Summer 2022 NEA: Entry Level Certificate in Mathematics

Caroline Hodgson, Maths Subject Advisor

Here at OCR we’ve had lots of queries from centres in recent weeks about marking coursework, or non-exam assessment (NEA). For the Entry Level Certificate in Mathematics (R449), the practical task is NEA.

There have been questions about how to apply the mark scheme. This isn’t surprising as it hasn’t been assessed for two years, so a larger number of teachers than normal will be submitting marks for moderation for the first time. We’ve also had questions about administrative requirements, and most particularly about whether any allowances should be made when marking for the abnormal and difficult circumstances many students have had to contend with while completing their assignments. 

As the JCQ guidance on NEA marking says: 

“When you come to assess your students’ NEA, you should mark all NEA using the published mark schemes, as you did before the pandemic disruption. If you have more than one person marking your NEA, you must carry out standardisation activities as usual in an exam year, to ensure all your markers are marking to the same standard and using the relevant mark scheme. 

You must not try to account for disruption your learners have experienced by marking more leniently than you would normally. Teachers should not be making holistic and speculative judgements about overall performance or potential. Your marking should be based solely on the completed work in accordance with the published mark scheme. Exam boards will moderate all NEA in the usual way this year.”

In the light of that recent JCQ announcement, and the queries we’ve had from you, we thought it would be helpful to provide a quick summary of the support available to ensure that you are marking to the correct standard.

Guides to applying the mark scheme

There are several resources that will help you have confidence in your application of the mark scheme for R449:

• We have a guide to Building your confidence in internal assessment, which can be found under Assessment guides on the Assessment section of our qualification page. Please note that you will need an Interchange password to access this guide which your exams officer will be able to help you with. 
• There is a useful Practical task (P3) guide, in which exemplar tasks, prompt cards and summary sheets can be found. This is held on Interchange and is located under the ‘Coursework and tests’ menu (Entry level tasks > Mathematics (R449)). 
• Candidate exemplars provide a helpful reference when carrying out your own marking. This resource is also located in the Assessment section of the qualification page. 
• Finally, do refer back to the reports on R449 which are published after each series, and which often include pointers on marking and annotation. You can access these on the Assessment section of the qualification page under Question papers, mark schemes and reports

Administrative points to remember

General information on NEA administration is available on our website. 

For Entry Level Certificate in Mathematics specifically there are a couple of points to remember:

• There is advice regarding the admin of non-examined assessment in section 4c of the R449 specification. 
• Summary sheets should be completed for each student entered for R449. These are found at the back of the Practical task (P3) guide (held on Interchange). 
• There is a Controlled assessment cover sheet and a Coursework summary form on the Administration section of our website. Please ensure these are completed for each student in the moderation sample.

Stay connected

If you have any questions, you can email us at maths@ocr.org.uk, call us on 01223 553998 or tweet us @OCR_Maths. You can also sign up to subject updates and receive information about resources and support.

About the author

Caroline has worked at OCR since 2002 in a variety of different roles within the maths team. She has been involved in the development of many GCSE Maths qualifications and currently has responsibility for GCSE Maths and Entry Level Maths. In her spare time, Caroline likes playing rounders and board games as well as spending time with her two sons.