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.

On 21 September 2023, Ofqual published the resilience guidance for centres delivering: GCSE, AS and A levels, Project Qualifications and Advanced Extension Award in maths (AEA). We’ve put together a summary of this guidance on our new support page with links through to the full information from Ofqual.

The link to the Ofqual page allows you to read this guidance in full.

On 15 September 2023 the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) updated its ‘Instructions for the Conduct of Qualifications’ document for the 2023/24 academic year to provide more clarity to candidates, exam officers and teachers given recent changes in technology.

In particular, the use of calculators in exams has been updated in Section 10 ‘Using calculators’. The use of calculators applies to a number of different subjects so please do pass this information to all who need to read it.
Full details can be found in the in the booklet Instructions for conducting examinations 2023-2024 and a set of FAQs about using calculators on the JCQ website.

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 Access to Scripts service provides a rich source of information, enabling detailed analysis to inform teaching and learning and support students, giving insights and visibility that performance data alone cannot provide.

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 15 December 2023.

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.

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 by sending an email to the following address: edexcelappeals@pearson.com. There is further guidance on appeals on our website.

Appeals guidance

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. See the JCQ appeals booklet, 46 & 47.

JCQ guide to the awarding bodies’ appeals processes 

Save the dates!

The dates for the 2023-2024 GCSE network events are below.

Pearson Revise Online gives every student the same access to all their revision guides for Pearson Edexcel and AQA subjects. All in one place online, with quick quizzes and knowledge checks to help them prioritise their learning.

This year, teachers can get free access to the platform to use in front-of-class revision lessons in the run-up to mocks.  

The 28 case studies uploaded last year used the Financial Times as the main source.

This year the case studies have a slightly different format which includes suggested answers.

These booklets offer a basic template for teachers and learners and include:

• specification content
• key terms
• a case study
• exam-style questions
• explanations of command verbs
  

The booklets can be customised by adding images, a school logo, and further questions.  If you look on the qualification page you will see that there are two files for Topic 1.4.1.  One of them has been customised to provide an example of how this can be done.

They really are an excellent resource.

Onscreen mocks are now available for International GCSE Business

We  are seeking to employ examiners for International GCSE Business and Commerce.

To help your planning we now have both a course planner and a scheme of work for the modular International GCSE in Commerce.

International GCSE Business 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.

International GCSE Business is in the last group of subjects to make a modular route available to learners from September 2025.

This means that we will have both a modular and a linear route to achieve this qualification for centres outside the UK.

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 2025 with the first exams in May/June 2026.

We're introducing a regular International GCSE November series, first running in November 2023. The November series is being introduced to best meet the needs of students requiring International GCSE exam opportunities outside of the full May/June series, and it will replace the existing January series from 2024. This will result in just May/June and November series going forward for International GCSE.

Why are we moving to a November exam series?

Due to the pandemic, circumstances meant that we needed to follow a November International GCSE exam series in 2020, 2021 and 2022. As the November series seemed to be well received, we consulted schools to understand whether there was a preference for a permanent November exam series or reverting to January. 

November was the preferred option for most schools; not just for resits, but also for learners studying on a January–December academic year.

The timetable is below.

The entry deadline was 15 September.

AS question papers will now have separate source booklets to bring them in line with A level question papers.

Free student livestreams on a variety of Theme 1 and 2 topics start on Tuesday 10 October at 18.00 and continue on subsequent Tuesdays until the end of November.

The 28 case studies uploaded last year used the Financial Times as the main source.

This year the case studies have a slightly different format which includes suggested answers.

This document considers:

• key assessment differences between the specifications
• key content differences between the specifications
  

The Economics Factory now has digital versions of the Anforme A level Business books.

Visit the Economics Factory

This online training is designed for teachers who are new to delivering the International Advanced level Business specification.

Module 1 focuses on teaching the course and will give you an understanding of the content of the qualification and how to cover it, course/lesson planning, understanding the assessment and preparing students for it, and a brief overview of support from Pearson available to teachers.

Module 2 will give you an understanding of how the content is assessed by reviewing the assessment objectives and mark schemes, practise applying the mark schemes using exemplar student work, as well as an understanding of how marks were determined.

Module 1: 07 November 2023 at 13:00 - 15:00 GMT

Register for Module 1

Module 2: 14 November 2023 at 13:00 - 15:00 GMT

Register for Module 2

This online training is designed for teachers who are delivering the International A Level Business specification.

This training will give you an understanding of how assessments are structured for the qualification and how your teaching can be adapted to help your students’ performance on examination papers.

The training is comprised of two 'standalone' modules which are booked separately.

Module 1: 21 November 2023 at 13:00 - 15:00 GMT

Register for Module 1

Module 2: 28 November 2023 at 13:00 - 15:00 GMT

Register for Module 2