Cambridge Nationals: Reduction in assessment for 2020/21 and 2021/22

Reduction in assessment and Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs)

For students certificating in summer 2021: The unit(s) where assessment are not being taken are now covered by the arrangements for teacher assessed grades (TAGs) at qualification level. You should determine a grade for the whole qualification using the OCR guidance on teacher assessed grades.

For students certificating in summer 2022: Your students are eligible for a unit level teacher assessed grade for any assessments which they would have planned to take this year (doing the assessment by 31 August 2021). This includes those units where you had originally planned to take the assessment but then decided to reduce the unit assessment as part of the adaptations below, published in December.

• More information about this can be found in our article Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals: What teacher assessed grades in summer 2021 mean for adaptations (reduction in assessment) 
• More information about arrangements for students not certificating in 2020/21 can be found in our article Arrangements for Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals students not certificating in summer 2021.

Reducing the number of assessments in 2021/22 (Updated September 2021)

With the approval of the DfE, we are allowing the number of assessments of moderated units to be reduced where disruption to teaching and learning has been so great that it is necessary.

Schools and colleges are best placed to decide if they need to use this adaptation. Where possible, it is best for your students to take all assessments to support their wider learning and progression. However, these adaptations are there if you need them and can apply to all students due to complete assessments during 2021/22.

You will not be permitted to use a reduction in assessment after 2021/22. It is expected all units planned for 2022/23 are completed as normal.  During the 2021/22 academic year, you will be required to tell us which unit assessment(s) will not be taken by your students in Year 10 (Year 11 in Northern Ireland). We will ask for this information during 2021/22, even if they are certificating in 2022/23.

If you’re teaching a course with optional and mandatory units, we ask you to prioritise the assessment of mandatory units. Any reduction in the assessment of moderated mandatory units, including if you’re teaching a course with only mandatory units, should be as a last resort where all other options to complete them have been exhausted.

Students certificating in 2021/22 must take assessments this year. This is because we will determine the qualification-level result for students taking account of the reduction. You will not provide teacher assessed grades for these units. We recommend you aim to bank assessments (take/submit assessments) as soon as you can for all of your students, regardless of when they certificate.

 We will ask you to confirm during 2021/22 if you need to use this adaptation. We will provide further details on this process as soon as they are available.

We’ll continue to assess knowledge and understanding in the examined units for which there is no option to reduce the assessment. 

Can our new Year 10 students (Year 11 in Northern Ireland), starting the course in September 2021, use the reduction in the number of assessments of moderated units?

Yes, our adaptations, if they are needed, are available to all students regardless of which year they complete their qualification. However, the adaptations can only be used in the academic year 2021/22. It is expected that all units planned for 2022/23 are completed as normal, without any adaptations.

We will ask you to confirm during 2021/22 if you need to use this adaptation, even if your students are certificating in 2022/23.

What is a considered a ‘last resort’ for a reduction of a mandatory moderated unit?

Reduction of a moderated mandatory unit should only be considered once all other options to complete them have been exhausted:

• If students are self-isolating but well enough to work on the assessment at home and have access to the software needed, work can be continued at home.
• If you are having difficulties in completing the assessment as normal, check our unit level adaptations to see if these can help.
• If the disruption faced so far (or in KS3) has been so great that not all content usually delivered by this point has been done, prioritise the delivery and assessment of mandatory moderated units over optional units

This adaptation is there if you need it, however if the assessment can be completed it should be to help your students to progress.

Creative iMedia, Health and Social Care, Sport Science, Sport Studies

For students taking assessments in 2021/22, and where disruption to teaching has been such that it is necessary, assessment can now be reduced by one optional moderated unit, or, where circumstances require it, one mandatory moderated unit as a last resort.

All students certificating in 2021/2022 must take assessment in 2021/22 and it is important where the examined unit has not been 'taken' (either by sitting the assessment, by being eligible for a deferred assessed grade for summer 2020 or eligible for a unit TAG from summer 2021), it is taken in 2021/22. If your students are eligible for a deferred assessed grade for the exam from summer 2020 or a unit TAG from summer 2021, it is considered 'taken'.

