Ofqual | Schools Week

Comparable outcomes: How Ofqual makes them work in practice

Once again this year there has been outcries that “grade boundaries” have been moved so that it is “harder” to get a grade C. Below, Ofqual goes through comparable outcomes and how it affects grade. And, here Pearson’s Lesley Davies explains the boundary setting process. Our priority during summer awarding is to align standards between […]

How long do GCSE remarks take? An increasingly long time…

Pupils needing GCSE remarks before confirming a college place are waiting increasingly long times, Ofqual figures show. On average, pupils waited an average 11 days last year before receiving the results of remarked individual exams, known as Priority Service 2 reviews. In 2013 the figure was 10 days, and in 2010 it was just seven. […]

How long do A level exam remarks take? From five days… to 22!

Note: This is a story from 2015 – the 2018 information on A-level re-marks is here. A level exam remarks took up to 22 days last year, figures released by Ofqual show – a sobering reminder for nervous candidates ahead of this week’s results. The figures released by exam regulator Ofqual relate to the summer […]

How do exam writers put together questions for tests?

After an Edexcel GCSE maths question about Hannah’s sweets went viral on Twitter yesterday, exam writer Paula Goddard gives an insight into the way question papers are put together. The probability of orange sweeties and calculating the size of a lump of cheese – clearly the examination question writer was feeling a bit peckish when […]