London, August 18 (RHC)-- Following increasing criticism, England's school examinations regulator admitted it had made a mistake with the way it awarded grades to school students after their exams were cancelled due to COVID-19.

Roger Taylor, chair of the Ofqual exam board regulator, said the body had taken "the wrong road" and had to change course as he offered an apology to students and to schools.

Outrage among students grew after Ofqual used an algorithm to assess grade predictions made by teachers, and lowered those grades for almost 40 percent of students taking their main school-leaving exams.  According to a new methodology, grades will now be based on teachers' assessments instead.