Supporting Students with Handwriting Difficulties in Examinations

Our examiners are reporting an increasing number of cases where the legibility of handwritten examination responses presents challenges during marking. While many students continue to communicate their ideas clearly in written assessments, poor handwriting can make it more difficult for examiners to accurately interpret responses.

Examiners are experienced in assessing a wide range of handwriting styles and will always make every reasonable effort to interpret and credit students' responses accurately. Where handwriting is unclear, examiners will consider the context of the response to determine meaning wherever possible.

However, examiners cannot make assumptions or speculate about words, phrases or sections that cannot be interpreted with sufficient confidence. In cases where the intended meaning cannot be reliably determined, this may affect the credit that can be awarded to that part of the response.

To help students demonstrate their knowledge and understanding as effectively as possible, centres may wish to consider appropriate support arrangements where handwriting difficulties are a known and ongoing concern. This can help ensure that students are able to communicate their responses clearly and are not disadvantaged by the legibility of their written work in future assessments.

The use of a word processor may be an appropriate access arrangement where a student's handwriting or another difficulty creates a substantial and evidenced barrier to demonstrating their knowledge in written examinations. Poor handwriting on its own does not automatically justify the arrangement. In line with JCQ regulations, centres may allow a word processor where there is clear evidence of need and its use reflects the student's normal way of working. Formal approval is not normally required, but centres must retain appropriate evidence to support the arrangement.

For GCSE History questions where marks are awarded for spelling, punctuation and grammar, examiners will apply the published SPaG criteria to the evidence in the student’s response. Poor handwriting is not in itself treated as a spelling, punctuation or grammar error. However, students should write as clearly as possible, as examiners cannot credit wording that cannot be interpreted reliably. Where a word processor is used, centres must ensure that its settings comply with the relevant JCQ regulations, particularly where spellcheck, predictive text or grammar-checking functions are concerned.

Please see the following links for further information and support: