A total 10 staff were also warned for exam cheating

Hundreds of students were caught cheating in GCSE, AS-, and A-level exams in Wales last year. Fifteen students cheated mulriple times. Some had their exam paper failed for cheating while others were marked down.

A further 10 penalties were issued to 10 individual members of school or college staff for exam maladministration or security breaches, a report from exam watchdog Qualifications Wales shows..

Candidates cheated in a variety of ways including using mobile phones and smartwatches in exams, misuse of AI, plagiarism, copying, and taking in notes and calculators. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.

Mobile phone and smartphone use was the most common form of exam cheating in summer 2025, making up 42% of cases, and most cheating was in GCSEs.

A total of 240 penalties were issued to 210 individual students, 220 of which were for GCSE cheating.

The data showed approximately one penalty was issued for every 4,600 entries in summer 2025 with penalties issued falling by 13% compared to 275 in 2024.

While GCSEs made up 84% of total exam entries 92.9% of all cheating penalties issued were related to GCSEs.

A total 42.% of exam penalties were issued to students taking a mobile phone or smartphone into the exam room – up from 34.2% in 2024.

Disruptive behaviour was the second-most-common reason for exam malpractice (18.9%) followed by candidates communicating with others during an exam.

The third-most-common reason for students caught breaking exam rules was bringing in notes and calculators and other “unauthorised materials”. As of 2022 this category also includes watches, except for smartwatches, following the ban on watches in exam rooms from September 2021.

Smartwatches are included in the ‘mobile phones’ category.

Failure to follow exam conditions and other unspecified reasons are also listed. The ‘all other reasons’ category includes reasons such as plagiarism (including misuse of AI), collusion, and copying.

Most of the 210 students who were caught out and slapped with a penalty committed one offence and received a single penalty but 15 committed more than one exam offence and received multiple penalties.

As in 2022, 2023, and 2024 loss of marks was the most common penalty issued to candidates for cheating in summer 2025.

In total 120 loss of marks penalties were issued, making up just over half of all penalties, with a further 75 “warnings” handed out, which was more than in 2024.

A total of 40 penalties issued resulted in a student losing a certification or aggregation opportunity in 2025, down from 65 in 2024. Details of exact marks, grades, and exams lost are not detailed in the report.

Cheating, also listed as “malpractice”, was also committed by schools, colleges, and members of their staff. In summer 2025 in Wales 10 penalties were slapped on 10 individual members of school or college staff for exam malpractice.

Examples of this type of malpractice include failing to keep exam material secure before an exam, providing “improper assistance to candidates”, and maladministration, the report says.

This can also include failure of staff to stick to the regulations of controlled assessments, coursework, exams and non-exam assessments, or malpractice in the conduct of exams/assessments and/or the handling of documents such as exam question papers, candidate scripts, and mark sheets, the report explains. In any of these cases penalties can be applied against a school or college and/or members of school or college staff.

Most staff who committed an offence received a single penalty with the most common staff malpractice offence being listed as “maladministration” and the most common penalty a written warning.

Being caught cheating is still rare compared to the vast number of exam units sat. Penalties to students in GCSEs, AS-, and A-levels in Wales in summer 2025 represent 0.022% of entries or around one penalty for every 4,600 entries. This is a lower rate than in 2024 when there was approximately one penalty per 4,000 entries, the Qualifications Wales report shows.

Looking at AS- and A-levels alone, where there were far fewer cheats caught, there was approximately one penalty issued for every 10,300 entries.

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