Guidance

Quality of marking: guide to the data submission process

Updated 21 September 2026

Applies to England

Introduction

In order to fulfil our regulatory and accreditation functions as set out in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, we require awarding organisations to provide the following data for regulated qualifications.

This data will be used to undertake our regulatory activities, publish reports, and to fulfil our responsibility as a government department.

What data will be collected?

Data should relate to marking data for online marked components for GCSE, AS and A level.

Qualifications in scope

The following qualification types are in scope of this collection:

• GCSE
• AS
• A level

Please see Appendix A for the list of specific subjects in scope of this collection. Data should include specifications taken by students in England.

Countries in scope

Data should be included for all students in centres in:

• England
• Northern Ireland
• Wales
• Other UK regions
• Non-UK

Time period in scope

Data is collected at multiple points during the year for the summer and November exam series. For detail on the exam series in scope of each return please see the reporting schedule.

When data will be collected

Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is updated regularly.

How to submit your data

Your data must be submitted to us in CSV format. Please refer to the Connecting to Ofqual’s data portal and uploading data document for more information. If you need to ask us about a data submission, please contact the Data Services team.

Please do not send your data files via email or via Contact the Regulator in the Portal.

Uploaded data

Once files have been successfully uploaded, the data will be validated against a set of validation rules.

If validation is successful, the data is automatically transferred into Ofqual’s internal systems and you will receive email confirmation. If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it.

The specific validation rules which are in place for this template are detailed in the ‘validation rules’ and ‘file format’ sections below.

Amendments to data

Errors or omissions in the data

Once the data has been successfully uploaded, it will be checked by Ofqual staff. If an error or omission is spotted, the data may be queried, and you may be requested to resubmit it. We will need to reject your existing submission ahead of a resubmission.

If you find an error or omission after you’ve had a successful upload, please notify Data Services by email. We need to reject the existing submission before you can upload a new file.

If you wish to see your latest submission of a data return, for example to check the submission if it has been queried, please know it is available to download in the data portal.

Scheduled revisions of data

Each submission of this data is intended to show a snapshot in time. Therefore, there will be no resubmissions required to reflect any further updates to the data already submitted, unless an error or omission is spotted.

General completion guidelines

1. Numeric values must not have any formatting.
2. All fields are mandatory unless otherwise specified. Missing data (-2 values) must be explained in accompanying email or documentation.
3. Only data from live monitoring should be included. Any data from standardisation, practice scripts or items should be excluded. Note that where systems use ‘daily qualification’ items, these should be included as they are a form of monitoring.
4. Specification codes must be consistent with those submitted in the Specification code data collection. Where specification codes include an option or tiering code (for example, J567F, 4000GU, 4365H), this value can be repeated in the certification code field where appropriate.

Template 1: Examiner-marked items

Specific guidance

1. All items on any question paper should be included, regardless of the type of examiner.
2. Where examiners have marked the same seed script or item on 2 or more occasions, all instances should be included in the data request.
3. All examiners on the panel and all monitoring data should be included for all items except in the following instances:
   1. All items should be excluded for examiners who were stopped from marking on the whole script or all items and their marks were not issued to students
   2. Items should be excluded where examiners were stopped permanently from marking on one or more items and their marks were not issued to students
   3. Where examiners were stopped but some of their marks were issued to students, the monitoring data for all issued marks should be included - subsequent data should be excluded
   4. Any data from retired seeds or retired daily qualification items should be excluded.
4. Where items are ‘clipped’ or ‘zoned’ together, the data should capture item sub-group level as marks are awarded. For example, if  item 1c is divided into sub-items 1ci, 1cii and 1ciii, the data should reflect these sub-items rather than just item 1c. Accordingly, the maximum mark in the MaxMark field (field 18) should correspond  to the maximum mark for the sub-item noted in the ItemMark_ID field (field  9). Examiner marks should not exceed this maximum mark.
5. A date time record is only required for ‘Mark1’.
6. Backreading data is only required when this process is used and the marking system records both the examiner’s mark and senior examiner’s mark. Backreading is a process in which senior examiners re-mark responses previously marked by examiners and compare the two sets of marks to monitor marking consistency. This method was traditionally used for paper-based marking monitoring and is also implemented in some online marking systems.
7. Marking tolerances should be reported as they were at the time of marking (to acknowledge that some systems may change tolerances during the session).
8. The FinalMarkAwarded field should reflect any post-results adjustments as a result of reviews of marking.

