This Ofqual analysis shows that there is no evidence that the system for awarding GCSEs and A-levels this year systematically disadvantaged poorer pupils or those with protected characteristics.
But 6,300 GCSE entries, most of them from private schools, may have received “disproportionately overestimated grades”, the exams regulator said.
The analyses aimed to examine “concerns” that the system used this year could have introduced new inequalities, or affected pre-existing ones.
It concluded that there was “no evidence that either the calculated grades or the final grades awarded this year were systematically biased against candidates with protected characteristics or from disadvantaged backgrounds”.
Exams were cancelled this year after schools closed to all but the most vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers in March.