Ofqual is seeking views about advance information that will
be given to students to help them focus their revision
before exams next summer.
The consultation, Advance information
about topics to be covered in GCSE, AS and A level exams in
2021 and support materials in exams, follows the
Department for Education’s decision earlier this month to
allow students to benefit from exceptional measures to
support students given the disruption caused by the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Students will be given advance information for many
subjects ahead of sitting GCSE, AS and A level exams next
summer. The nature of this will vary from subject to
subject. Some support materials, such as formulae sheets
and equations, will also be provided, for science and maths
exams for example.
Exam boards will decide what information will be provided
to teachers and students before the exams. This information
will be published at the end of January 2021. Before then,
Ofqual is seeking views on the broad principles that:
-
advance information should not be so detailed that a
student is able to memorise answers to write in an exam
-
the information provided before an exam should not
encourage students to overly narrow their learning
-
the qualifications should differentiate between
students on the basis of their performance
Ofqual is also seeking views on any equality related
implications of the approach.
Those who wish to respond can fill out a short survey
accessible from the consultation
page, which is open until 11:45pm on Sunday 20
December.
