General Qualifications Bulletin - International - Issue 54
Dear Colleague,
We now have just one week to go before we wrap up this summer’s exam series. You all do an incredible job to ensure that the exams run smoothly, and I’d like to say thank you to everyone involved in your centre.
Whilst we’ve had lots of standardisation meetings taking place, with thousands of examiners attending over the last few weeks, our scanners are working around the clock to get the millions of exam scripts into our online marking system and available for examiners to mark. But the work doesn’t stop there, and I know it’s still a very busy time in schools and colleges as you head towards the end of the academic year.
This edition of the qualifications bulletin contains some detail about post-results support for you and your students, plus a reminder about multi-factor authentication. You may not have accessed our secure systems, such as Edexcel Online or ResultsPlus, for some time, and the next time you need to do this will be on learner results days in August. We’d like to take this opportunity to remind all users of systems such as Edexcel Online and ResultsPlus, that there is now a requirement to authenticate via an app on a smart phone in order to access these systems. Read on to find out more about how we can support you with this.
For those of you that are Exams Officers, we are running some live events in July and August to help you prepare for issuing results in August and navigating the post-results period successfully. Plus, in our July issue we’ll have more information for you on post-results support and the services available to you from results day.
As ever, if you need any more information or want to share any feedback with us, you can always get in touch via our support portal. We will always do our best to get you the answers as quickly as possible.
With best wishes,
Hayley White
Vice President, Assessment, Standards and Services
With the end of the exam season in sight you’ll shortly be looking ahead to results. As always, we’ll be here to support you with post-results services and answering any queries you may have.
ResultsPlus
Have you set up your ResultsPlus account? Included as part of your qualification fees, ResultsPlus is our online results analysis tool that gives you a detailed breakdown of your students’ performance in Pearson Edexcel exams and BTEC external assessments.
Once you’ve received your students' results, you can get more insight on their performance on each question at individual student, class or cohort level using ResultsPlus.
Find out more and set up your ResultsPlus account ahead of results day
ResultsPlus Group Analysis
We’ve also got our ResultsPlus Group Analysis service. Developed to support multi-academy trusts and groups of schools, this service can provide senior leaders with a clear overall picture of student performance across all their schools in Pearson Edexcel exams and BTEC external assessments. Plus, it can also be used to analyse your mock exam results, making this service a valuable tool for use throughout the academic year.
Take a look at our short video that explains how ResultsPlus Group Analysis will work for you
We’ll need to set up a separate account for your multi-academy trust or groups of schools, even if your own school is already set up with a ResultsPlus account.
Please ensure you have created a ResultsPlus Group Analysis account before the end of term and be ready for results day.
Access to Scripts
Available from results day, our Access to Scripts* service allows you to view your candidates’ marked scripts online or download as PDFs, providing transparency of marking and to help you make decisions around requests for reviews of marking and inform future teaching and learning.
The Access to Scripts service provides a rich source of information, enabling detailed analysis to inform teaching and learning and support students and giving insights and visibility that performance data alone cannot provide.
Read more about Access to Scripts, along with FAQs and a step-by-step user guide.
The Access to Scripts portal can only be accessed by Edexcel Online users who have the Exam Viewer permission ticked in their Edexcel Online profiles. Exams officers are able to give teachers access to Exam Viewer. Don’t forget to ask your exams officer for access before you break for the summer, to be ready for the post-results period.
*This service is available for any exam paper that has been marked online. Written permission must be gained from candidates before scripts can be accessed.
Support for students ahead of results day
Waiting for exam results can be nerve-wracking for many students. We’ve got a guide to Understanding results and grades containing helpful information about what to expect on results day and where to find further support. The guide includes information on:
- dates for results days
- receiving and understanding results
- grades and grade boundaries
- what steps to take if they are not happy with their results
- university applications
- certificates
- where to find further support.
Please pass this on to students, parents and carers
You can stay up to date with all our support for 2024 on our Qualifications assessment support page.
As teachers and Heads of departments, you may not have had to access our secure systems for some time, with the next time you need to do this being on learner results days in August. We’d like to take this opportunity to remind all users of systems such as Edexcel Online and ResultsPlus, that there is now a requirement to authenticate via an app on a smart phone in order to access these systems.
If you haven't accessed these platforms for some time, we would urge you to do so before finishing for the summer, so we can work with you to resolve any issues and avoid any delays in access on results days.
You can get additional support for registering a device and general troubleshooting in our Pearson Portal Authenticator support article.
Taking these steps now will ensure you all have a successful results day.
