KS5: Summer Exams Checklist 2024 (Admin)

We have produced a handy checklist with best practice tips to help you upload your Exam results on August 14th.

1 / PREPARATION FOR KS5 SUMMER RESULTS CHECKLIST (HELP > Results Day & Exams > KS5 - Preparation for Summer Exams 2024)

• Ensure you have worked through and completed each step listed in the KS5 preparation checklist.
• Double check other grades data, such as Targets, is up to date for all students to ensure useful comparisons.

2 / EXAM GRADES (DATA > select KS5 & cohort > GRADES > Uploads > Exams)

2a. PREVIOUSLY BANKED EXAM GRADES

• Check you have uploaded your students’ banked Exams (e.g. Y12 results, such as AS Levels, and offsite Exams).
• If your students resat Level 2 GCSE English and Maths, ensure these L2 resit grades are uploaded.

2b. SUMMER RESULTS

• Prepare your summer results file in Excel using the Sisra Analytics Excel Add-In (4 column list including Student ID, Student Name, Qualification and Grade, saved as a CSV (MS DOS) file).
• Ensure AS and A2 qualifications have unique / separate qualification names in your file (e.g. Art AS, Art A2, etc.), if taken at your school.
• Upload your summer results file into GRADES > Uploads > Exams and set any new qualifications to ‘New’ on the Confirm Upload Qualification Names page where necessary.

3 / ASSIGN QUALIFICATIONS TO CLASSES (STUDENTS > Classes)

• If you have any new qualifications, assign them to the correct set of classes.

4 / MATCHING (GRADES > Matching)

• Included column – Ensure all relevant qualifications are toggled to ‘Yes’ to be included in the reports. