The ‘DC Exams Check’ column on the Matching page compares the grades, entries, and points values for a qualification’s grade method against the expected grades, entries, and points values for the linked qualification, to highlight any potential issues. Potential issues will be flagged with a magnifying glass icon, however, the presence of this icon doesn’t always mean that the grade method in question needs changing.
This article includes a number of different scenarios that could occur within this check, and how to troubleshoot and resolve each of these accordingly.
Troubleshooting
Once you have clicked the icon in the DC Exams Check column, the pop-out window groups together all qualifications that use the same grade method. For example, our Music Grade 6, 7, and 8 qualifications in the screenshot below are all using our ‘Graded Music’ grade method.
| The ‘DC Exams Check’ will only check for discrepancies in the points & entries and not the actual grades themselves e.g. in the screenshot above you can see that ‘Dist’ is being used for the grade method, which is perfectly fine to do, while the official grade is ‘Distinction’. |
If any differences have been found with how the grade method is currently set up in Analytics, and how this is expected to be set up based on the QN code entered on Matching, the discrepancies will be displayed in the tables beneath the qualification/s.
The table on the left will display the grades, points, and entries as set up in the grade method selected in the ‘KS4 Exams’ term in its EAP, and the table on the right will display the official performance points expected.
If the grade method is correct for any associated qualifications, a green tick will be shown next to the qualification name. Qualifications where the points and entries for the grades don’t match the expected points and entries will not show this tick, and therefore these must be investigated further and resolved (where appropriate).
Using the screenshot above, the method check has been flagged because the points value for the ‘Pass’ grade is 7 when it should be 8.5.
1 / Missing Grades
If there are grades present in the expected grades on the right but not in the grades shown on the left, this will need resolving. For example, in the screenshot below, Analytics is also expecting grades D-G, however these have not been set up in the method in use. If these grades were uploaded they would show up as ‘Grade Not in Method’ on the Grades Management page which would prevent you from being able to publish your Exams data set and therefore must be resolved.
There are a few different ways to resolve this, depending on if this is affecting all qualifications using that grade method or not, and the setup available in your school:
2 / Incorrect Points or Entries
If the points or entries for any of your grades are incorrect, this will need fixing immediately. This is because the accuracy of your school’s Headline figures in the reports could be affected as the performance points for that qualification won’t be correctly represented.
| Grades with 0 entries will not appear in the left table. For example, if your ‘U’ grade is set to 0 entries it will trigger the method check, but appear to be missing. The entries would need to be updated in CONFIG. to reflect this (e.g. a U grade would be 1 entry) |
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Please note - An ‘L1P’ in a BTEC First Award is worth different points (1.75) to an ‘L1P’ in a BTEC Tech Award (1.25). If your school offers both qualifications, you must have two grade methods with the correct points, and separate EAPs for these two types of qualifications. |
3 / Additional Grades
The DC Exams Method Check will show if there are unofficial or internal grades where the points aren’t recognised. However, if all of the official grades shown on the right are also present, and have the correct points and entries values, this is fine to be ignored.
For example, the grade method in the example below includes a ‘W’ (Working Towards) grade that isn’t in the expected grade method. However, as the method still contains all the other correct grades with the correct points, ensuring the W grade is not uploaded into the Exams data set, this will ensure Headline figures are still calculated correctly and can therefore be left as it is.
Thanks for reading!