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21 April 2026

Tag: GCSEs

How long do GCSE remarks take? An increasingly long time…

Pupils needing GCSE remarks before confirming a college place are waiting increasingly long times, Ofqual figures show. On average, pupils waited an average 11 days last year before receiving the results of remarked individual exams, known as Priority Service 2 reviews. In 2013 the figure was 10 days, and in 2010 it was just seven. […]

How do examiners decide grades?

The exams are finished and GCSE and A-level students are heading off for summer. But there are 12 weeks – and a lot of work – from “pens down” to results day Did you hear that noise? It’s the sound of thousands of students collectively breathing a sigh of relief. If April is the cruellest […]

“Our primary goal should be to make exams better, not harder”

Last week, Schools Week put schools minister Nick Gibb and OCR chief executive Mark Dawe head-to-head to answer: “Should we make the GCSE pass rate harder?” Here, Pearson’s UK president Rod Bristow puts his thoughts forward. I’d like to congratulate Schools Week for providing a platform for this very important debate. It’s one that’s sure […]

Let鈥檚 move towards graduation at 18

Tristram Hunt is right to suggest a move away from exams at 16-plus. But there’s a danger in his proposals for a 14-19 curriculum Most developed countries have graduation at 18. Few tests are taken at 16-plus and if they are, they are restricted to core subjects. The OECD found in 2011 that just 15 […]

鈥榃e were not prepared to accept the status quo鈥�

Should we make the GCSE pass rate harder? In response to Mark Dawes The new GCSEs will be challenging. But schools are in an excellent position to deliver qualifications that at last will prepare students to succeed in a demanding economy In September, schools will begin teaching the new maths and English GCSEs to year […]

What about the pupils caught in the middle?

Should we make the GCSE pass rate harder? Click here for schools minister Nick Gibb’s response to Mark The numbers deemed a fail by the government at GCSE are likely to increase 15 to 20 per cent in summer 2017. That will mean a lot more resits in a system already under tremendous strain. And […]

How we could abandon GCSEs and make 14-19 education work

Expecting students to take a plethora of exams at 16 makes little sense in a modern context. By stripping back the number of externally-assessed subjects for this age group, we could introduce far greater flexibility into our education system To my mind, many of the reforms to qualifications made in the life cycle of the […]

How do exam writers put together questions for tests?

After an Edexcel GCSE maths question about Hannah’s sweets went viral on Twitter yesterday, exam writer Paula Goddard gives an insight into the way question papers are put together. The probability of orange sweeties and calculating the size of a lump of cheese – clearly the examination question writer was feeling a bit peckish when […]

‘Rigour’ mortis for Gove GCSEs?

In November 2013, Michael Gove reminded us the Coalition had “outlined plans for changes to GCSE qualifications designed to address the grade inflation, dumbing down and loss of rigour in those examinations”. “Rigour” was Gove’s watchword. More rigorous exams in English and Maths would be first examined in 2017. This meant teachers had to be […]