As we come towards the end of the exam series, we’d like you to share your feedback on this year's exam papers.
We wish to provide students with the best possible exam experience, and your insights are crucial in helping us achieve this goal. If you're a teacher whose students have taken any of our exams in the May/June 2024 series, we are eager to hear your thoughts.
Your feedback will play a vital role in shaping the future of our qualifications and assessments. Your input will be shared with our senior examiners and across our subject teams to help us continuously improve future assessments and enhance the exam experience for students.
Please take a few minutes to provide your feedback, thank you
Now exams are nearly over we know many of you will start to look ahead to results days. As always, we’re here to support you throughout in the lead up to and throughout the results period.
For all you need to know about the dates and times of results days and where the results can be found on Edexcel Online and EDI, take a look at our support article.
Results dates: Edexcel Online and EDI file release day/times
We’re also running online live events in July and August, focused on helping you prepare for issuing results in August and navigating the post-results period successfully.
The next event is on Wednesday 17 July @ 10am - 11am (London BST).
Find out more and book your place
Entries and information manual
We’re pleased to let you know that we’ve updated the details on our Entries and information manual web page to provide information about all exam series up to and including June 2025.
We have made lots of enhancements in recent months, to increase the security of Pearson and centre data, and maintain the integrity of our qualifications and assessment materials. These have included a move to Multi Factor Authentication and enforcing enhanced password requirements for all our platform users.
We have created a new Security page on our qualifications website, where we will share best practise as well as guidance on how you can spot if something doesn’t seem quite right.
History
We are making changes to our GCSE History qualification. The changes are coming in two stages: assessment amends for first assessment June 2025, and content amends for first teaching September 2024 and first assessment June 2026.
Information on these changes can be found via the two news items below:
2025 assessment changes
2026 content changes
If you have any questions about these changes, please contact our subject advisor, Mark Battye, at teachinghistory@pearson.com.
Languages
Our new Pearson Edexcel French, German and Spanish GCSEs take a student-centred approach and cater to the needs of all learners, regardless of their background, ability or reason for studying a language. Combining straightforward assessments with engaging, relevant content, our new GCSEs prepare students for life and careers in a global setting.
We also offer International GCSE Languages
Subject Advisor support
To stay up to date, make sure you’re signed up to receive all the latest news and information from your Subject Advisor throughout the summer 2024 exam series. Find out more about the support your Subject Advisor offers by watching a short video they’ve each created.
Take a look at your Subject Advisor's video and sign up for your subject newsletter today
Our Key Dates Finder enables you to find all of the key dates for Pearson general qualifications and subjects in one place. Here are those taking place during June 2024.
Date |
Qualification |
Exam |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
26 June 24 |
GCSE and/or AS and A level examinations |
June 24 |
Contingency day (AM & PM slots) should any sustained national or local disruption arise |
28 June 24 |
GCSE Art & Design 1AD0/01 (and all linked endorsements) and A level Art & Design 9AD0/01 (and all linked endorsements) |
June 24 |
End of moderator visits. Marks must be submitted 48hrs prior to the moderation visits. |
5 July 24 |
All general qualifications |
June 24 |
Deadline to submit special consideration requests |
22 July 24 |
International A level, iPrimary and iLowerSecondary |
Oct 24 |
Basedata issued |
12 August 24 |
International GCSE |
Nov 24 |
Basedata issued |
14 August 24 |
AS & A level, AEA, International A level, Edexcel Awards Level 3, Project Level 3, and Core Maths Level 3 |
June 24 |
Restricted release of results to centres |
15 August 24 |
AS & A level, AEA, International A level, Edexcel Awards Level 3, Project Level 3, and Core Maths Level 3 |
June 24 |
Release of results to candidates |
21 August 24 |
GCSE, International GCSE, Edexcel Awards L1 & 2, Project L1 & 2, iPrimary, iLowerSecondary and Entry Level Certificate |
June 24 |
Restricted release of results to centres |
22 August 24 |
GCSE, International GCSE, Edexcel Awards L1 & 2, Project L1 & 2, iPrimary, iLowerSecondary and Entry Level Certificate |
June 24 |
Release of results to candidates |
31 August 24 |
All general qualifications |
June 24 |
Deadline to request early certification |
For more information on key dates for post results services please visit our Post-results services key dates page.
Pearson and all other awarding bodies published the final timetables for summer 2025 on Monday 20 May.
We have now published the provisional timetables for International A level and Edexcel Awards for January 2026.
The feedback window is open from Monday 24 June to Friday 19 July. Please send any feedback into us at Timetables@Pearson.com.