File format

The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.

Name	Description	Position	Description of Regular Expression	Validation Regular Expression
Reporting date	Date the file was due to be submitted to Ofqual regardless of when it was actually uploaded (this date will be made available by Ofqual)	1	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted: yyyy-mm-dd	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$
Exam series	Exam series data relates to, for example, June 2024	2	Full month name of exam series and year.	^(January|March|June|November)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$
Awarding Organisation	Awarding organisation acronym as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated organisations	3	Valid awarding organisation acronym. 1 to 100 characters accepted	^.{1,100}$
Qualification level	Type of qualification for example, GCSE	4	Accepted values: • GCSE • AS • A level	^(GCSE|AS|A level)$
UnitOrComponentCode	Component code as designated in the specification. If a component has sub-components, they should be identifiable from a unique value within the component code, for example MA02 1, MA02 2	5	1 to 10 characters accepted	^.{1,10}$
SpecificationCode	Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code	6	1 to 7 characters accepted	^.{1,7}$
SpecificationTitle	Specification title, also known as subject title	7	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
Tier	To indicate the tier if applicable • F for Foundation • H for Higher	8	Accepted values: • F • H -2 accepted where not applicable	^(F|H|-2)$
Candidate_Id	Anonymised unique identifier for student. Where the same student response has been marked more than one time, this should have the same student identifier. If different parts of a student’s script are seed items, these should have a common student identifier.	9	Up to 14-digit integer accepted.	^\d{1,14}$
ItemMark_ID	Unique identifier of the item (question) on the component question paper, for example q3b or q5biii	10	1 to 10 characters accepted	^.{1,10}$
Mark1	For seeded items, daily qualification items and backread items this should be the examiner mark. For sample double marked items this should be the mark awarded by the first examiner. Backread item data to be supplied where available and captured on marking systems.	11	Up to 3-digit integer accepted	^\d{1,3}$
Mark2	For seeded items and daily qualification items this should be the definitive mark. For sample double marked items this should be the mark awarded by the second examiner. For backread items, this should be the mark awarded by senior examiner	12	Up to 3-digit integer accepted	^\d{1,3}$
DateTimeStampMark1	Date and time recorded in your system when the marks are inputted or uploaded. ‘2999-12-31 00:00:00.000’ accepted if date time not available	13	The date and time in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits), a space, hour (2 digits), a colon, minutes (2 digits), a colon, seconds (2 digits) Accepted format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$
Examiner1_ID	Unique identifier of the examiner. Identifiers should be consistent within each submission.  For seed items, sample double marked items, daily qualification and backread items, this will correspond to the examiner associated with Mark1	14	1 to 20 characters accepted	^.{1,20}$
