Guidance

TQ Reviews of Marking and Moderation

Updated 17 October 2023

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.

What data will be collected?

Reviews of Marking and Moderation data will be collected for all Technical Qualifications (TQs) within T levels for learners in England.

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.

Updates to formats and guidance

This guidance document will be updated regularly. Any changes to procedure will be incorporated into the guidance document.

How to submit your data

Your data should be submitted to us in CSV format. Please refer to the ‘Connecting to Ofqual’s data portal and uploading data’ document on our web page to help you submit your files to us. If you need to ask us about a data submission please do contact the Data Services team by emailing [email protected], please do not send your data files via email to Data Services or to any other Ofqual email address, 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. These are detailed in the sections below. If validation is successful, the data is automatically transferred into our 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.

Amendments to data

Ofqual staff will not alter data once it has been submitted. If you find an error or omission after you’ve had a successful upload, please notify us by emailing [email protected]. We need to reject the existing submission before you can upload a new file.

How your data will be used

This data will be used to undertake our regulatory activities and, where required, to produce Official Statistics to fulfil our responsibility as a government department.

General completion guidelines

Data should include reviews conducted for all assessments taken within the reporting period, regardless of whether or not the candidate has completed all elements of the Technical Qualification.

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	Validation Regular Expression	Description of Regular Expression / Accepted values
ReportingDate	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	^ (0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]) [/](0[1-9]|1[012])[/] (20)\d\d $ or ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: day (2 digits), forward slash, month (2 digits), forward slash, year (4 digits), or: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), adash, day (2 digits) for example 15/01/2023 or 2023-01-15
AssessmentSeries	Assessment series data relates to, for example June 2021	2	^(June)([][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$	Full month name and year of Assessment series for example June 2023
AwardingOrganisation	Acronym of the awarding organisation	3	^.{1,100}$	A valid AO Acronym. 1 to 100 characters accepted Note: value must be consistent within the file.
QualificationNumber	Unique identifier for the TQ as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications	4	^.{1,10}$	Valid Qualification Number. 1 to 10 characters accepted
ComponentCode	Unique identifier for the component which the assessment relates to (assigned by the awarding organisation)	5	^.{1,10}$	1 to 10 characters
SubComponentType	TQ sub-component which the assessment falls under (Core ExamCore ProjectOccupational Specialism)	6	^(Core Exam|Core Project|Occupational Specialism)$	Accepted values: Core Exam Core Project Occupational Specialism
AssessmentCode	Unique identifier for the assessment (assigned by the awarding organisation)	7	^.{1,10}$	1 to 10 characters
ULN	Unique Learner Number	8	^.{0000000001,9999999999}$	A numeric value between 0000000001 and 9999999999
UCI	Unique Candidate Identifier	9	^.{1,13}$	A valid Unique Candidate Identifier Note: enter -2 if not available
UKPRN	UK Provider Reference Number	10	^.{10000000,99999999}$	A numeric value between 10000000 and 99999999
NCN	Centre ID – National Centre Number	11	^\d{1,5}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
OriginalAssessmentRawMark	Original Assessment Raw Mark	12	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
PostReviewAssessmentRawMark	Post-Review Assessment Raw Mark	13	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
OriginalAssessmentUMSMark	Original Assessment UMS Mark	14	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
PostReviewAssessmentUMSMark	Post-Review Assessment UMS Mark	15	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
OriginalSubComponentRawMark	Original Sub-component Raw Mark	16	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
PostReviewSubComponentRawMark	Post-Review Sub-component Raw Mark	17	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
OriginalSubComponentUMSMark	Original Sub-component UMS Mark	18	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
PostReviewSubComponentUMSMark	Post-Review Sub-component UMS Mark	19	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
OriginalComponentRawMark	Original component Raw Mark	20	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
PostReviewComponentRawMark	Post-Review component Raw Mark	21	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
OriginalComponentUMSMark	Original component UMS Mark	22	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
PostReviewComponentUMSMark	Post-Review component UMS Mark	23	^\d{1,3}$	Number between 0 and 999 allowing decimals Note: enter -2 if not applicabl
OriginalAssessmentGrade	Original Assessment Grade	24	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|Q|U|X|Distinction|Merit|Pass|-2)$	Accepted values: A*, A, B, C D, E, Q, U, X, Distinction, Merit, Pass Note: enter -2 if not applicable
