Guidance

Summer awarding data: guide to the data submission process

Updated 16 April 2024

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 exams delivery data for regulated qualifications. We collect the data on behalf of CCEA Regulation and share this data with them.

When will data be collected?

Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is agreed and maintained by Ofqual’s data services team. Provisional and final data will be collected for each exam series.

What data will be collected?

Summer awarding data will be collected for A levels, AS, Project L3 and GCSEs. Data for England, Wales, Northern Ireland, other UK regions and Non-UK is required for Ofqual’s qualifications. Although referred to as summer awarding data, templates 2 and 3 may have data relating to other exam series, such as November.

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.

General completion guidelines

In accordance with General Condition of Recognition B4, we require data for A levels, AS and GCSEs for the following data sets:

• Grade boundary information for units and components (1ab), to include A level Science Practicals and GCSE English Endorsements, which should be provided with -2 in the grade and boundary fields
• Unitised specifications in (1ab) should include all grades (apart from U), but linear specifications should only include key boundaries
• Grade boundary information for linear specifications - subject level (1c), all grades
• Candidate level cash-in data for all candidates certifying in the relevant academic year - subject level (2)
• Candidate level unit or component mark data covering all units or components used by candidates to certify during the relevant academic year (3)
• The last field in templates 1ab and 1c, CarryForward, only applies to Pearson and OCR - please can all other awarding organisations submit a blank column with just the column header CarryForward
• Please submit data in the following order: template 1ab, template 1c, template 2, template3

We require data for Project L3 qualifications for the following data sets:

• Grade boundary information - qualification level (1c), all grades
• Candidate level cash-in data for all candidates certifying in the relevant academic year - qualification level (2)

We intend to analyse this data to support our communications on results day in accordance with our regulatory objective to promote public confidence in regulated qualifications. We may also use this data in post-examination series analyses.

Please provide data as detailed in the table below:

Level	Subject	Request 1ab: Component Grade Boundaries	Request 1c: Qualification Grade Boundaries	Request 2: Certificating candidate results data	Request 3: Candidate component data (all candidates who certified in the current academic year)
AS	All subjects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
A level	All subjects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
GCSE	All subjects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Project L3	n/a	No	Yes	Yes	No
Other	Spoken language endorsement (Reformed GCSE in England only).	Yes	No	No	Yes
Other	Practical science endorsement (Reformed A level in England only).	Yes	No	No	Yes

Only one file containing data for all qualifications, specifications and all exam series will be expected for each template.

Specification codes must match exactly what has been provided in the JCQ classifications-entries spreadsheet. If AOs include the option, medium or tiering code (for example, J567F, 4000GU, 4365H) in the classifications-entries spreadsheet, then it should be included in this specification code field. This value can then be repeated for the certification code field if appropriate.

Exam series for template 2 should relate to the series the candidate certificates in, for the current academic year.

The exam series for template 3 should reflect the series the unit or component assessment was taken by the candidate.

If middle name cannot be separated from first name, please provide both names in the FirstName field and leave the MiddleNames field blank.

Names are not required for Project L3, AS and A level so the FirstName, MiddleName and Surname fields can be left blank. If it is easier to provide names for Project L3, AS and A level this will also be accepted by the system.

Where the same field appears across multiple templates (for example Specification Code and Unit Code), please be consistent in the values entered.

Template 1ab - Grade boundary information for units and components

For each of the subjects, please provide the (raw mark) unit level grade boundaries (or A2 unit A* conversion point) in addition to the maximum mark information as shown below.

