions and might relate to only a particular exam paper or section of it, with different approaches between specifications and subjects," senior policy advisor Sarah Hannafin said.

For text-based subjects such as English Language, the material may include basic information such as the genre or period that an unseen text relates to.

Students for subjects that are assessed through coursework, such as art and design, will not be given pointers.

In GCSE maths and combined science and physics, pupils will be given equation sheets to reduce the number of equations they need to memorise.

The news was welcomed by Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi who said it will allow students a fair chance to demonstrate their knowledge.

Generous grading

However, the NEC teaching union, which called for the release of advanced information at the start of the academic year in September, said the change had come "too late" and would put additional pressure on students.

"If one of the topics you see on the list today is one you couldn't cover at all or in as much depth through no fault of your own, due to Covid-related disruption, what do you do now?" General Secretary Mary Bousted asked.

An Ofqual spokesperson however noted that this will be offset by generous grading.

"As well as the other adaptations discussed in the Joint Council for Qualifications technical briefing today, there will be generous grading", he said.

"This will be delivered after marking is complete and when senior examiners set grade boundaries. It is likely to mean grade boundaries will be a little lower than they might have been in a normal year, but grade boundaries are never set in advance, and so we cannot be precise at this point in the year."