Exams and grading webinar with Ofqual
Catch up on the webinar
The webinar sees Ofqual’s Associate Director GQ Policy and Strategic Relationships, Danielle Cartwright, and Senior Manager VTQ Strategic Relationships, Siân Sankey, in conversation with Parentkind’s Head of Parental Participation, Sian Lewis.
Find out more about:
- Where to find the advance information available to students this year
- Support for students taking exams following the disruption of the pandemic
- How this year’s grading system works
- Extra support for SEND students
- Guidance around steps to take post-exams.
Parents’ questions answered
Dispensation
Q. Will there be any dispensation this year?
Students entering GCSEs, AS or A levels in 2023 will take exams in the summer and complete any non-exam assessments as normal throughout the year.
Due to the disruption during and following the pandemic there is support in place for students taking exams in 2023:
Support Materials
In GCSE maths, physics, and combined science exams, your child will be given formulae and equation sheets, so there are fewer things to remember in the exams.
Grading protection
We are expecting results in 2023 to be similar to those in pre-pandemic years. The grading protection that we have introduced for GCSE and A level students means that a student who would have achieved a particular grade before the pandemic should be just as likely to do so in 2023, even if the quality of their work is a little weaker.
Spaced-out timetable
This year there is greater spacing between exams in the same subject than before the pandemic. This will make it less likely your child will miss all exams in a subject if they are too ill to take one of your exams. This will also help them revise and prepare between papers.
Help with languages
In GCSE modern foreign languages, the exams do not have to test unfamiliar vocabulary. Exams may contain unfamiliar vocabulary, but exam boards can give meanings for words that are not on their vocabulary lists.
Q. Year 13 students were severely impacted by Covid and didn’t sit any formal exams at GCSE. How will this be accounted for?
Due to the disruption during and following the pandemic there is some support in place for A level students taking exams in 2023. There will be spaced out timetabling and grading protection for your child (as detailed above).
In addition, schools and colleges often complete mocks to support students in their preparation for formal exams.
Revision and exam prep
How can we encourage better study habits?
Are there any good revision guides (paper based preferably)?
How I can support my daughter to prepare for her exams?
How can we best encourage and support revision and help manage stress?
What’s best practice for A Level exam preparation?
You may want to speak to your child’s school or college for further information to encourage better study habits and support their revision.
Ofqual’s student guide, Coping with exam pressure — a guide for students, has been produced in conjunction with Professor Dave Putwain, a researcher (and a former school and college teacher) at Liverpool John Moores University. This guide has advice and guidance for your child in preparing for their exams and assessments.
We also signpost further resources to support students and their parents here.
Exams
Any advice about GCSEs?
Ofqual has produced a number of documents to support students, and their parents through the exam period. Ofqual’s student guide to exams and assessments in 2023 and guide on coping with exam pressure provide information and advice.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has information about exams and assessments on its website. In addition, the Department for Education has a blog about this year’s exam arrangements.
How can I best support my child to manage lots of different exams each day?
We understand that sitting a number of exams on the same day can be challenging.
The exam timetable is carefully put together by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) to minimise clashes. If a student has a clash, you should speak to your child’s school or college about the arrangements that could be put in place, such as a supervised break between the exams. More information about this can be found in JCQ’s instructions for conducting exanimations.
Ofqual has produced a number of documents to support students, and their parents through the exam period. Ofqual’s student guide to exams and assessments in 2023 and guide on coping with exam pressure provide information and advice.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has information about exams and assessments on its website. In addition, the Department for Education has a blog about this year’s exam arrangement.
What is required so my child can take extended version of the math and science exams?
You should speak to your child’s school or college to find out what subjects your child will be entered for.
Do you have any advice on exam techniques?
Please speak to your child’s teacher for specific advice on exam technique.
Grading
How does the grading system work?
Because of the disruption caused by the pandemic, examiners will be slightly lenient when setting grade boundaries for GCSE, AS and A level. What does ‘slightly lenient’ mean? Who decides this? Ofqual or the chief examiner of each exam board?
Student work will be marked and graded in the normal way, as it would have been before the pandemic. This means we expect national results in 2023 to be lower than in 2022 and similar to results in pre-pandemic years.
Senior examiners will set grade boundaries for every specification after they have reviewed students’ work. Those senior examiners will be guided in their decisions by information about the grades achieved in pre-pandemic years, along with prior attainment data.
We know that students have experienced some disruption during and following the pandemic. Accordingly, there is protection in place for students in 2023. Where national performance is found to be lower than it was prior to the pandemic senior examiners will make allowances when setting grade boundaries. This will be similar to the approach Ofqual instructed exam boards to take to protect students when GCSEs and A levels were reformed.