Examiner2_ID	Unique identifier of the examiner. Identifiers should be consistent within each submission. For sample double marked items and backread items, this field should be the ID which corresponds to the examiner associated with Mark2	15	1 to 20 characters accepted. -2 expected for seed or daily qualification items	^.{1,20}$
RoleOfExaminer1	Role or seniority of examiner 1.	16	Numeric code for the following accepted values: • 1: Assistant Examiner • 2: Team Leader • 3: Senior Team Leader • 4: Assistant Principal Examiner • 5: Principal Examiner • 6: Chief or Chair of Examiners	^(1|2|3|4|5|6)$
RoleOfExaminer2	Role or seniority of examiner 2. For sample double marked items, as above, indicate role of examiner on the marking panel as shown in last column. -2 expected for seed or daily qualification items	17	Numeric code for the following accepted values: • 1: Assistant Examiner • 2: Team Leader • 3: Senior Team Leader • 4: Assistant Principal Examiner • 5: Principal Examiner • 6: Chief or Chair of Examiners -2 expected for seed or daily qualification items	^(1|2|3|4|5|6|-2)$
FinalMarkAwarded	Final mark issued to student for the item identified by ItemMark_ID. This should reflect any post-results adjustments as a result of reviews of marking -2 accepted for optional items or items not attempted by the student	18	3-digit integer accepted -2 accepted for optional items or items not attempted by the student	^(-2|\d{1,3})$
MaxMark	The maximum mark available for the item identified by ItemMark_ID	19	3-digit integer accepted	^\d{1,3}$
Mark_Type	Monitoring mark type where backread item data to be supplied where available and captured on marking systems	20	Numeric code for the following accepted values: • 1: seed marked items • 2: sample double marked items • 3: daily qualification items • 4: backread items	^(1|2|3|4)$
DistributionMethod	Code indicating the distribution method as defined in Appendix B	21	Accepted values defined in Appendix B	^(1|2)$
ItemTolerance	The mark tolerance or range of acceptable marks for the item identified by ItemMark_ID. Where tolerance is used, and it is, for example, a tolerance of +/-1 marks, this should be indicated as 1. If there is zero tolerance, enter 0. Where acceptable marks are used, each acceptable mark should be entered and separated by semi-colons, for example 23;24;25;26; If there is only one acceptable mark, this should be entered as a single integer, followed by a semi-colon, for example 23; If tolerance is not applied to this item, please enter a value of -2	22	A range of 2-digit integers separated by semi-colons without spaces	^\d{1,2}(?:;\d{1,2}){0,3}$
ScriptTolerance	The mark tolerance or range of acceptable marks for the script identified by UnitOrComponentCode; and in the case of ‘acceptable values’, also by ItemMark_ID. Where script tolerance is used, and it is, for example, a tolerance of +/-3 marks, this should be indicated as 3. If there is zero tolerance, enter 0. Where acceptable marks are used, each acceptable mark should be entered and separated by semi-colons, for example 45;46;47;48; If there is only one acceptable mark, this should be entered as a single integer, followed by a semi-colon, for example 23; If tolerance is not applied to this script, please enter a value of -2	23	A range of 2-digit integers separated by semi-colons without spaces.	^\d{1,2}(?:;\d{1,2}){0,3}$
ScriptTolerance_ABS	The absolute mark difference tolerance if applicable.	24	Up to 2-digit integer accepted -2 accepted if an absolute mark difference tolerance is not applied to this component,	^(-2|\d{1,2})$