PostReviewAssessmentGrade	Post-Review Assessment Grade	25	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|Q|U|X|Distinction|Merit|Pass|-2)$	Accepted values: A*, A, B, C D, E, Q, U, X, Distinction, Merit, Pass Note: enter -2 if not applicable
OriginalSubComponentGrade	Original Sub-Component Grade	26	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|Q|U|X|Distinction|Merit|Pass|-2)$	Accepted values: A*, A, B, C D, E, Q, U, X, Distinction, Merit, Pass Note: enter -2 if not applicable
PostReviewSubComponentGrade	Post-Review Sub-Component Grade	27	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|Q|U|X|Distinction|Merit|Pass|-2)$	Accepted values: A*, A, B, C D, E, Q, U, X, Distinction, Merit, Pass Note: enter -2 if not applicable
OriginalComponentGrade	Original Component Grade	28	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|Q|U|X|Distinction|Merit|Pass|-2)$	Accepted values: A*, A, B, C D, E, Q, U, X, Distinction, Merit, Pass Note: enter -2 if not applicable
PostReviewComponentGrade	Post-Review Component Grade	29	^(A*|A|B|C|D|E|Q|U|X|Distinction|Merit|Pass|-2)$	Accepted values: A*, A, B, C D, E, Q, U, X, Distinction, Merit, Pass Note: enter -2 if not applicable
TypeOfReview	Type of review	30	^(Administrative Error Review|Review of Marking|Review of Moderation)$	Accepted values: Administrative Error Review, Review of Marking, Review of Moderation
Reason	Information provided to centres to explain a change in marks	31	Accepted values as per pre-agreed list	Accepted values: Work not seen or marked by original examiner, Error in totalling of marks by original examiner (e.g. examiner did not add up marks correctly), Error in transferring marks from paper script to exam processing system (e.g. discrepancy between marks on script and marks on exam board system), Error in inputting marks on online marking system by original examiner (e.g. mark incorrectly input), Error in centre submitting marks (e.g. incorrect mark submitted for non-examination assessment), Original marking/processing had incorrectly dealt with a candidate rubric error and/or answer in wrong answer space., Original marker unable to read candidate response (e.g. illegible handwriting), Application of special consideration during post-results (where the component/qualification was also subject to a review of marking) , Missing script located at review (e.g. original script not marked). Processing error (e.g. scanning scaling grading), Auto-marking error (e.g. wrong answer key), Outcome of malpractice investigation (e.g. mark change due to estimation of marks), Marking – misapplication of levels based mark scheme, Marking – misapplication of points-based mark scheme, Marking – unusual candidate response (e.g. candidate response not covered by the mark scheme), Moderation – misapplication of criteria by original moderator (e.g. error by original moderator), No mark change – grade change due to changes on other component(s), Note: enter -2 if not applicable
DateReceived	Date when the review request was received or date when the moderator received the sample	32	^ (0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]) [/](0[1-9]|1[012])[/] (20)\d\d $ or^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: day (2 digits), forward slash, month (2 digits), forward slash, year (4 digits), or: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), adash, day (2 digits)
DateCompleted	Date review is completed	33	^ (0[1-9]\|[12][0-9]\|3[01]) [/](0[1-9]\|1[012])[/] (20)\d\d $ or ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]\|1[012])[-](0[1-9]\|[12][0-9]\|3[01])$	The date in the following format: day (2 digits), forward slash, month (2 digits), forward slash, year (4 digits), or: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), adash, day (2 digits)
CompletedWithinDeadline	Whether or not the review was completed within the deadline	34	^(Yes|No|TBD)$	Accepted values: Yes, No, TBD

Accepted values of Reason field

• Error in centre submitting marks (e.g. incorrect mark submitted for non-examination assessment)

• Processing error (e.g. scanning or scaling or grading)

• No mark change - grade change due to changes on other component(s)

• Error in totalling of marks by original examiner (e.g. examiner did not add up marks correctly)

• Error in inputting marks on online marking system by original examiner (e.g. mark incorrectly input)

• Marking - unusual candidate response (e.g. candidate response not covered by the mark scheme)

• Application of special consideration during post-results (where the component/qualification was also subject to a review of marking)

• Error in transferring marks from paper script to exam processing system (e.g. discrepancy between marks on script and marks on exam board system)

• Original marking/processing had incorrectly dealt with a candidate rubric error and/or answer in wrong answer space

• Work not seen or marked by original examiner

• Marking - misapplication of points-based mark scheme

• Outcome of malpractice investigation (e.g. mark change due to estimation of marks)

• Auto-marking error (e.g. wrong answer key)

• Marking - misapplication of levels based mark scheme

• Moderation - misapplication of criteria by original moderator (e.g. error by original moderator)

• Original marker unable to read candidate response (e.g. illegible handwriting)

• Missing script located at review (e.g. original script not marked)

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 [email protected]