This means that a typical student who would have achieved, for example, an A grade in A level geography before the pandemic will be just as likely to get an A in 2023, even if their performance in the assessments is a little weaker than it would have been before the pandemic.
How is the new grading system perceived by employers? Is it as easily recognised as previous ABC system?
The numerical grading scale was introduced in 2017. GCSEs in England were reformed to keep pace with universities’ and employers’ demands. The grading scale has higher grades compared to the old A* to G grades, to give sixth forms, colleges, universities and employers the opportunity to better distinguish between students of different abilities.
We have worked closely with employer organisations to ensure they understand the new grading system. For further information, we gave published a brief guide for parents blog and an employers guide to the grading system.
Younger students
I don’t know how to help my year 7 child in her studies. what should I do please?
My son is in year 9. Do you have any ideas on how to prepare him from now please?
You should speak to your child’s school to find out how to support your child and prepare for future exams and assessments.
Extra support
What can you tell me about ‘extra time’ for SEND students?
Reasonable adjustments, often called access arrangements, are changes made to an exam or assessment, or to the way an exam or assessment is carried out so that disabled students can demonstrate what they know, understand, and can do. The
exam must still test the same knowledge, skills and understanding for that qualification.
Your child’s school or college will arrange any reasonable adjustments or access arrangements. They could include:
- extra time to complete exams or assessments
- changes to exam papers, for example, large print or Braille
- help with specific tasks, for example, another person might read questions to your child or write their dictated answers.
Different reasonable adjustments are available depending on the needs of individual students. If you think your child needs a reasonable adjustment or access arrangement it is important that you speak to your child’s school or college about
their needs as soon as possible.
Your child’s school or college will have someone who organises these arrangements, a special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENCo) in schools, and a named person in colleges, who can give you more information about reasonable adjustments and whether they apply to your child.
You can find more information about reasonable adjustments and access arrangements in this JCQ Guidance.
What is the best way to support someone who has recently learnt English as a second language?
You should speak to their school or college to find out how to support a child with English as a second language.
Post-exams: next steps
If and when should you appeal a grade?
A student who is concerned about their results should talk urgently to their school or college, especially if their further education or university place depends on a change to their overall grade.
If a student thinks there has been an error in their result, they can ask their school or college to ask the exam board to review whether there were any errors in the exam board’s marking or moderation. A review of marking is a review by the exam board of whether there were any errors in its marking of an exam. A review of moderation is where an exam board reviews how it moderated teacher marked non-exam assessment to check whether there were any errors.
A student’s grade can go up or down, or stay the same following a review of marking or an appeal. A student’s grade can go up or stay the same following a review of moderation — it can’t go down.
Please see Ofqual’s student guide to exams and assessments in 2023 for further information about reviews of marking and appeals.
What are the available options if my child doesn’t get his desired course and university?
Students have lots of choices for their next steps. The National Careers Service (NCS) provides free and impartial careers advice, information and guidance and runs a dedicated exam results helpline for students taking qualifications.
The Get the Jump content hub on the NCS website brings together all post-16 and post-18 education and training choices in one place. In addition, the UCAS website contains information for students considering their options, on traditional undergraduate degrees through to apprenticeships.
Are the dates set for 2024 exams?
The exam boards have published provisional timetables on their websites. The final timetables will be published later this year.
What’s the best thing to say when students think they have failed a paper other than ‘I am sure you haven’t, don’t worry’?
You should speak to their school or college to find out how to support your child.
General
Why are there different exam boards for the same exams?
An awarding organisation must be recognised by Ofqual in order to offer regulated qualifications. If an awarding organisation meets Ofqual’s criteria to offer GCSEs, it is permitted to do so. There are 4 exam boards recognised by Ofqual to award GCSE, AS and A level qualifications in England:
Having different exam boards gives teachers some flexibility to choose the specification that they would most enjoy teaching and which they believe would best suit their students.
However, Ofqual ensures that there are common requirements
that each specification must fulfil, and that there is fairness for all students between exam boards in a subject.
Is the exam system outdated? The access to education for the next 7+ years is dependent on a few hours of tests in a pressured environment.
The Department for Education (DfE) published The ‘Importance of Teaching’ white paper (DfE, 2010) which announced the government’s intentions to reform GCSEs and A levels in England.
This led to the reform of GCSE, AS and A levels, which led to the decoupling of AS and A level qualifications. DfE, who is responsible for curriculum matters, consulted on the subject content that would be studied and assessed in these qualifications.
While DfE is responsible for the subject content, Ofqual is responsible for how that content should be assessed. In 2013, Ofqual consulted on a set of principles relating to the use of non-exam assessment in GCSE, AS and A levels.
These principles confirmed that where subject content can be validly assessed by exams, which are set and marked by exam boards, this should be the default method of assessment.