Template 2: Optionality and auto-marked items

Specific Completion Guidelines

1. Submit one row of data for all optional and auto-marked items included in the question paper for each component reported in ‘Template 1: Examiner-marked items’.
2. Optionality here refers to the items in the paper. Optional items are those that students can choose between and of which they must answer only some and not all.
3. For tiered subjects, use the field Tier to indicate if the item is included in a question paper for Higher or Foundation tier.

File format

The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.

Name	Description	Position	Description of Regular Expression	Validation Regular Expression
Reporting date	Date the file was due to be submitted to Ofqual regardless of when it was actually uploaded (this date will be made available by Ofqual)	1	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted: yyyy-mm-dd	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$
Exam series	Exam series data relates to, for example, June 2024	2	Full month name of exam series and year.	^(January|March|June|November)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$
Awarding Organisation	Awarding organisation acronym as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated organisations	3	Valid awarding organisation acronym. 1 to 100 characters accepted	^.{1,100}$
Qualification level	Type of qualification for example, GCSE	4	Accepted values: • GCSE • AS • A level	^(GCSE|AS|A level)$
UnitOrComponentCode	Component code as designated in the specification. If a component has sub-components, they should be identifiable from a unique value within the component code, for example MA02 1, MA02 2	5	1 to 10 characters accepted	^.{1,10}$
SpecificationCode	Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code	6	1 to 7 characters accepted	^.{1,7}$
SpecificationTitle	Specification title, also known as subject title	7	1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
Tier	To indicate the tier if applicable • F for Foundation • H for Higher	8	Accepted values: • F • H -2 accepted where not applicable	^(F|H|-2)$
ItemMark_ID	Unique identifier of the item (question) on the component question paper, for example q3b or q5biii	9	1 to 10 characters accepted	^.{1,10}$
MaxMark	The maximum mark available for the item identified by ItemMark_ID	10	Up to 3-digit integer accepted	^\d{1,3}$
AutoMarked	To indicate if the item is auto marked or not.	11	Accepted values: • 0 for no • 1 for yes	^(0|1)$
OptionGroup_ID	Unique identifier of the group of optional items in the component question paper which includes the optional item identified by ItemMark_ID. For example, this could be OptionGroup1 or OptionGroup2 if the component question paper has two sets of optional items. -2 expected where item is not optional	12	1 to 20 characters accepted -2 expected where item is not optional	^.{1,20}$
Option_ID	Unique identifier of optional item included in group of optional items identified by OptionGroup_ID. For example, this could be Option1, Option2 or Option3 if the group of optional items specified by OptionGroup_ID consists of three optional items (sets of items) -2 expected where item is not optional	13	1 to 20 characters accepted -2 expected where item is not optional	^.{1,20}$

Validation rules

A data submission is only considered complete once it has successfully passed the validation rules.

If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it. A file may be successful but with warnings. Warnings will not cause failure in the validation process but will highlight entries which may need to be checked. You will receive an email with details of the warning in an attached “Data Validation Warnings Report”. If you receive this, please review the report and contact Ofqual Data Services should the data require any amendment.

The validation rules for this template check that each field is correctly formatted. The correct formatting of the fields are detailed in the ‘file format’ section. Failure to format the fields in line with the validation regular expression will result in unsuccessful validation. Additional validation rules are also in place for this template and may include cross-referencing with other templates. These validation rules along with whether they result in failure or a warning are detailed in the following table.

Validation rule	Result if not met
Exam Series in scope of the return	Fail and rejected
ReportingDate matches date the file was due to be submitted to Ofqual regardless of when it was actually uploaded (this date will be made available by Ofqual)	Fail and rejected
Awarding Organisation is valid acronym in Ofqual register	Fail and rejected
Specification codes must be consistent with those submitted in the Specification code data collection.	Fail and rejected

Appendix A: List of subjects in scope of this collection

Subject	GCSE	AS	A level
Combined Science	Yes	n/a	n/a
Additional Science	Yes	n/a	n/a
Biology	Yes	Yes	Yes
Chemistry	Yes	Yes	Yes
Physics	Yes	Yes	Yes
French	Yes	Yes	Yes
German	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spanish	Yes	Yes	Yes
PE	Yes	Yes	Yes
Business	Yes	Yes	Yes
History	Yes	Yes	Yes
Geography	Yes	Yes	Yes
RS	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sociology	Yes	Yes	Yes
Psychology	Yes	Yes	Yes
Computing	Yes	Yes	Yes
Media	Yes	Yes	Yes
Music	Yes	n/a	n/a
English Language	Yes	Yes	Yes
English Literature	Yes	Yes	Yes
English Language and Literature	n/a	Yes	Yes
Mathematics	Yes	Yes	Yes
Economics	n/a	Yes	Yes

Appendix B: Accepted values for Template 1 field ‘DistributionMethod’

Value	Description
1	If the component is distributed to examiners at ‘script level’ – that is, a whole student script is distributed to an individual examiner
2	If the component is distributed to examiners at ‘item level’ – that is, items from any individual student script are distributed to multiple examiners

Recent changes to this guidance

Date of change	Description of change
21/09/2026	Updated the document template and clarified aspects of the text. Added template 2 to this data collection covering optional and auto-marked items in each paper. Added field “Tier” to the collection.

Contacts

For all queries or feedback relating to the data collection process, amendments to data previously provided, or for general guidance, please contact:

Data services

Ofqual
2nd floor, 1 Friargate
Station Square
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Email data.services@ofqual.gov.uk