Updated 23 November

On 10 November the Welsh Education Minister, Kirsty Williams, announced that there would be no exams for GCSE, AS and A Level students next summer. This followed an announcement on 7 October from the Scottish Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, that National 5 exams would not take place in 2021. The English and Northern Irish Governments remain committed to a full programme of exams next summer, with some modifications to subject content.

England

Changes to course requirements mostly affect the performing and composing components. There are no changes to written exams.

More information on:

AQA GCSE Music
AQA AS Music
AQA A Level Music

Edexcel GCSE Music
Edexcel AS/A Level Music
Edexcel AS/A Level Music Technology

OCR GCSE Music
OCR AS Level Music
OCR A Level Music

Northern Ireland

GCSE and AS/A Level exams will continue as planned for summer 2021. There are some changes to the specification for this year only.

The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) have made adaptations for GCSE Music in the performing and appraising and composing components. The external written exam (Component 3: listening and appraising) remains unchanged.

The CCEA adaptations for AS and A Level Music affect the performance and composition components of the qualifications but the ‘Responding to Music’ exam remains unchanged for both.

Scotland

National 5 courses will be based on teacher/lecturer estimates. Pupils will not be required to take exams and SQA will not assess coursework.

Guidance for gathering evidence and producing estimates can be found on their website.

Higher and Advanced Higher exams will take place as normal with some changes to the performing and composing requirements.

Changes to Higher and Advanced Higher Music course assessment

Changes to Higher and Advance Higher Music Technology course assessment