Summer 2021: Additional assessment material

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.

• Published 31 March on the Grade Submission System – Sets of questions for all subjects, mark schemes and mapping grids. These materials can be used alongside the past papers and examiners' reports we normally provide.
• Published 31 March on the OCR website – We've published grade descriptors on the qualification pages of our public website. These are general statements giving a high-level reflection of student performance at a number of grades.
• Published 12 April on the Grade Submission System – Performance data for the additional assessment materials and marking exemplars across a wide range of subjects.
• Published 19 April on the Grade Submission System – Grading exemplars (student responses from historical exam papers) to further help you determine grades.
• Published 19 April on the OCR website  – Additional assessment materials without mark schemes and slimmed down mapping grids available to students on the OCR website.

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.

Which qualifications will you be providing additional assessment materials for?

• GCSE
• AS and A Level
• Core Maths and FSMQ
• Cambridge Nationals
• Cambridge Technicals

How do we access the additional assessment material?

The grade submission system used last year to submit grades is being used this year to download the additional assessment materials.

All users who were able to access the grade submission system last year will also be able to access the additional assessment materials. In addition, this year, there is a new ‘permission’ for those members of staff who only need to access the assessment materials.

What format are the additional assessment materials in?

The additional assessment materials include questions, mark schemes and exemplars as Word documents and PDFs, with some spreadsheets and, for subjects like music, mp3 and mp4 files. There is also extensive teacher guidance.

How is the material structured in the Grade Submission System?

The material is easy to access – split by qualification (AS, A Level, Core Maths and FSMQ; GCSE; Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals) and then divided into subjects, units/components.

Is there any support on how to access the material on the Grade Submission System?

Take a look at our step-by-step guides on the OCR website.

Do we have to use the additional assessment materials?

No, the use of our support materials is not compulsory, they are part of the range of evidence teachers could use to determine the grade.

Additional assessment materials - over 4000 sets of questions in editable formats based on past papers, plus mark schemes and mapping grids. Mapping grids, which are linked to assessment objectives, highlight the skills and content covered within a question, help you to identify gaps in the range of evidence used and find information that is most relevant to you. We've provided extensive general and subject specific guidance, alongside the questions. Please see the note below about student access to the additional assessment materials.

Marking exemplars - over 450 exemplars designed to support you to apply mark schemes when you're looking at your students' responses to questions. 

Performance data - question level data for use with our additional assessment materials. You can use the data to help you create bespoke tests or to determine whether a student's answer is performing above or below average. We've provided guidance to support your use of this data. 

Our additional assessment materials are optional and can be used flexibly to help you fill gaps in the evidence you have. Our wider support materials, such as the grading exemplars, can also help you to make grading decisions about other pieces of evidence you have.

Guidance for centres on modifying sets of questions

We believe centres are best placed to modify the sets of questions provided as additional assessment materials to cater for individual student needs as you will know the needs of your students and their normal ways of working. 

Centres can use past papers where possible to access these previously modified materials. Past modified question papers can be accessed on the qualification page or Interchange for more recent papers. The mapping grids available with the additional assessment material will indicate where modified versions are available.

For more guidance, including advice on providing adjustments for students with visual impairments, please see the JCQ Guidance. 

Where you are unable to adapt the materials, eg materials in Braille, you should contact us to find an appropriate solution, which in exceptional circumstances may include the production of modified versions, whether in a modified enlarged format or in Braille.

Please contact us as soon as possible and no later than 30 April 2021 so we can support you with this: modified.papers@ocr.org.uk