GCSE Chemistry A: What is the difference between the Gateway Science Suite and the Twenty First Century Science Suite?

The simplest answer is that Gateway Science takes the traditional conceptual approach similar to that taken by the other GCSE sciences from the other exam boards. Twenty First Century Science is context led (related to everyday application of science) and available as separate science GCSEs and Combined Science GCSE (unlike AQA Synergy).

The other key difference between Gateway Science and Twenty First Century Science is how they are assessed. Gateway Science assesses half of the content in paper 1, and the other half (as well as some synoptic links) in paper 2, for all specifications in the Suite. Gateway question papers use MCQs (multiple choice questions) at the beginning of each paper: the first 10 questions on Combined Science papers and the first 15 in separate science papers.

In Twenty First Century separate sciences, both papers assess the full specification. Paper 1 is called ‘Breadth’ and contains short answer questions, multiple choice, line draw and so on. Paper 2 is called ‘Depth’ and focuses more in depth on the  content, and here you will find longer questions (including 2 Level of Response questions).

In Twenty First Century Combined Science, there are only 4 papers. There is one paper for each Science, and then a ‘Combined’ paper, which covers all three sciences within it.

For both Gateway and Twenty First Century we have designed the assessments to increase their accessibility for all candidates. We have summarised our accessibility principles and how they work in two short booklets that can also help students to understand how OCR science question papers work.

For both Gateway and Twenty First Century we have designed the assessments to increase their accessibility for all candidates. We have summarised our accessibility principles and how they work in two short booklets that can also help students to understand how OCR science question papers work.

Exploring our question papers – Gateway Science

Exploring our question papers – Twenty First Century Science