August 2024 Economics update
Welcome to this August 2024 Results Day update.
The main focus of this update is information to help you on 15 August (A level and IAL results day) and 22 August (GCSE and International GCSE results day).
We start with a letter addressed to students from Ofqual and UCAS before looking at getting your results, analysing your results (with ResultsPlus, grade boundaries and statistics), accessing scripts, reviews of marking and appeals.
If you are starting to plan ahead for the new term, the qualifications part of the update has links to the delivery and assessment support pages, exam timetables for next year, as well as training and network events you may wish to sign up for.
I hope that the results days go well for you and your students.
In this month's update:
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 15 August | Results day for A level and IAL |
| 20 August | Examiners' reports for A level and IAL released (uploaded) |
| 22 August | Results day for GCSE and International GCSE |
| 27 August | Examiners' reports for GCSE and International GCSE released (uploaded) |
| 26 September | Deadline to submit requests for Reviews of Marking. |
| 13 December | Last date to use the Access To Scripts service via Script Viewer. |
This letter addresses grading and preparing for results day.
Results files and their contents are confidential to the Head of Centre, examinations office staff and senior members of the teaching staff at the centre. Therefore, the Edexcel Online ‘Results’ profile is only granted to these roles, as it allows access to results files on the Wednesday before results days.
Other teachers that need access to view results should be given ResultsPlus access, as this is designed to meet the needs of teachers to view and analyse the results for their own students. Results are available through ResultsPlus for teachers on the Thursday results days.
You may also wish to ask your Exams Officer to tick 'Exam viewer' in your Edexcel Online profile in case you want to download candidate scripts from results day (having obtained the candidates' consent first).
Please do remember that you now need to use our MFA app to log into Edexcel Online and ResultsPlus.
ResultsPlus is an online results analysis tool that gives you a detailed breakdown of your candidates’ performance in Edexcel exams.
ResultsPlus will help you to identify potential topics, skills and types of question where candidates struggled and this may support refinements to your teaching and learning approaches.
You may also find it helpful to understand how your candidates’ performance compares with class and national averages.
This letter from the Chief Regulator includes a section on grading arrangements for this summer.
On Results Day, you may wish to find the 2024 grade boundaries for your subject on our Grade Boundaries page.
The A level Economics maximum mark is 335 as this reflects the different weightings of the three A level papers. All three papers are out of 100 but Papers 1 and 2 have a 35% weighting whereas Paper 3 has a 30% weighting. This means that the marks you see are adjusted marks and not raw marks.
The conversion works by multiplying Paper 1 and 2 marks by 1.1725 and the Paper 3 mark by 1.005.
If you would like to see the cumulative percentage of candidates at each grade boundary as a percentage of the total cohort, you will need to visit the Grade Statistics Page.
The 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 portal can only be accessed by Edexcel Online users who have the 'Exam Viewer' profile ticked on Edexcel Online. Your exams officer gives teachers access to 'Exam Viewer'.
Please note that these scripts do not contain examiners' annotations.
If scripts have been marked 'traditionally' (i.e. not online), you will need to request them, free of charge, by the published deadline, via the Post Results section of Edexcel Online as in previous exam series.
Access To Scripts via Script Viewer is available from Results Day until 13 December 2024.
Candidate consent is required before requesting script copies, as per section 6.2.1 of the JCQ's Post-Results Services guide. Candidate consent can only be obtained after results have been published.
Candidate consent forms can be found in Appendix B of the JCQ Post results Services document.
Review of marking of externally assessed components (Service 2)
This is a check that our examiners have marked externally assessed components correctly and includes:
- a clerical check (Service 1)
- a review of marking of units/components by a senior examiner
You can ask us to review the marking of exam papers for individual candidates and the results for each candidate will be reported separately. This service isn't available for internally assessed/externally moderated coursework components.
Candidates’ marks or grades can go up, down or stay the same.
The deadline for completion is within 20 calendar days of receiving the request.
To get a copy of the reviewed exam paper, you should request an Access to Script (ATS) service at the same time as submitting the Service P2 request. There is a fee for this additional service.
The deadline for us to receive your request for a review of marking is 26 September.
Centres must obtain written candidate consent for clerical re-checks and
reviews of marking, as with these services candidates’ marks and subject grades may be lowered. Candidate consent must be obtained after the publication of results.
Candidates must be informed that their marks and subject grades could go
down as well as up and must provide their written consent before a request is submitted. (A suggested form for centres to use is included as Appendix A of the JCQ Post-results Guide).
