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Nine years of GCSE grades 9 to 1

A girl in school uniform taking an exam with other students in the background

Nine years of GCSE grades 9 to 1

As we close in on the ninth summer of awarding GCSE grades 9 to 1, we can say they aren’t quite so ‘new’ any more. And yet we still see thousands of visits every month to our explainers on the …

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Be prepared: GCSE and A level exam contingency day 2019

Posted by: Julie Swan, Posted on: 25 January 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Exams
Image of diary/planner showing days by month. Red circle around 26 June with red text "GCSE and A level exam contingency day". Planner set on green/white stripey background. Take-away drink cup on top left corner

At Ofqual, and regardless of the weather, our minds are always on the summer. We’re either thinking about the summer exam series just gone or the one to come. Sometimes we’re thinking about the series after that. We’re not alone. …

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GCSE tiering decisions for summer 2019

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 15 January 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs
Image of person's hand pouring purple liquid from glass jar into another glass receptacle. Person is wearing rubber safety glove. Only their wrist is visible - they appear to be wearing an overall. Yellow metal equipment of some sort in background (image is shot so that it isn't clear exactly what this is but impression is that it is scientific equipment).

Some of you will remember the announcement we made in August 2018, that we were allowing exam boards to award an exceptional grade 3-3 on the higher tier of GCSE combined science, along with a full-width safety net grade 4-3. …

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Mobile phones in exams: behind the malpractice stats

Posted by: Hannah Bradley, Posted on: 11 January 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs
Image shows poster stuck on doorway (inference is this is the entrance to an exam). It shows the JCQ logo in the right hand corner. Below is an image of 3 mobile phones inside a red circle border, with a red line struck through them. Text below reads: No ipods, mobile phones, MP3/4 players, smartwatches. No potential technological/web enabled sources of information. Disqualification. There are 4 additional rows of text but the photo is out of focus and these words cannot be read

Penalties issued to GCSE and A level students bringing mobile phones into the exam hall increased by 22% in 2018 compared with 2017. Yet we know that Exams Officers use a range of ways to tell students about this important …

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Summer exams are an all-year-round effort

Posted by: Marcia Woods, Posted on: 7 September 2018 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Virtually all school and college staff become aware of exams in May and June, even if only because certain areas are barricaded off with signs requesting silence and consideration. The temptation may be, when those signs disappear, to ask your …

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GCSE results day: what to expect

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 20 August 2018 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs
Photo by Fabiola Peñalba on Unsplash

GCSE results will be published on Thursday. This is the second year of results for reformed GCSEs in England and this year around 90% of the results issued will be for reformed 9 to 1 GCSEs. That means many students …

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A level results day: what to expect

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 13 August 2018 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs
person writing in exercise book, mug and other papers on desk

With only a few days to go until A level results day, the wait is nearly over for students, parents and teachers everywhere. This is the third year of results for reformed AS and the second year of reformed A …

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We've got an app for that...

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 3 August 2018 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs
Photo by G. Crescoli on Unsplash

How much have GCSE maths results at school/college level varied this year? What proportion of students got at least a grade 7 in the new GCSEs in biology and chemistry and physics? What proportion of students in Warwickshire got an …

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Results for new Applied Generals

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 27 July 2018 - Categories: Vocational and technical qualifications
Photo by Štefan Štefančík on Unsplash

In just under three weeks, the first full cohort of students will get results for new Applied Generals (and some Tech level qualifications) which were reformed for teaching from 2016. These include level 3 BTECs, Cambridge Technicals and a range …

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Setting GCSE grade boundaries this summer

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 20 July 2018 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Uncategorized
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Last summer we had new 9 to 1 GCSEs in three subjects – English language, English literature and maths. This year they are joined by another 20 new GCSEs (see image below, click to enlarge). This means that many students …

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What happens after exams finish?

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 13 July 2018 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs

GCSE, AS and A level exams finished in late June, and schools and colleges are now nearing the end of term.  But what happens to students’ scripts once the exam is over? Here’s a brief guide to marking, who the …

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