Coronavirus: IGCSEs and A levels now cancelled worldwide

The British examination board Pearson Edexcel International announced on Wednesday that its international exams would not go ahead as planned this summer.

This will affect hundreds of students at private schools in Cyprus who were due to take their IGCSEs, AS levels and A levels this year.

“We will use a robust approach based on teacher assessment for International GCSE and International AS/A level assessment in May/June 2021 and exams will not go ahead as planned,” the exam board posted on their website on Wednesday.

The UK had announced early in January that British GCSEs and A levels would be cancelled, but the international exam boards initially said their exams would still go ahead.

The change of heart on Wednesday came after they had spoken to many schools around the world and consulted all options, Pearson said.

“These included having exams in some countries and teacher assessment in others. Given the ongoing uncertainty, we feel that this could not be done fairly and would risk unintentionally disadvantaging individual students.”

Cambridge exam board has not yet announced whether its international exams will now also be cancelled.

This will be the second year in a row that grades are awarded based on teacher assessments due to the pandemic.