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Guidance

Key stage 4 qualifications, discount codes and point scores

Approved key stage 4 qualifications, discount codes and point scores for reporting in the 2014 to 2028 school and college performance tables.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
12 October 2017
Last updated:
5 October 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updated for 2026, with years rolled forward and references to the English Baccalaureate updated, as this was last included in key stage 4 performance measures up to and including academic year 2024 to 2025.

  2. Updated ‘Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2026 key stage 4 performance tables’.

  3. Updated with 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2028 performance tables'.

  4. Replaced ‘Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2025 key stage 4 performance tables’ with ‘Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2026 key stage 4 performance tables’.

  5. Added 'Key stage 4 discounting and early entry guidance (2025)'.

  6. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2027 performance tables' and 'Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2025 key stage 4 performance tables'.

  7. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2026 performance tables'.

  8. Replaced 2023 version of 'Key stage 4 discounting and early entry guidance' with the 2024 version.

  9. Updated to show that 'Key stage 4 discounting and early entry guidance for 2024 will be published by the end of the year. The discounting methodology for 2024 is the same as the current 2023 method.'

  10. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2026 performance tables'.

  11. Updated 'Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2024 key stage 4 performance tables'.

  12. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2026 performance tables' and 'Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2024 key stage 4 performance tables'.

  13. Replaced 2022 version of 'Key stage 4 discounting and early entry guidance' with the 2023 version.

  14. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2025 performance tables'.

  15. 'Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2023 key stage 4 performance tables' and 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2025 performance tables' have been updated.

  16. 'Key stage 4 discounting and early entry guidance (2022)' has replaced 'Key stage 4 discounting and early entry guidance (2019)'.

  17. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2024 performance tables', amending OCR Level 1/Level 2 Cambridge National in Engineering Manufacture qualification from its current discount code to the previous code.

  18. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2024 performance tables' - ABRSM music qualifications update of qualification numbers and titles.

  19. We have updated the 'Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2022 key stage 4 performance tables' and 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2024 performance tables' documents.

  20. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes' performance tables to cover up to 2024.

  21. Updated ‘Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2023 performance tables’. This includes a new English Language GCSE.

  22. Replaced 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2022 performance tables' with 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2023 performance tables'. Replaced ‘Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2019 key stage 4 performance tables’ with ‘Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2021 key stage 4 performance tables’.

  23. Added link to national, regional and local authority level statistics, including changes to how key stage 4 discounting is calculated for 2020, after the government announced that all exams were cancelled for 2020.

  24. Replaced 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2021 performance tables' with 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2022 performance tables'.

  25. Updated Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2021 performance tables.

  26. Updated to show changes to qualification details and new decisions on inclusions.

  27. Added 'Key stage 4 discounting and early entry guidance' for 2019.

  28. Updated Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2021 performance tables

  29. Added updated document 'Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2019 key stage 4 performance tables'.

  30. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2021 performance tables'.

  31. Added an updated version of the list of 2014 to 2021 key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes.

  32. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2020 performance tables'.

  33. Replaced 2017 version of 'KS4 discounting and early entry guidance' with the 2018 version.

  34. Updated documents 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2020 performance tables' and 'Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2018 key stage 4 performance tables'.

  35. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2020 performance tables'.

  36. Added updated documents 'Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2018 key stage 4 performance tables'.

  37. Attached updated version of 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes - 2014 to 2020 performance tables' to add 3 qualifications which had been omitted from the original document.

  38. Updated Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2020 performance tables

  39. Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2020 performance tables corrected: 1) 2019 tab row 597, column F, discount code amended from XA1 to XA. Footnote of 2 removed in column J. 2) 2020 tab row 489, column F, discount code amended from XA1 to XA. Footnote of 2 removed in column J. 3) Footnote text for footnote of 2 removed from 2020 tab as no other qual had this flag.

  40. Updated 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2019 performance tables' to include 2020: 'Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2020 performance tables'.

  41. Updated with new information about the 2017 data.

  42. Update to key stage 4 qualifications spreadsheet to finalise discount codes.

  43. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Key stage 4 discounting and early entry guidance (2026)

HTML

Key stage 4 qualifications and discount codes: 2014 to 2028 performance tables

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 533 KB

Performance points for qualifications counting in the 2026 key stage 4 performance tables

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 184 KB

Details

This information is for:

  • awarding organisations
  • senior leaders working in secondary schools and trusts, including maintained schools, academies, alternative provision, free schools and special schools
  • independent schools or colleges with provision for students aged 14 to 16 seeking information on secondary accountability measures
  • governors and trustees
  • local authorities

This page contains information on discount codes and point scores for qualifications included in the school and college performance tables: GCSEs, Technical Awards, AS levels and graded music exams.

We use discount codes to ensure that a single course of study is credited only once in the school performance tables. The discounting guidance describes how we do this.

We use performance points to compare qualifications of different levels, sizes and grading structures. The points assigned to each qualification are shown in the point scores document.

For more information on how performance points are determined, refer to our separate guidance on performance points.

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