There’s nothing unfair about the way A-level results will be decided

This time tomorrow, I will be one of the hundreds of thousands of A-Level students across the country receiving their results. The hastily set-up grade allocation system – which will use an algorithm based on a pupil’s predicted and past grades, as well as a school’s recent exam history to give results – has generated a predictable amount of anger. But this frustration is misplaced. Even as a student from a comprehensive school, the type of school thought to be most disadvantaged by this method of allocating results, the chosen approach is the best we can hope for in these circumstances.

After all, in the absence of exams what are the alternatives? One popular suggestion is that instead of teacher-given grades being standardised in line with previous years, whatever grades teachers have said their students will get, however high, should be awarded as they are. The issue, of course, is that many teachers have been fairly lenient with the grading, which is why there have been warnings that Ofqual, the body in charge of issuing grades, is likely to lower these initial marks across the board.