Where you have a choice of mandatory moderated units and optional moderated units to reduce, the assessment of the mandatory moderated unit must be prioritised. A reduction can only include mandatory moderated assessment if the student is certificating in 2021/22 and does not have any optional moderated assessments left to take. For students certificating beyond 2021/22, you cannot reduce the mandatory moderated unit:

• For students certificating in 2021/22 the reduction in the number of assessments taken can only include mandatory moderated assessment where the student does not have any optional moderated assessments left to take.
• For students certificating beyond 2021/22 the reduction in assessment of units due to be taken in 2021/22 can only include mandatory moderated assessment where a qualification only has mandatory units. As these qualifications have optional units, we expect this group of students will take all mandatory assessments.

Can more than one adaptation apply?

Yes, students can have a deferred assessed grade for units which could not be assessed in summer 2020, a unit TAG from summer 2021 and, if the impact of the disruption caused by the pandemic means you require it, complete a reduced number of assessments overall. This will depend on the number of units left to take. You can also apply the unit level adaptations to the unit(s) students are completing during 2021/22.

Please see our infographic with examples of how this adaptation could apply for students certificating in 2022. 

Engineering

For students taking assessments in 2021/22 and where disruption to teaching has been such that it is necessary, assessment can now be reduced by one moderated unit.

All students certificating in 2021/2022 must take assessment in 2021/22 and it is important where the examined unit has not been 'taken' (either by sitting the assessment, by being eligible for a deferred assessed grade for summer 2020 or eligible for a unit TAG from summer 2021), it is taken in 2021/22. If your students are eligible for a deferred assessed grade for the exam from summer 2020 or a unit TAG from summer 2021, it is considered 'taken'.

Can more than one adaptation apply?

Yes, students can have a deferred assessed grade for units which could not be assessed in summer 2020, a unit TAG from summer 2021 and, if the impact of the disruption caused by the pandemic means you require it, complete a reduced number of assessments overall. This will depend on the number of units left to take. You can also apply the unit level adaptations to the unit(s) students are completing during 2021/22.

Please see our infographic with examples of how this adaptation could apply for students certificating in 2022. 

Enterprise and Marketing, Child Development

For students taking assessments in 2021/22 and where disruption to teaching has been such that it is necessary, assessment can now be reduced by one moderated unit.

All students certificating in 2021/2022 must take assessment in 2021/22 and it is important where the examined unit has not been 'taken' (either by sitting the assessment, by being eligible for a deferred assessed grade for summer 2020 or eligible for a unit TAG from summer 2021), it is taken in 2021/22. If your students are eligible for a deferred assessed grade for the exam from summer 2020 or a unit TAG from summer 2021, it is considered 'taken'.

Can more than one adaptation apply?

Yes, students can have a deferred assessed grade for units which could not be assessed in summer 2020, a unit TAG from summer 2021 and, if the impact of the disruption caused by the pandemic means you require it, complete a reduced number of assessments overall. This will depend on the number of units left to take. You can also apply the unit level adaptations to the unit(s) students are completing during 2021/22.

Please see our infographic with examples of how this adaptation could apply for students certificating in 2022. 

Information Technologies

There is no reduction in assessment for Cambridge Nationals Information Technologies as it only has two units.

However, where a student was due to take an assessment in summer 2020, or summer 2021, students are able to have a deferred assessed grade for that unit from summer 2020 or a unit teacher assessed grade from summer 2021, leaving the assessment for one unit to complete.

Please see our infographic with examples of how the deferred assessed grades for summer 2020 or unit teacher assessed grades for summer 2021 apply to Information Technologies:

Further adaptations for Cambridge Nationals in Information Technologies
As there is no reduction in assessment for Information Technologies (as it only has two units), for unit R013, we are planning to allow submission of the January 2022 assignment in the June 2022 series.

This adaptation is to help students who have started the assignment for the January 2022 series but face disruption when completing it.

To support student revision, advance information will be provided about the focus of content for the examined unit R012: Understanding tools, techniques, methods and processes for technological solutions, to be assessed in January and June 2022.

We will provide the advance information approximately eight weeks before the exams, which is:

• week beginning 15 November 2021 for the January 2022 series
• week beginning 21 March 2022 for the June 2022 series.

Advance information for the January 2022 series will be different from the advance information for June 2022.