What are the OCR, AQA and Edexcel Exam Boards?

If the GCSEs or A Levels aren’t far away then you may be looking for revision guides, such as the CGP series, to help out with your child’s revision. One of the first questions you’ll need to ask is which exam board is the school following? In addition, if you’re looking for a tutor, they’ll also want to know which exam to target.

This is an important question; knowing which exam board is being used is going to help focus resources towards the style of questions and formatting being used in assessments. Then, any extra support such as home tuition will be more effective.
Often, you’ll see the exam boards referred to as the awarding body. Schools in England use three awarding bodies (Wales and Scotland operate their own) and they are: AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance), OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA), and Edexcel (often referred to as Pearson). These three have their roots in England’s regions and universities but, over the years, the exam boards were formed from through mergers. You’ll also here about other awarding bodies, such as the City & Guilds.

Primarily, the awarding bodies set the exams and award the GCSE and A Level qualification. Just to add a little more to this perhaps confusing picture, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) acts as a common voice for the exam boards. Among its roles, it devises standard rules for exams and publishes statistics.
Every year, over 18,000 question papers are written for GCSE and A level. The awarding body will create a question paper that can test how well a student can demonstrate their skills and knowledge. The questions are created from the course specification. In addition, the paper is aimed at the whole ability range of candidates so it is possible to differentiate between different levels of performance. Questions set in previous exams are also considered when setting papers.

If you’re a parent, you’ll want to know which awarding body is being used and for which subject. Take care, a school won’t necessarily be using just one. The decision is often made by a head of department so check with your son or daughter or contact the school.

Is there a difference? Not much. Students in maths, for example, could be sitting examination papers distributed by OCR, AQA or Edexcel. The questions, order and style will differ but the maths is much the same.

At the end of the academic year, over 25 million exam scripts and coursework are marked by nearly 60,000 examiners! Over 2 million A and AS level results and around 6 million GCSE results are awarded to students. And who is marking all these papers? The vast majority are teachers or retired teachers and their work is assessed and moderated. In the end, we hope they get it right and your child receives the grade or level they deserve.