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of a review of marking, you may wish to appeal against the decision. We will allow the head of centre (or designated member of the centre’s senior management team or examinations manager) 30 calendar days from the receipt of the outcome of the review of marking, during which an appeal may be lodged
Applications for appeals may only be accepted from a head of centre (on behalf of a candidate or a group of candidates) or private candidates.
For help with:
- free support and networking
- free resources
- paid-for resources from Pearson
- paid-for resources from Hodder
- other paid-for resources
For help with:
- recorded feedback training
- building your own question papers (examWizard)
- the key command verbs
- grade boundaries and statistics
A level Economics network events: 2024 - 2025
| 23 September | Reflections from Papers 1 and 2 |
| 16 October | Reflections from Paper 3 |
| 29 January | Tackling the 25-mark question |
| 25 February | Tackling the 10- and 12-mark questions |
May/June 2025 timetable
An online A level Economics course for students
Students can access this for no charge by clicking on the following link:
https://www.udemy.com/course/a-level-economics-f/?couponCode=5533140AA67CEA357598
For help with:
- free support and networking
- free and paid-for resources
For help with:
- the key command verbs
- grade boundaries and statistics
Anforme books
The Economics Factory now has digital versions of the Anforme A level Economics B books
May/June 2025 timetable
For help with:
- free support and networking
- IAL university recognition
- free resources
- paid-for resources
For help with:
- building your own question papers (examWizard)
- the key command verbs
- grade boundaries and statistics
Training
| 15 October | Module 1: teaching the IAL Economics qualification |
| 17 October | Module 2: assessing the IAL Economics qualification |
October 2024 exam series
January 2025 timetable
May/June 2025 timetable
October 2025 timetable
January 2026 provisional timetable
Onscreen exams rollout
IAL Economics will have the first onscreen assessment available from 2026.
Make sure you’re signed up for the latest onscreen assessment news to find out how to register your school.
For help with:
- free support and networking
- free resources
- paid-for resources
For help with:
- the key command verbs
- grade boundaries and statistics
Training
| 2 October | Module 1: teaching the International GCSE Economics qualification |
| 3 October | Module 2: assessing the International GCSE Economics qualification |
Onscreen exams rollout
International GCSE Economics will have the first onscreen assessment available from 2024.
Make sure you’re signed up for the latest onscreen assessment news to find out how to register your school.
The Pearson onscreen sandbox (test environment) gives students all the practice they need to explore the platform’s functionality and build their confidence before they sit their exams onscreen.
It’s easy to register for an account: just click on Register for an account and enter your email address as your user ID.
The materials are digitised in the same platform as the mock and high-stakes onscreen exams and are a good opportunity for teachers and students to get to know the platform and functionality available.
Whilst the user experience mirrors what can be expected from the mocks and high-stakes assessments, please note that any solutions submitted through the sandbox environment by candidates will not be saved.
Modular International GCSE
International GCSE Economics is in the first group of subjects to make a modular route available to learners from September 2023.
This means that we will have both a modular and a linear route to achieve this qualification.
If you are happy with the linear approach, there is no need to move to the modular route; our linear International GCSEs will continue to be offered and taken widely by learners around the world.
However, if you believe the modular route will be of benefit to your learners, this will be available from September 2023 with the first exams in May/June 2024.
Course planner and schemes of work for Modular International GCSE Economics
To help your planning we now have both a course planner and a scheme of work for the modular International GCSE in Economics.
November 2024 timetable
May 2025 timetable
App-based multi-factor authentication for all users of Edexcel Online was introduced in December, to protect your data and maintain the integrity of our assessments.
This replaced the existing web based multi-factor authentication, and became mandatory on 5 December. All users require access to a smart phone device to receive a verification code to access Edexcel Online.
Based on feedback received this graphic was created to answer some common questions.
Additional guidance on using app based MFA to access the Pearson Portal can be found in the Pearson Portal Authenticator support article.
There is a new support page for you to bookmark – General qualifications assessment support. Here we’ll share news information and updates from Ofqual, the Department for Education (DfE), the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) and Pearson, relating to the exams and assessments for our GCSE, AS and A level qualifications.
We’ll be updating it regularly so you know you’ve got all the latest announcements, news, support materials and updates to enable you to teach our qualifications, help your students with their assessments and post-results support, to enable them to progress.
If you teach any of our Business, Enterprise or Esports qualifications, you may wish to check out the monthly updates.
Subject advisor
Colin Leith
Economics
