Review of standards in summer 2009 GCSE Science and GCSE Additional Science

The work involved reviewing the assessment materials and candidates' responses from the examinations offered in England and Wales by four awarding organisations: Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), Edexcel, Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR) and WJEC.

Candidate work from summer 2009 did not, as a whole, match the expected standard – although standards did vary between awarding organisations and assessments.  Often this was due to the design of the question papers, which did not always give candidates of all abilities the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills.

These findings should be seen in the context of the current timetable for revised specifications in GCSE science subjects, which awarding organisations will submit for accreditation in April 2010.  The qualifications regulators will expect awarding organisations to take account of the recommendations in this report when developing their new specifications and assessment materials.