Name	Description	Position	Validation Regular Expression	Description of Regular Expression
ExamSeries	Exam series data relates to.	1	^(June|November|January)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$	Full month name of exam series and year.
ReportingDate	Date the file was due to be submitted regardless of when it was actually uploaded. Format accepted 120 ODBC canonical yyyy-mm-dd.	2	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits).
AwardingOrganisation	Name of the awarding organisation.	3	^.{1,100}$	One to 100 characters accepted.
QualificationLevel	Level of qualification, for example GCSE.	4	^(GCSE|AS|A level)$	One of the following list: GCSE, AS, A level.
UnitOrComponentCode	Unit or component code as designated in the specification.	5	^.{1,10}$	One to 10 characters accepted
SpecificationCode	Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code.	6	^.{1,7}$	One to 7 characters accepted.
SpecificationTitle	Specification title, also known as subject title.	7	^.{1,150}$	One to 150 characters accepted.
Tier	To indicate the tier if applicable. F for Foundation H for Higher.	8	^(F|H|-2)$	One of the following list: F, H. -2 accepted where not applicable.
MaxUniformMark	Maximum uniform mark available for the unit. In unitised specifications where units may contain multiple components, only provide the unit maximum mark.	10	^\d{1,3}$	A numeric value between 0 and 999 accepted. -2 accepted for non-UMS specifications.
MaxRawUnweightedMark	Maximum raw unweighted mark available for the unit or component.	11	^\d{1,3}$	A numeric value between 0 and 999 accepted.
WeightingFactor	Multiplier applied to the component mark to determine the contribution to the subject mark. To 3 decimal places.	12	^\d{1,3}\.\d{0,3}$\|^\d{1,3}$	A numeric value between 0 and 999 with up to 3 decimal places accepted. -2 accepted if not applicable.
Grade	Unit or component grade.	13	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|7|4|1|7-7|4-4|1-1|-2)$	One of the following list: A*, A, B, C, D, E, 7, 4, 1, 7-7, 4-4, 1-1. -2 also accepted for unknown value.
Boundary	Raw mark boundary (or A level A* conversion point).	14	^\d{1,3}$	A numeric value between 0 and 999 accepted. -2 accepted where not applicable.
CarryForward	To indicate if the row of data relates to a carry forward option.	15	^(1|0)$	For OCR and Pearson: one of the following list: 1,0. For all other awarding organisations, please submit a blank column with just the column name.

Template 1c - Grade boundary information for linear specifications – subject level

For each of the subjects, please provide the (raw mark) subject level grade boundaries in addition to the maximum mark information as shown below.

Name	Description	Position	Validation Regular Expression	Description of Regular Expression
ExamSeries	Exam series data relates to.	1	^(June|November|January)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$	Full month name of exam series and year.
ReportingDate	Date the file was due to be submitted regardless of when it was actually uploaded. Format accepted 120 ODBC canonical yyyy-mm-dd.	2	^(20)\d\d[- ](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits).
AwardingOrganisation	Name of the awarding organisation.	3	^.{1,100}$	One to 100 characters accepted.
QualificationLevel	Level of qualification, for example GCSE.	4	^(GCSE|AS|A level|Project L3)$	One of the following list: GCSE, AS, A level, Project L3.
CertificationCode	Entry or option code to which candidates certificate	5	^.{1,7}$	One to 7 characters accepted.
SpecificationCode	Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code.	6	^.{1,7}$	One to 7 characters accepted.
SpecificationTitle	Specification title, also known as subject title.	7	^.{1,150}$	One to 150 characters accepted.
Tier	To indicate the tier if applicable. F for Foundation H for Higher.	8	^(F|H|-2)$	One of the following list: F, H. -2 accepted where not applicable.
MaxSpecificationMark	Maximum specification mark available for the subject (scaled, if appropriate).	9	^\d{1,3}$	A numeric value between 0 and 999 accepted.
Grade	Subject grade	10	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|1-1|2-1|2-2|3-2|3-3|4-3|4-4|5-4|5-5|6-5|6-6|7-6|7-7|8-7|8-8|9-8|9-9|-2)$	One of the following list: A*, A, B, C, D, E, 9 to 1, 9-9 to 1-1. -2 also accepted for unknown value.
Boundary	Raw mark boundary.	11	^\d{1,3}$	A numeric value between 0 and 999 accepted.
CarryForward	To indicate if the row of data relates to a carry forward option.	12	^(1|0)$	For OCR and Pearson: one of the following list: 1, 0. For all other awarding organisations, please submit a blank column with just the column name.

