Supporting exams officers on results days 2023: GCSEs, AS and A Levels

Alison Leather – Customer Support Manager for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex

In this blog I’ll provide a summary of what’s available on the GCSE, AS and A Level results days, and how our results documents can support you. Remember, you can view our full guidance on managing results on our website.

This year, GCSEs, AS and A Levels are returning to pre-pandemic grading standards. Take a look at Ofqual’s latest blog on exam results in 2023.

When will results be issued?

Results will be issued to centres at 12.01am on the following dates, known as restricted release:

• 16 August: AS and A Level, Core Maths, Extended Project and FSMQ
• 23 August: GCSE and Entry Level
  

They can be given to students from 8am on results days (the day after restricted release). Please remember that results must remain confidential to the head of centre, exams office staff and senior members of teaching staff within the centre, the consortium or Multi-Academy Trust until this time.

Results data must also not be shared more widely until after the students have received their results. You can only release results to local authorities or the media after 9.30am on results day.

See the JCQ release of results guidance for further details.

If you need to contact us on restricted and candidate results days, our Customer Support Centre opens earlier than usual – you can reach them on 01223 553998 between 7am until 5pm.

EDI results files

We’ll be issuing EDI results files as normal just after midnight on restricted results release. To download the results files, you’ll need the latest version of the basedata. At the time of writing, we’ve only produced one version of the basedata but it’s always worth checking that you have the latest version – just in case! If you need help with refreshing your basedata, ESS SIMS have put together a YouTube video to show you how.

XML results files

We provide results files which contain component marks (in addition to qualification marks and grades) for linear qualifications such as GCSEs, AS and A Levels. 

Developed jointly by the JCQ awarding bodies, these XML files will be issued via the A2C Transport application at the same time as your EDI files and can be imported into your management information system (MIS). This will allow you to use this data to produce more in-depth analysis and reports for students, teachers and other stakeholders.

How to import the files will depend on your supplier’s implementation. Please contact your MIS supplier for more details.

You can read more about XML results files on the JCQ website. 

Updated results files

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

Interchange results reports

We know reporting component results for GCSE and A Levels, which are linear qualifications, can still be challenging. The following reports are designed to support you with this: 

• Candidate statement of marks (available in PDF and CSV format) – a results slip that shows the qualification grade, overall qualification mark and the raw and weighted component marks. You can generate this report for individual candidates, a candidate range or the whole cohort. The report updates automatically, taking into account any changes to results. You can see student-friendly examples of the statements of marks are available for A Levels and GCSEs. 
• Results and grade thresholds report (available in PDF and CSV format) – shows the qualification grade, overall qualification mark and component marks for each subject. In addition, the PDF version shows the weighting factors, results summary and grade boundaries. The report is updated daily until the end of the post-results period. Issued by subject, when it is sorted by candidate, it becomes a useful reference for how each candidate performed at component level. 

Please note: For moderated components, the 'raw marks' within the statement of marks and the results and grade thresholds report include any scaling applied during the moderation. For all components, the 'raw marks' within the statement of marks also include any special consideration adjustments, whereas the raw mark in the results and grade thresholds report does not include this.

To access the reports, log in to Interchange, hover over ‘Results’ and click on ‘Results documents’ in the left-hand menu.

Take a look at the results reports page of our website for more information and to find examples of all our reports.

Grade boundary information 

For GCSEs and A Levels, which are linear, 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. See our GCSE and A Level factsheets which explain what grade boundaries are and how results are calculated using them.

To minimise the chance of students feeling anxious if they see grade boundaries without their results, grade boundary information will be published on the OCR website at 8am on results day.

Grade boundaries will still be available to view on restricted release days on Interchange within the results and grade threshold report. However, grade boundaries must not be shared with students or more widely until 8am on results day – doing so could be considered malpractice.

Active Results

Results can be analysed using our free results analysis service, Active Results which is accessed via Interchange. You need either the Interchange centre administrator or tutor/teacher role, so it’s a good idea to make sure everyone within your centre has the right access before results day. 

June 2023 data will be available in Active Results at 8am on results days (candidate release) for general use and for analysis on the previous exams series. This year you’ll be able to see historic results data from June and November 2019, and January, June and November 2022. We won't be including any data on centre-assessed grades (CAGs) from June 2020 or teacher-assessed grades (TAGs) from June 2021. 

You can read more on Active Results and view step-by-step instructions on how to access each report on our website.

When managing the results days this summer, I hope they go smoothly for you, your colleagues and your students.

About the author

Alison Leather – Customer Support Manager

Alison is Customer Support Manager for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. 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.