Moderated assessment arrangements for Cambridge Nationals include non-exam arrangements, coursework and portfolios, which are all referred to as candidate work.
Read this section together with the following documents:
If you are working with other centres to deliver the assessment, you need to apply to become a consortium.
Centres should mark each piece of work according to the instructions and criteria provided in the specification for each unit.
Forms to help you mark and administer candidate work – many of them interactive – are provided.
These may be called a cover sheet, a unit recording recording sheet, or centre assessment form, depending on the specification.
You can download all the forms from our handy forms finder (they are also available on each qualification page).
Complete one per candidate and attach it to the front of their work.
Each candidate must sign a declaration before submitting their work to their teacher to confirm the work is their own and any assistance given and/or sources used have been acknowledged. A sample can be downloaded here:
It is the responsibility of centres to ensure every candidate does this.
These statements should be retained within the centre until all reviews of results, malpractice and appeals issues have been resolved.
Teachers are required to declare the work submitted for internal assessment is the candidate's own work by completing a centre authentication form (CCS160) for each unit. These should be kept within the centre until all reviews of results, malpractice and appeals have been resolved. This is also a requirement for private candidates.
Centres must carry out internal standardisation to ensure marks awarded by different teachers are accurate and consistent across all candidates entered for the unit from that centre.
If centres are working together in a consortium, you must carry out internal standardisation of marking across the consortium.
You must ensure marks for all candidates, not just those in the sample, are checked for both addition and transcription errors before submission.
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All marking and internal standardisation must be completed in good time and before the marks are submitted to OCR and the moderator.
Deadlines for submitting marks, grades and authentication are available in the key dates document.
Marks should be submitted electronically to OCR by one of the following methods:
- Interchange – see our step-by-step instructions for submitting marks and grades
- EDI files sent via A2C – follow the instructions in your own management information system for inputting marks for the relevant components. The common format for submitting marks is outlined in the JCQ Formats document.
Moderation cannot begin until we have received all the marks.
Marks must also be posted to the OCR moderator (or uploaded to the OCR Repository).
If a candidate did not produce work, the candidate should be submitted as absent.
If we do not receive your marks we will contact you.
View our step-by-step instructions on using Interchange to submit marks/grades.
If you discover an error with a previously submitted candidate mark, you will need to complete the Amendment to centre marks or Amendment to endorsement grades form:
- Log in to Interchange, click on ‘Resources and materials’ and then ‘Pre-release materials’ and download the form.
- Complete the form, providing the original total and amended total mark/grade for the component.
- Email the form to centre.marksamends@ocr.org.uk from a centre email address.
- Send a copy of the Amendment to centre marks form to the moderator (you do not need to send the Amendment to endorsement grades form).
If you amend a mark after moderation has started, we may require the work relating to the relevant candidate.
If this is the case, we will let you know and tell you where to send the work.
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You will be sent address labels to send the marks and forms to the moderator. (You will also be sent enough copies of the labels to send candidate work to the moderator.)
If you have still not received your labels three days before the mark submission deadline, you can request emergency moderator address information from Interchange.
To do this, log in to Interchange, hover over ‘Resources and materials’ in the left menu, click on ‘Emergency exam labels’ and follow the on-screen instructions.
Requests should be processed within 12 hours.
Before posting the sample of work to the moderator, make sure the address on the moderator label matches the address on the sample request.
If it doesn't, please contact our Customer Support Centre.
Once you have submitted your marks to OCR and your moderator you will receive a moderation sample request.
For most specifications you will receive a sample request via email from noreply@ocr.org.uk (see Exceptions below).
Once we start to send sample requests (usually at the beginning of the month in which the mark submission deadline falls), you will normally receive a sample request within one or two days of submitting your marks.
If you are part of a consortium we will wait until we have received marks from each centre before sending a sample request.
Samples will include work from across the range of attainment of the candidates’ work.
The size of the sample we request depends on the number of candidates for the relevant unit/component:
| Number of candidates for the unit/component at the centre |
Total sample size requested |
| Up to 15 |
All candidates |
| 16-100 |
15 candidates |
| 101-200 |
20 candidates |
| More than 200 |
25 candidates |
As we send sample requested via email, it’s essential the email address we hold for your exams officer is correct.
This is the address that is held on the JCQ National Centre Number Register.
If you need to change this email address and, therefore, your exams officer contact details, please send the updated details on centre-headed paper to the JCQ National Centre Number Register as an email attachment to ncn@ocr.org.uk.
We can only hold one email address per centre so please do not change this address unless you wish all exams office communications to be sent to a different address.
Depending on the final entry option, candidate samples can be submitted via the OCR Repository, post or via a moderation visit.
- When making your final entries, the entry option specifies how to submit the sample of work for each unit/component.
- For each of these units/components, all candidate marks and work must be submitted to the moderator using the same entry option.
- It is not possible for centres to offer both options for a unit within the same series, but you can choose different options for different units.
