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Looking ahead to AS, A level, T Level and level 3 VTQ results

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 15 August 2022 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Exams, Vocational and technical qualifications

On Thursday, over a quarter of a million students will get results for AS and A levels, new T Levels, and a range of level 3 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs). This is the first summer exam series since 2019 …

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How can you feel prepared for results day?

Posted by: Prof. Kevin Woods and Dr. Tee McCaldin, Posted on: 5 August 2022 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs
Photo of sunset with rear-view silhouette of woman sitting cross-legged in bottom right corner

When we talk about ‘exam pressure’, we often think about revising or taking exams, but feeling uncertain around results day is common too. To manage this kind of uncertainty, try to understand what might be causing it and think about …

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Reflections on the Summer Symposium

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 24 July 2020 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Exams
Young person sitting at a small desk using a pencil to write on a notepad, with a window behind them.

On Tuesday we held our annual Summer Symposium. Given the circumstances this summer, it was a webinar, meaning we could speak to many more people than usual. In relation to GCSEs, AS and A levels in England, we focused on …

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How do we achieve fairness in exams?

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 26 April 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Exams, National Reference Test
A man in a blue and white T-shirt is stood at the bottom of some steps, speaking to a woman with brown hair wearing a yellow dress and a woman with blonde hair wearing a blue dress. The blonde woman has her back to the camera while the brown-ahired woman and the man in the blue and white T-shirt are facing the camera.

Making sure that qualifications are fair requires careful design, analysis and evaluation of all aspects of qualification delivery. Fairness sits at the heart of our work and is something we are thinking about all the time.

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How to talk to your students about exam anxiety

Posted by: Kate Keating, Posted on: 22 March 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Exams
A wood of tall trees, with green mossy ground. Blue sky partially visible through the trees and sun shining through, casting long shadows of tree trunks

This latest blog in our series on test anxiety offer strategies which teachers might find useful to help reduce their students’ experiences of exam anxiety.

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What can schools do about examination and test anxiety

Posted by: Kate Keating, Posted on: 15 March 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Exams
Image is a photo of lilac crocuses with a bee on one in the foreground

This blog discusses how school staff can help students through exam time, looking at whole-school approaches and supporting individual needs.

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Examining the examiners

Posted by: Charlotte Lockyer, Posted on: 13 March 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Exams
Picture of laptop keyboard and screen with two hands, visible to wrist, typing

While students are getting ready to take their exams this summer, exam boards are also busy, completing their examiner recruitment and finalising their arrangements for the series. This is no mean feat. Last summer alone, 63,000 examiners were needed to …

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What is it like to experience exam stress? A student perspective

Posted by: Kate Keating, Posted on: 8 March 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Exams
Image shows flowers growing on side of a cliff, going down to the sea

Test anxiety blog series: 2 Authors: Tamsin McCaldin, Kerry-ann Brown and Dr Jo Greenwood With recent changes to exams in England, there has been increased media interest into exam stress and what that might mean for students working towards exams. …

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National Reference Test 2019 – 10 things you need to know

Posted by: Cath Jadhav, Posted on: 22 February 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, National Reference Test
The Ofqual logo with words national reference test written below it. Underneath writing are 21 vertical colouring pencils, stacked against one another, of varying colours and sizes

Around England, a sample of schools are about to take the third annual National Reference Test (NRT). This test provides a valuable and unique source of evidence about the performance of year 11 students in English language and maths. From …

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Evaluating new GCSEs in French, German and Spanish

Posted by: Kate Keating, Posted on: 14 February 2019 - Categories: A levels and GCSEs, Exams
Image of baguette with cheese and salami, plus gherkins and French brand butter alongside

Last year we committed to do further work to evaluate the new GCSEs in French, German and Spanish, and to consider whether there was a case for making an adjustment to the grading. There are several strands to this work …

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