exams | Schools Week

Pupils can bypass schools to request GCSE and A-level re-marks this summer, Ofqual announces

Individual pupils will be able to request re-marks of their GCSE and A-level exams directly, rather than having to go through their school, Ofqual has announced today. In response to its consultation, the exams regulator has announced that from this summer it will lift rules which prevent exam boards from allowing learners to make direct […]

Ignore social media, pupils can cope with hard GCSE exams

What do drunk rats, teenage boys and an independent drugs company have in common? Despite sounding like key components from a song in the 1980s they are actually items mentioned in AQA’s biology GCSE paper taken earlier this week. Echoing youngsters across generations who walked out of exams and asked “what the heck was all […]

Ofqual to get tough on exam re-marks

The exams regulator has given its clearest indication yet that it will get tough on re-marks to end an unfairness of some schools having a better shot at overturning grades. Ofqual director Phil Beach, writing in a blog today, again highlighted research that found examiners were more generous on appeals leading to “perfectly reasonable marks […]

Schools could get right to see marked GCSE papers as Ofqual consults on appeals process

Schools could get the right to request copies of marked GCSE exam papers as they consider appealing against marks, Ofqual has announced. The watchdog also wants to make exam boards use specially-trained reviewers, rather than ordinary examiners, to check marking when results are queried as part of proposals for a new review and appeals process. […]

Examiners are more generous during re-marks, study finds

Examiners are more generous when they re-mark GCSE and A-level papers immediately after the summer results, a talk by the chair of Ofqual has revealed. A study described by the exam regulator’s chair, Amanda Spielman (pictured), suggests that papers re-marked immediately after exams as part of an appeal later failed to get higher grades when […]

A-level decoupling: who’s going to benefit?

A-level reform will leave sixth-form students facing increasingly difficult curriculum decisions and decreased attainment. Change is an inevitability that all teachers have become accustomed to in recent years. Adapting to survive and remain competitive is a necessity. A-level reform, in particular A-level decoupling, is the latest in a raft of government-led changes intended to increase […]