Reformed qualifications: Results

This blog has been updated for the June 2019 series.

This year we’ll be continuing to issue results for our reformed AS and A Levels and GCSEs (9-1). You have probably now had a couple of years’ experience administering the results for these reformed linear qualifications – if you’re new to exams or need a refresher, you can read our explanation on how linear qualifications and their grade boundaries work. 

We’ve almost reached the end of the reform process now. A number of legacy AS and A Levels have their final resit opportunity this year and lesser taught languages will be the last legacy AS and A Levels with a final resit opportunity in 2020. 

It’s a similar picture for GCSE – all of the legacy GCSEs are now complete other than some lesser taught languages available for the last time this summer so for many of you this will be the first year that all candidates receive all of their GCSE results using the new 9-1 gradeset. 

There’s further information on 9-1 results grading and a list of qualifications being awarded for the first time in 2019 on our 9 to 1 GCSE grading web page.

In this blog, I wanted to provide a summary of how our results documents can support your results days since results information is available in different places. 

EDI results files 

As well as the qualification grades, we’re now including overall marks for the reformed linear GCSE, AS and A Level qualifications in our results files (except for any qualifications with an endorsement – due to formatting constraints, there isn't room in the file to include the marks as well as the endorsement grades so there will be no overall mark for GCSE English or A Level Sciences).

Component results will be available in both our Interchange reports and via our results analysis service, Active Results – described below. 

We’ll be providing refreshed EDI results files weekly until the end of October via Interchange. To access the updated files, log in to Interchange, hover over ‘Results’ in the left-hand menu and click on ‘EDI Results’ – if you do choose to use these files, they will overwrite any manual changes you’ve made to results.

Interchange results reports 

These ‘centre reports’ are available on Interchange from restricted results release date. A full explanation and examples of all the reports are available on our web page. For the reformed linear qualifications, the following reports are particularly useful: 

• Candidate statement of marks – This 'results slip' is similar to the candidate statement of results but also includes the total qualification mark and component raw and weighted marks for our linear qualifications which are not shown on the candidate statement of results. This is available as a PDF which can be printed out one statement per candidate or exported to a CSV.
  
• Results and grade thresholds report – This centre report is available in CSV and PDF formats. It shows the qualification grade, total qualification mark, component raw and weighted marks and the weighting factors. The PDF version also includes a results summary and grade thresholds. Issued by subject, when it is sorted by candidate, it becomes a useful reference for how each candidate performed at component level.

NB The 'raw marks' within the statement of marks include any special consideration and, for moderated components, any scaling that has been applied during moderation. In the results and grade threshold report, the 'raw marks' are the pure, raw marks, without special consideration or scaling.

Grade boundary information 

For linear qualifications, grade boundaries are set at qualification level; however, to see how performance in a particular component contributes to the overall qualification grade, we publish ‘notional’ grade boundaries at component level. 

Qualification level and notional component level grade boundary information is available from Interchange on restricted release date and then the grade boundaries page of the OCR website on results days.

It’s worth bearing in mind our raw mark to UMS converter doesn’t apply for the new linear qualifications as they don’t have UMS and so it isn’t needed! 

Active Results 

Results can be analysed using our free results analysis service, Active Results (accessed from candidate results release days). To access Active Results, you need either the centre administrator or tutor/teacher roles so it’s a good idea to make sure everyone within your centre has the right access before results day. 

One of the most useful reports for the new linear qualifications is the candidate unit report, which provides a full breakdown of marks and notional grades at component level, just as it does for current unit-based qualifications.

Specific information on topic areas and questions is available in other reports. More information about Active Results can be found on our web pages. 

I hope results day goes smoothly this year!

About the author

Alison Leather - Customer Support Manager (South East)

Alison is Customer Support Manager for the South East region. The Customer Support Team provides support, training and guidance for centres administering OCR qualifications.

Alison has worked in education since 1995, as an Exams Manager in a college, a Centre Support Officer with the National Assessment Agency (NAA) and an Exams Officer in a secondary school – so she knows how challenging and rewarding it can be working in the exams office. Alison joined OCR as Customer Support Manager in 2007.