We want to enable students to progress with results that are as fair as possible. We’re committed to working collaboratively with schools and colleges and providing the detailed support and guidance you need so the process of determining student grades is clear and is manageable alongside your teaching.
We’ll be updating these FAQs and our guidance and support on our website regularly.
How students taking GCSEs, AS and A Levels will get results this summer
Since GCSE, AS and A Level exams were cancelled in January, teachers and students have been waiting to hear how grades would be awarded this summer. The DfE and Ofqual have now announced how GCSE, AS and A Level students will get results.
We want to enable your students to progress with results that are as fair as possible. We’re committed to working collaboratively with schools and colleges and providing the detailed support and guidance you need so the process of determining student grades is clear and is manageable alongside your teaching. To find out the next steps and see how we will be supporting you throughout the weeks and months ahead, please see our basic timeline that outlines the key stages ahead for you.
How will grades be determined?
How will grades be determined in summer 2021?
- Teachers will determine grades for students based on a range of evidence. It is important that grades represent a holistic, objective judgement based on evidence of each student’s performance in each subject.
- In coming to their holistic judgements, teachers will use their professional judgement to balance the full range of evidence available for each student against the performance standard set out in the grade descriptors and exemplification material, in line with the centre’s internal quality assurance process.
- Heads of Centre should ensure that students have the opportunity to show the full breadth of their knowledge and understanding in each subject based on what they have been taught.
What standard are teachers using this year?
- Centres should seek to make it no easier or harder for a student to achieve a particular grade this year compared to previous years. This is the same advice that was given to schools and colleges in summer 2020 – the expected performance standard for a grade has not changed.
- As part of their internal quality assurance, centres should consider the grades for this year’s cohort compared to cohorts from recent years when exams have taken place (2017, 2018 or 2019), where they can be confident that a consistent national standard was applied.
Will the grade distribution look like previous years?
- Schools and colleges are required to compare the grades they submit this year with cohorts from previous years, when exams have taken place. However, grading judgements should not be driven by this data. Historical grade data should only be considered after grading judgements have been made.
- At all times, it will be the evidence of students’ work that must form the basis for each student’s grade. Centres should not change grades only on the basis of data comparison.
What safeguards are in place to guard against any possibility of conscious or unconscious bias in teacher assessments which could mean a student’s ability is misunderstood or underestimated?
- Ofqual has provided detailed guidance to schools and colleges on this matter.
- Schools and colleges should ensure that this is considered as part of their internal quality assurance.
Where can I find more information on grading?
JCQ has published FAQs on grading in summer 2021.
More information on grading can also be found on our summer 2021 pages of the OCR website.
We have also produced a summer 2021 grading roundtable video to answer some of your questions.
Assessment evidence – GCSE, AS and A Levels
The DfE has outlined the range of assessment evidence you can use from throughout the course of study. We’ve prepared a short video below to outline these details for GCSEs, AS and A Levels to help you plan ahead.
What materials are you providing to help support my grading judgements?
Awarding bodies are providing a package of support materials including questions, mark schemes, data about how students typically performed and exemplar materials, as well as advice for teachers about content coverage, topic selection, marking and making grading judgements.
This will be based on past questions and will include a proportion of previously unpublished questions for every subject.
The use of these materials is optional and they will be part of the range of evidence teachers could use to determine the teacher assessed grade.
What's available when?
31 March: As well as publishing additional assessment materials, we've published grade descriptors on our public website. These are general statements giving a high-level reflection of student performance at a number of grades. On 19 April, we will publish OCR-specific exemplification of these grade descriptors, using real student responses to past papers and NEA where available.
12 April: We've published performance data and marking exemplars alongside the additional assessment materials on the Grade Submission System.
19 April: We've published grading exemplars (student responses from historical exam papers) to further help you determine grades.
Please note that on 19 April, our additional assessment materials (without mark schemes) were published on our public website for students.
For more information about the additional assessment material, please see our article
Will you mark the additional assessment materials completed by our students?
No, we will not be offering an external marking service.
What evidence will (and will not) be used to determine student grades?
- Awarding bodies will not prescribe the evidence that centres must use. Teachers can draw on existing records and available evidence from any point in the course. Centres should make sure that students are aware of the evidence that will form the basis of their final grade.
- Schools and colleges should aim to base their judgments on evidence that clearly relates to the specification, in terms of both content and assessment.
- It is not necessary for every aspect of the specification to be assessed to arrive at a grade. The aim is to include evidence that assesses the student’s ability across a reasonable range of subject content reflecting, where possible, all assessment objectives, as set out in qualification specifications.
- As far as possible, the sources of evidence should be consistent across a class or cohort of students, and centres should record the reasons for their selection.