Template 2 - Candidate level cash-in data

For each of the subjects please provide the candidate level data for all candidates certificating in the relevant exam series for the current academic year.

Name	Description	Position	Validation Regular Expression	Description of Regular Expression
ExamSeries	Exam series data relates to. Exam series for template 2 should relate to the series the candidate certificates in, for the current academic year.	1	^(June|November|January)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$	Full month name of exam series and year.
ReportingDate	Date the file was due to be submitted regardless of when it was actually uploaded. Format accepted 120 ODBC canonical yyyy-mm-dd.	2	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits).
AwardingOrganisation	Name of the awarding organisation.	3	^.{1,100}$	One to 100 characters accepted
QAN	Qualification Accreditation Number, for example 123/1234/1	4	^.{1,10}$	One to 10 characters accepted.
QualificationLevel	Level of qualification, for example GCSE.	5	^(GCSE|AS|A level|Project L3)$	One of the following list: GCSE, AS, A level, Project L3.
CertificationCode	Entry or option code to which candidates certificate.	6	^.{1,7}$	One to 7 characters accepted.
SpecificationCode	Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code.	7	^.{1,7}$	One to 7 characters accepted.
SpecificationTitle	Specification title, also known as subject title.	8	^.{1,150}$	One to 150 characters accepted.
CentreNo	NCN number of centre at time of certification.	9	^.{1,5}$	One to 5 characters accepted.
PartialAbsence	To indicate a partial absence.	10	^(1|0|-2)$	Enter 1 to flag a partial absence, otherwise enter 0. -2 accepted if not available.
CentreCandidateNumber	Candidate number as supplied by the centre.	12	^.{1,10}$	One to 10 characters accepted.
UniqueCandidate Identifier	Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI).	13	^.{1,14}$	One to 14 characters accepted. -2 accepted if not available.
ULN	Unique learner number.	14	^.{1,10}$	One to 10 characters accepted. -2 accepted if not available.
FirstName	Candidate’s first name. If middle name cannot be separated from first name please provide both names in the FirstName field and leave the MiddleNames field blank.	15	^.{0,150}$	Zero to 150 characters accepted. Name fields can be left blank for Project L3, AS and A level.
MiddleNames	Candidate’s middle names.	16	^.{0,150}$	Up to 150 characters accepted. Name fields can be left blank for Project L3, AS and A level.
Surname	Candidate’s surname.	17	^.{0,50}$	Zero to 50 characters accepted. Name fields can be left blank for Project L3, AS and A level.
Gender	To indicate candidate’s gender.	18	^(M|F|-2)$	Accepted values: M, F. -2 accepted if unknown.
DOB	To indicate candidate’s date of birth. Format accepted 120 ODBC canonical yyyy-mm-dd.	19	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	Date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). 2999-12-31 accepted if DOB unknown.
SubjectLevelGrade	Subject grade.	20	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|U|X|Q|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|1-1|2- 1|2-2|3-2|3-3|4-3|4-4|5-4|5-5|6-5|6-6|7-6|7-7|8-7|8-8|9-8|9-9|-2)$	One of the following list: A*, A, B, C, D, E, U, X, Q, 9 to 1, 9-9 to 1-1. -2 accepted for unknown value.
SubjectLevelUniformMark	Subject level uniform mark total (not for reformed qualifications).	21	^\d{1,4}$	A numeric value between 0 and 9999 accepted. -2 accepted for qualifications that do not use UMS.
SubjectLevelScaledMark	Subject level scaled mark. This is the total mark for the candidate after scaling or weighting has been applied – applicable for reformed qualifications and any qualification that does not use uniform mark.	22	^\d{1,3}$	A numeric value between 0 and 999 accepted. -2 accepted for qualifications that use UMS.
PrivateCandidate	To indicate if the candidate is a private candidate.	23	^(1|0|-2)$	Enter 1 to flag a private candidate, otherwise enter 0. -2 accepted if not available or unknown.

