Our new ‘reduction in assessment’ area of Interchange is now available for you to:
- Tell us which Cambridge Nationals and/or Cambridge Technicals units you are using the reduction in assessment for
- Upload your Head of Centre declaration.
Please do this by 15 May 2022.
A step-by-step guide for using the reduction in assessment area is available on the OCR website. We have provided video guides and FAQs below.
When completing the spreadsheet, it is useful to use the entry codes booklet to check the unit numbers and guided learning hours (GLH) of the unit(s) where assessment is being reduced.
Cambridge Nationals video guide
Cambridge Technicals video guide
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
I can't see the reduction in assessment link in the left-hand menu in Interchange, what do I do?
To access the reduction in assessment area you need the 'Centre Administrator' role on Interchange. If you are not the centre administrator, please contact your administrator (usually your exams officer) and they can download the spreadsheets for you to complete. These will need to be returned to your centre administrator to upload once complete.
A candidate I was expecting to appear is not available on the spreadsheet, what do I do?
- For Cambridge Nationals: If your candidate is not included on your spreadsheet template and they are certificating in 2021/22, this will be because you have not made a certification entry for June 2022 and/or you have not made a unit entry for the unit in June 2022.
If the candidate is certificating in June 2022, you should make the unit and/or certification entry. The candidate will be added to the spreadsheet template within 24 hours. You will need to download the template again.
If the student is not certificating in June 2022 (for example your Year 10 students) they will not appear on the spreadsheet template. You do not need to submit a spreadsheet template now for these students. We will ask you to do this in the series of certification. You just need to tell us how many students you are planning to use the reduction for through an online form (accessed from the reduction in assessment area of Interchange).
- For Cambridge Technicals: Please check the candidate has a qualification entry (registration) for the course. If the qualification entry has not been made, please make it now. The entry will take 24 hours to appear on the spreadsheet template.
You will need to download the spreadsheet template again. Where you need to make additional entries, please wait until the entries are processed and then download an updated template.
A qualification I was expecting to appear is not available, what do I do?
If you do not see a qualification, you first need to check you have made your entries.
Once uploaded why doesn’t my spreadsheet validate?
Validation may take a few minutes. To see the latest status, you will need to refresh the dashboard screen either by clicking the refresh button on your browser or by pressing 'F5'.
Cambridge Nationals only: The qualification appears on our dashboard but there is no spreadsheet template to download, what do we do?
If you have made a certification entry (as the students are certificating in June 2022) but have not made any unit entries, the qualification will appear but there will not be a spreadsheet template to download. If you are using a reduction in assessment for these students, you will need to make a unit entry in the June 2022 series for the unit being reduced. A spreadsheet template will then be available to download within 24 hours.
Why are all the moderated units appearing in the spreadsheet template?
The spreadsheet contains all available moderated units for any qualifications you have entries for.
This may include units you have already completed. Please ignore columns for units that have been assessed as normal and units not applicable to you for this academic year.
I have submitted my file to OCR but I need to make some changes, what do I do?
Once you have submitted your files, the action button changes from 'edit' to 'reopen'. You can use this to 'reopen' the qualification and upload a replacement spreadsheet.
When you click on 'reopen', the status stays as 'submitted' until you try to upload a replacement file.
If I have already submitted a spreadsheet for a qualification, can I upload another spreadsheet just containing any candidates/units that have changed?
You can only have one uploaded spreadsheet for each qualification. If you upload a spreadsheet again, it will overwrite all previously submitted data for that qualification - it is not like an EDI amendment file. You must make sure the final spreadsheet you upload contains all the data for that qualification.
Cambridge Nationals error messages
If there are any errors, the qualification status will show as ‘File has errors’. You can click ‘Edit’ and then ‘View errors’ to download a spreadsheet listing any errors in the file. These are explained in more detail below:
|
Error messages from the error spreadsheet |
Explanation |
|
You have selected too many units. |
For Cambridge Nationals, you can only select one unit for a reduction in assessment per candidate. |
|
Error in cell <>. Please use ‘Y’ to indicate a reduction in assessment. |
You have entered a character other than 'Y' or 'y'. If a unit is being assessed as normal, leave the cell blank. |
|
New units cannot be added to this spreadsheet. Unit <> is not available as a reduction for this qualification. |
You have added an additional unit to the spreadsheet template. |
|
You cannot amend candidate details via this spreadsheet. |
You may have amended candidate details. You cannot amend any candidate details on the spreadsheet template. |
|
Candidate or qualification details cannot be added to or removed from this spreadsheet. |
You may have:
|
|
You have not selected any units or the column headings have been deleted. |
You may have:
|
|
Fixed Column(s) name must be in proper format |
One or more titles in the header row have been amended. |
|
Assessment(s) Header name missing in cell number(s) - <> |
One or more titles in the header row have been deleted. |
|
Invalid Assessment(s) Code are present in centre number(s) F1 |
You have tried to add a new unit column to the spreadsheet template. |
Cambridge Technicals error messages
If there are any errors, the qualification status will show as ‘File has errors’. You can click ‘Edit’ and then ‘View errors’ to download a spreadsheet listing any errors in the file. These are explained in more detail below:
|
Error messages from the error spreadsheet |
Explanation |
|
You have selected too many units. |
You can only select units for a reduction in assessment where the combined unit GLH selected per candidate does not exceed the scheme’s maximum allowed GLH to reduce.
Cambridge Technicals 2012 suite only If you use unit entries instead of a full qualification entry, you can only request a reduction in assessment for units that a candidate has been entered for. You may have entered a 'Y' for a unit that the candidate does not have a unit entry for. |
|
Error in cell <>. Please use ‘Y’ to indicate a reduction in assessment. |
You have entered a character other than 'Y' or 'y'. If a unit is being assessed as normal, leave the cell blank. |
|
New units cannot be added to this spreadsheet. Unit <> is not available as a reduction for this qualification. |
If you try to add a new unit column into the spreadsheet, regardless of it being examined, moderated or random text, it will fall to error.
Cambridge Technicals 2012 suite only If you use unit entries instead of a full qualification entry, you can only request a reduction in assessment for units that a candidate has been entered for. You may have entered a 'Y' for a unit that the candidate does not have a unit entry for. |
|
You cannot amend candidate details via this spreadsheet. |
You may have amended candidate details. You cannot amend any candidate details on the spreadsheet template. |
|
Candidate or qualification details cannot be added to or removed from this spreadsheet. |
You may have:
|
|
You have not selected any units or the column headings have been deleted. |
You may have:
|
|
Fixed Column(s) name must be in proper format |
One or more titles in the header row have been amended. |
|
Assessment(s) Header name missing in cell number(s) - <> |
One or more titles in the header row have been deleted completely. |
|
Invalid Assessment(s) Code are present in centre number(s) F1 |
You have tried to add a new unit column to the spreadsheet template. |
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.