- In cases where students have experienced significant disruption, however, some flexibility may be required.
- Centres should use data on historical student and centre performance to help support their internal quality assurance process. Looking at centre’s outcomes over a three-year period in which exams took place (2017-2019), at subject and at centre level, may be a good approach to benchmarking outcomes for 2021. However, grading judgements should not be driven by this data. Historical grade data should only be considered after grading judgements have been made.
- At all times, it will be the evidence of students’ work that must form the basis for each student’s grade. Centres should not change grades only on the basis of data comparison.
Why is there no minimum requirement coverage of the syllabus in each subject?
- Students have been affected differently across the country and within individual schools or colleges, therefore it is not appropriate to set a minimum requirement for content to have been covered in any subject. This would inevitably lead to unfairness in some circumstances.
- As far as possible, the sources of evidence should be consistent across a class or cohort of students, and centres should record the reasons for their selection.
Why are students not being asked to complete the same externally set papers?
- Awarding bodies were asked to design topic tests and provide additional items that teachers can utilise in any way they choose, rather than sampling from the full subject content as would normally be the case with exams. This was to ensure that students could demonstrate their performance on content they have been taught.
- Setting externally set papers, would have been equivalent to setting exams.
How will disruption to learning be accommodated?
- Students will only be graded on their performance based on the subject content they have been taught. Students will be told what evidence is going to be used, so that they have the opportunity to raise any genuine and valid concerns.
- The range of evidence is flexible and can be tailored to an individual student according to coverage of the specification.
- While there is no set requirement for the minimum amount of content that students must have been taught, each Head of Centre will have to confirm that students have been taught sufficient content to allow progression to the next stage of their education.
- Reasonable adjustments for disabled students and access arrangements should have been in place when evidence was generated. Where they were not, centres should consider using other evidence or take it into account when coming to their judgement.
- Special consideration requests will not apply in the usual way this summer because students will not be taking their exams. However, where illness or other personal circumstances might have temporarily affected performance, for example in mock exams, centres should bear that in mind when making their judgements. As the range of evidence is flexible and can be tailored to an individual student according to coverage of the specification, then instances of special consideration should be limited.
Retention of evidence
It is important that, where possible, all evidence on which a candidate’s grade is based, including copies of the candidate’s work and any mark records, is retained safely by the centre as this will be needed to support their own determination of students’ grades and the internal and external quality assurance processes and appeals.
JCQ has produced guidance on retention of candidates' work for the summer 2021 series.
Submitting grades this summer
As part of the work to give students' results this summer, we’ll be asking you to submit teacher assessed grades by the 18 June 2021 using our grade submission system which is the same system you used for summer 2020. The grade submission system will allow you to enter teacher assessed grades from 26 May 2021.
When should we determine the teacher assessed grades?
Teachers should determine the grades as late in the academic year as is practicable, and not confined to a defined window, to enable teaching to continue for as long as possible.
Can we tell students their teacher assessed grades?
No, you cannot tell students the teacher assessed grade before results are issued.
Internal Quality Assurance
What do schools and colleges need to do?
- All centres are required to create a centre policy setting out the processes to be followed for determining grades in an appropriate, consistent and fair way. A pre-populated template option is available, which can be adopted in full or amended. Heads of Centre will also need to produce a summary of the policy. You will only be required to produce one full centre policy and complete one centre policy summary, even if you have entries with more than one awarding organisation.
- The centre policy summary is an online form to be completed on the JCQ Centre Admin Portal (CAP) by 30 April 2021 (the window for submission opens on 12 April 2021). The full centre policy should also be uploaded as an attachment when the summary form is completed. The JCQ Centre Admin Portal can be accessed via any of the awarding bodies' secure extranet sites, eg Interchange.
- A PDF of the content of the centre policy summary can be found on the JCQ website.
- A declaration by the Head of Centre is required to finalise the submission of grades. This is done for each subject with OCR via the Grade Submission System.
External Quality Assurance
What does the external quality assurance process look like?
Awarding bodies will conduct virtual visits with schools and colleges where the policy summary indicates further support and guidance may be required.
The final stage of the quality assurance process is to confirm that centres have implemented what is in their Centre Policies and that their submitted grades reflect this. This will include targeted and random sampling. Awarding bodies will decide whether to accept the grades submitted by centres or undertake further review.
When will awarding organisations investigate malpractice?
- Centres are required to submit grades that have been determined in line with published guidance and their own Centre Policy.
- Malpractice can occur through genuine error or intent, particularly around the determination of grades.
- Awarding organisations will investigate credible allegations of malpractice or issues reported from our monitoring processes that raise concerns about a failure to follow the published requirements for determining grades.
