Official Statistics

Special consideration in GCSE and A Level: summer 2017 exam series

Numbers of adjustments to the marks of candidates who have not been able to demonstrate attainment because of exceptional circumstances.

• From: Ofqual
• Published: 6 December 2017
• Last updated: 30 November 2018 — See all updates

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

Documents

Special consideration summer 2017 series: GCSEs, AS and A levels

Ref: Ofqual/17/6306/1

PDF, 470 KB, 9 pages

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Background information: special consideration in GCSE, AS and A level: summer 2017 exam series

Ref: Ofqual/17/6306/2

PDF, 430 KB, 10 pages

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England - Special consideration in GCSE and A Level: summer 2017 exam series data

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 45.3 KB

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Northern Ireland - Special consideration in GCSE and A Level: summer 2017 exam series data

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 27.1 KB

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Wales - Special consideration in GCSE and A Level: summer 2017 exam series data

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 45.2 KB

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Pre-release access list for 'Special consideration in GCSE and A Level: summer 2017 exam series'

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Details

Revisions

The release has been updated following a data correction received from one exam board after reclassification of a few special consideration requests as either individual and group applications. The main revisions include a very small reduction in the total number of special consideration requests made and approved (page 1, 3 and 7 in the report that covers England data) as well as an updated chart for individual and group applications (page 6 in the report). Related updates have also been made in the accompanying data tables for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We have identified that one exam board had miscategorised special consideration requests of some candidates across GCSE science subjects in the data submitted for the summer 2017 series. We are working with the exam board to resolve this and will be publishing a different categorisation in the 2018 release to address this anomaly. This only affects the subject level GCSE charts given on page 5 of the report and the associated data table (for England as well as Wales).

Key findings:

1. In total, there were 606,890 special consideration requests, up 19% from 2016.
2. Almost all special consideration requests (94%) were approved, similar to last year.
3. 567,575 special considerations were approved in 2017. This represents 3.1% of all assessments taken which is slightly higher than 2016.
4. The most frequent mark adjustment made was 3% of the maximum mark, closely followed by 2%.

Geographical coverage

This report presents data for England. Reports published in previous years included data for learners in Wales and Northern Ireland as well. As such, historical figures in this year’s report reflect data for England and may differ from previously published figures.

For all statistical releases for the academic year 2016 to 2017, Ofqual will publish separate data tables for learners in Wales and Northern Ireland, without commentary.

Responsibility for publishing data for learners in Wales and Northern Ireland has been passed to Qualifications Wales and CCEA respectively for the academic year 2017 to 2018 and beyond.

User feedback

We are publishing our statistical releases in a new format and would really like to hear your views on it. Please send any comments on this statistical release and how to improve it to meet your needs to statistics@ofqual.gov.uk.

Published 6 December 2017
Last updated 30 November 2018 + show all updates

1. 30 November 2018

   Added an erratum notice following the identification of some miscategorised requests relating to science subjects for one exam board.

2. 8 October 2018

   Revised following a data correction received from one exam board after reclassification of a few special consideration requests as either individual and group applications.

3. 13 August 2018

   Added an erratum notice relating to inconsistencies in special consideration applications.

4. 6 December 2017

   First published.