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Submitting work via the OCR Repository
The OCR Repository enables centres to submit candidate work electronically for moderation and is an option for most specifications. (You can check this in the entry codes booklet.)
You should select this option when you make your entries. Once you receive your sample request, you should upload the work to the OCR Repository within three working days of receiving the request.
More information about how to log in and select your candidates is available at the OCR Repository.
The sample of candidate work must be posted to the moderator within three working days of receiving the request.
Please ensure the address on the moderator label matches the address provided on the sample request. If they do not match, please use the address provided on the sample request and make sure to use labels for the correct series (not leftover labels from previous series).
On rare occasions, work can get lost in the postal system. We strongly advise you to keep evidence of work submitted to the moderator, e.g. copies of annotated versions of written work or photographs of practical work.
You should obtain a certificate of posting for all work posted to the moderator.
Please ensure you include a return address on the packaging, just in case there is a problem with the delivery. We recommend you do not use courier services or other specialist postage methods, as moderators may experience difficulty receiving deliveries, which can delay moderation.
If you’re sending removable media such as USBs, DVDs, etc, we recommend you send unencrypted data wherever possible. If you have no other option than to use encrypted data:
- Save the work as usual.
- Clearly label the removable data with your centre number and component number and send it to the OCR assessor.
- Print the password out together with your centre name, number and component details and send it to the assessor in a separate package.
- Email OCR at NEApasswords@ocr.org.uk with your centre number, the component number and the password.
For some units/components (see the entry codes booklet), rather than posting or uploading the sample, the sample will be viewed by a visiting moderator.
The moderator arranges a visit at a date and time convenient to both parties.
Due to internal safeguarding policies we appreciate centres may need to see identification from visiting moderators before they are allowed access to the site. We do not issue visiting moderators with any form of identification, and we have advised moderators they should bring the following with them to any visit:
- A valid form of photo identification (e.g. passport, driver’s licence)
- A copy of their OCR invitation to moderate
- A valid DBS certificate if they have one (we do not require visiting moderators to hold a valid DBS certificate in order to fulfil the role).
We also suggest visiting moderators arrange to meet their named contact on arrival at the centre, as they will have the moderator’s details and can verify these with their identification.
If your safeguarding policy requires some form of supervision for visitors whilst on site, this requirement should be discussed with the moderator before the visit so there is no impact on the moderation process.
We have advised visiting moderators of what identification they should take with them on visits; however, if you have any concerns then please contact our Customer Support Centre.
In the case of a candidate for whom the internally assessed work has been lost or is missing, or where the work is damaged or is incomplete, then you must apply for special consideration.
In addition, if the candidate concerned forms part of the requested sample, you must substitute an equivalent candidate’s work on, or as near as possible to, the same mark point.
In certain circumstances we may request to see incomplete portfolio evidence where an application has been made.
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Usually, internally assessed units are externally moderated.
Moderation is designed to bring the marking of internally assessed units in all participating centres to an agreed standard by checking a sample of the marking of candidate work.
At this stage, centres may be required to resolve any issues the moderator discovers during the external moderation.
Centres may receive one of the following requests, usually by email.
- Additional sample request – If the moderator needs you to provide additional work for moderation, please respond as quickly as possible so your candidates’ results are not delayed.
- Notification of clerical errors – We have amended the internally assessed marks you provided, usually following an incorrect transcription or incorrect addition of the marks. You must follow the instructions on the form and make sure the remaining work, which was not part of the sample, is checked.
- Notification of invalid order of merit – If, on the evidence of the sample, the moderator is not satisfied the marking has produced a single valid and reliable order of merit of your candidates’ performances, the work will be returned to you to re-mark. You will need to submit the new marks to OCR and return the sample to the moderator before moderation can continue.
Centres will usually receive the outcome of moderation when the provisional results are issued.
The following reports will be issued via Interchange.
- Moderation adjustments report – This lists any scaling that has been applied to internally assessed units or components. This report is updated twice – once after results are released and once after the post‐results period.
- Moderator report to centres – This is a brief report by the moderator on the internal assessment of candidates’ work. (PE reports are issued in hard copy rather than via Interchange.)
Centres will usually receive the outcome of moderation when the provisional results are issued.
The following reports will be issued via Interchange.
- Moderation adjustments report – This lists any scaling that has been applied to internally assessed units or components. This report is updated twice – once after results are released and once after the post‐results period.
- Moderator report to centres – This is a brief report by the moderator on the internal assessment of candidates’ work. (PE reports are issued in hard copy rather than via Interchange.)
If work was posted to OCR for moderation or selected during visiting moderation, it will normally be returned to centres.
However, we may be required to retain some items as exemplar material for awarding, regulation, archive, teacher training and educational purposes.
We will inform you if work is required. In some circumstances, we may need to request work from a centre.
In such cases, your co-operation in supplying material is much appreciated.
Candidate work should be retained by centres under secure conditions until after the deadline for review of results or until any appeal, malpractice or other results enquiry has been completed, whichever is later. This applies to all work – whether or not it was part of the moderation sample.
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