- Centres which identify such incidents should report them to the appropriate awarding organisation as normal.
- Students might attempt to gain an unfair advantage during the centre’s process by, for example, submitting fabricated evidence or plagiarised work. Such incidents would constitute malpractice and centres are asked to report these to the appropriate awarding organisation in the normal way.
- Students, or individuals acting on behalf of a student, such as parents/guardians, might also try to influence grade decisions by applying pressure to centres or their staff. The awarding organisations anticipate that the majority of such instances will be dealt with by the centre internally – in such cases, we ask that the centres retain clear and reliable records of the circumstances and the steps taken, and that students are made aware of the outcome. However, if a student continues to inappropriately attempt to pressure centre staff then please inform the relevant awarding organisation. The awarding organisations will contact any centre if credible allegations that such pressure has been applied are received in order that appropriate steps can be taken.
GCSE, AS and A Level NEA arrangements for summer 2021
Students should continue to work on their non-examination assessment (NEA), including for Project qualifications. NEA will be marked by teachers and will contribute to the overall grade, whether or not it has been completed.
Exam boards are not required to moderate NEA, this means you will not need to submit marks or samples to OCR.
Practical endorsements
You should submit your centre’s A Level Sciences and GCSE English spoken language practical endorsement grades in the usual way using Interchange or EDI. Please submit these by 18 June 2021.
Guidance on how to submit endorsement grades can be found on the OCR website.
Working from home
For centres with candidates completing GCSE, AS and A Level qualifications with NEA components this summer, the JCQ has now provided information on how these candidates may complete work at home.
Sharing NEA marks and NEA internal reviews
Where NEA has been completed to inform teacher assessed grades, there is no requirement either to provide the student with the mark for their NEA, or to have an internal review process about that mark as there is in a normal year.
Can we choose to share the NEA mark?
If the NEA mark is part of a basket of evidence, it is fine to share the mark with the student, making it clear the NEA mark does not equal the teacher assessed grade you will be submitting.
For subjects where a completed NEA is the only evidence that is being used, Extended Project (EPQ) or Art and Design for example, and the NEA mark would effectively reveal the teacher assessed grade being submitted, it should not be shared.
GCSE, AS/A Level and Entry Level Physical Education: NEA advice and guidance for summer 2021
The Ofqual guidance on the types of evidence which centres should use in determining teacher assessed grades recommends the use of “non-exam assessment (NEA) work, even if this has not been fully completed”.
For OCR Physical Education NEA, we have produced additional advice for centres in summer 2021.
Other General Qualifications: Core Maths, Entry Level (GQ), EPQ and FSMQ
We can confirm that the arrangements for GCSE, AS and A Level also apply to Core Maths, Entry Level (GQ), EPQ and FSMQ. For more details about the teacher assessed grades process, please see the JCQ Guidance on the JCQ website. This guidance covers other General Qualifications although there may be minor differences in the quality assurance process – we'll provide more details about this shortly.
Where can we find more guidance on teacher assessed grades for Entry Level (GQ) qualifications?
Please see our subject information update on Entry Level teacher assessed grades for summer 2021.
Do we need a centre policy for Entry Level (GQ) qualifications?
If you are submitting a JCQ centre policy for other qualifications from any awarding body via the JCQ Centre Admin Portal (CAP), Entry Level (GQ) should be incorporated into this policy. You do not need a separate policy.
We only offer Entry Level (GQ) qualifications from OCR, do we need to submit a centre policy?
- If you are submitting a policy as required for other qualifications from another awarding body via CAP, Entry Level (GQ) should be incorporated into this policy. You do not need a separate centre policy.
- If you are not submitting a JCQ policy for any other qualifications you offer from other awarding bodies, you will need to submit a centre policy to OCR via the JCQ Centre Admin Portal (CAP).
Do we need a separate centre policy for FSMQ or Core Maths?
No, your JCQ Centre Policy for GCSE/AS/A Level from any awarding body also covers FSMQ and Core Maths
We only offer FSMQ and/or Core Maths with OCR, do we need to submit a centre policy?
- If you are submitting a policy as required for other qualifications from another awarding body via the JCQ Centre Admin Portal (CAP), you do not need a separate centre policy for FSMQ or Core Maths
- If you are not submitting a JCQ policy for any other qualifications you offer from other awarding bodies, you will need to submit a centre policy via the JCQ Centre Admin Portal (CAP).
Can we choose to share the NEA mark for EPQ?
For subjects where a completed NEA is the only evidence that is being used, Extended Project (EPQ) or Art and Design for example, and the NEA mark would effectively reveal the teacher assessed grade being submitted, it should not be shared.
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