[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-206342-105":59,"doc-detail-206342-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-impact-of-reducing-the-number-of-exams-on-results-in-gcses-internal-research-report","The impact of reducing the number of exams on results in GCSEs - Internal research report","","GCSE students currently sit many exams, prompting calls to reduce assessment volume while protecting grade reliability and validity. This internal research report investigates how performance changes when the number of exam components is reduced, comparing aggregated grades from reduced component sets to the full-qualification grades. Data comes from OCR GCSE results in June 2024, using component marks and grade boundaries across three-component GCSEs and combined science qualifications.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-impact-of-reducing-the-number-of-exams-on-results-in-gcses-internal-research-report/206342/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-impact-of-reducing-the-number-of-exams-on-results-in-gcses-internal-research-report/206342.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Ezra","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-18","2026-09-05",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What issue does this research address about GCSE assessment?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It addresses whether reducing the number of exams/components could lower reliability and validity because grades would be based on fewer assessed elements.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What data and awarding organisation were used in the study?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The analysis used GCSE results for the OCR awarding body from June 2024, including component-level marks and grades as well as overall grades.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How were aggregated grades for reduced component combinations calculated?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Aggregated grades were computed by summing marks from selected components and comparing the total to the summed grade boundary marks for those same components.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},206342,1788592146,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},1099514068035,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","The impact of reducing the number of exams on results in GCSEs  \nInternal research report  \nGroup confidential – for internal circulation only  \nTim Gill  \n18 October 2024  \nAuthor contact details:  \nTim Gill  \nAssessment Research and Development, Research Division  \nShaftesbury Road  \nCambridge CB2 8EA UK  \n[tim.gill@cambridge.org](tim.gill@cambridge.org)  \n[https://www.cambridge.org/](https://www.cambridge.org/)  \nProject reference number: 2024 5.11  \nCambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to making our documents accessible in accordance with the WCAG 2.1 Standard. We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents. If you find any problems or you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact our team: Research Division  \nIf you need this document in a different format contact us telling us your name, email address and requirements and we will respond within 15 working days.  \nHow to cite this publication:  \nGill, T. (2024) . The impact of reducing the number of exams on results in GCSEs.  \nInternal research report. Cambridge University Press & Assessment.  \n1. Introduction  \nGCSE students are required to take a large number of exams at the end of their courses. This has led to calls recently for a reduction in the amount of assessment for these students.  \nThe OCR GCSE Maths Taskforce are particularly concerned about the amount of assessment in their subject. At present GCSE Maths is made up of three exam components, each of which is 1.5 hours long. Many stakeholders believe that this is too much assessment. One simple way of reducing this would be to remove one of the assessments (by combining the content of the three components into two components / exams) . However, a concern with this is that this might reduce the reliability and validity of the final grade because it would be based on fewer exams.  \nThe main aim of this research was to investigate the impact of reducing the number of components on overall performance in GCSE subjects. In particular, we were interested in how the grade achieved by candidates on a reduced number of components compares to their grade on the full qualification.  \nAlthough the request for the work came from the GCSE Maths Taskforce, it is of interest (and of possible future benefit) to look at other subjects as well. Previous work (Gill, 2020) investigated the impact of using just one component on overall grades. That analysis looked at all GCSEs, no matter how many components. In the current research, we mainly looked at GCSEs with three components and the impact of reducing this to two. We also looked atthe two combined science GCSEs (which have six and four components respectively) and the impact of reducing the number of exams to three in each case.  \n2. Data and methods  \nThe data for this research was taken from the GCSE results for the OCR awarding body in June 2024. This data included component level marks and grades as well as overall marks and grades. We identified all GCSEs with three components , so that the impact of reducing the number of components to two could be investigated. However, to keep the analysis as simple as possible we excluded any subjects where candidates had some choice of which components to take. We also excluded any subjects where the weighting of a component (i.e. how much it contributes to the overall grade) was different from the percentage of overall marks for that component.  \nWe also investigated the two Combined Science subjects , as these have more components than other GCSEs (six and four) and therefore more scope for reducing the number of exams. The full list of subjects included in the analysis was:  \nCitizenship Studies, Drama, Geography A, Geography B, Music, Mathematics, PE, Combined Science A, and Combined Science B.  \nIt should be noted that both Drama and Music consist of two non-exam assessed (NEA) components and one exam component. PE consists of one NEA component (practical) and two exam compo","cbCaiiK5RoH2ZxUR","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiK5RoH2ZxUR","pdf",525020,22,"English","# 1. Introduction\n# 2. Data and methods","[{\"question\":\"What issue does this research address about GCSE assessment?\",\"answer\":\"It addresses whether reducing the number of exams/components could lower reliability and validity because grades would be based on fewer assessed elements.\"},{\"question\":\"What data and awarding organisation were used in the study?\",\"answer\":\"The analysis used GCSE results for the OCR awarding body from June 2024, including component-level marks and grades as well as overall grades.\"},{\"question\":\"How were aggregated grades for reduced component combinations calculated?\",\"answer\":\"Aggregated grades were computed by summing marks from selected components and comparing the total to the summed grade boundary marks for those same components.\"}]","The impact of reducing the number of exams on results in GCSEs - Internal research report | PDF",55]