Template 3 - Candidate level unit or component mark data

For each of the subjects and for all candidates certifying during the academic year being reported, please provide all unit information used towards certification.

Note that this is required for modular and linear qualifications. In the case of modular qualifications, please include only the unit results that were used towards the certification.

Name	Description	Position	Validation Regular Expression	Description of Regular Expression
ExamSeries	Exam series data relates to. The exam series for template 3 should reflect the series the unit/component assessment was taken by the candidate.	1	^(June|November|January)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$	Full month name of exam series and year.
ReportingDate	Date the file was due to be submitted regardless of when it was actually uploaded. Format accepted 120 ODBC canonical yyyy-mm-dd.	2	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits).
AwardingOrganisation	Name of the awarding organisation.	3	^.{1,100}$	One to 100 characters accepted.
QAN	Qualification Accreditation Number, for example 123/1234/1.	4	^.{1,10}$	One to 10 characters accepted.
QualificationLevel	Level of qualification, for example GCSE.	5	^(GCSE|AS|A level)$	One of the following list: GCSE, AS, A level.
UnitOrComponentCode	Unit or component code as designated in the specification.	6	^.{1,7}$	One to 7 characters accepted.
CertificationCode	Entry or option code to which candidates certificate.	7	^.{1,7}$	One to 7 characters accepted.
SpecificationCode	Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code.	8	^.{1,7}$	One to 7 characters accepted.
SpecificationTitle	Specification title, also known as subject title.	9	^.{1,150}$	One to 150 characters accepted.
CentreNo	NCN number of centre at time of certification.	10	^.{1,5}$	One to 5 characters accepted.
CentreCandidateNumber	Candidate number as supplied by the centre.	12	^.{1,10}$	One to 10 characters accepted.
UniqueCandidateIdentifier	Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI)	13	^.{1,14}$	One to 14 characters accepted. -2 accepted if not available.
ULN	Unique learner number.	14	^.{1,10}$	One to 10 characters accepted. -2 accepted if not available.
FirstName	Candidate’s first name. If middle name cannot be separated from first name please provide both names in the FirstName field and leave the MiddleNames field blank.	15	^.{0,150}$	Zero to 150 characters accepted. Name fields can be left blank for AS and A level.
MiddleNames	Candidate’s middle names.	16	^.{0,150}$	Up to 150 characters accepted. Name fields can be left blank for AS and A level.
Surname	Candidate’s surname.	17	^.{0,50}$	Zero to 50 characters accepted. Name fields can be left blank for AS and A level.
Gender	To indicate candidate’s gender.	18	^(M|F|-2)$	Accepted values: M, F. -2 accepted if unknown.
DOB	To indicate candidate’s date of birth. Format accepted 120 ODBC canonical yyyy-mm-dd.	19	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1- 9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	Date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits) 2999-12-31 accepted if DOB unknown.
RawUnweightedMark	Final raw unweighted mark for the unit or component before any weighting has been applied.	20	^\d{1,3}$	A numeric value between 0 and 999 accepted. -2 accepted for absent candidates.
UniformMark	Uniform mark for the unit.	21	^\d{1,3}$	A numeric value between 0 and 999 accepted. -2 accepted for qualifications that do not use UMS.
UnitGrade	Grade for the unit, where available.	22	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|N|U|X|Q|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|Pass|Merit|Distinction|Not Classified|-2)$	One of the following list: A*, A, B, C, D, E, N, U, X, Q, 9 to 1, Pass, Merit, Distinction and Not Classified. -2 also accepted for unknown value.
PrivateCandidate	To indicate if the candidate is a private candidate.	23	^(1|0|-2)$	Enter 1 to flag a private candidate, otherwise enter 0. -2 accepted if not available or unknown.

Contacts

For all queries 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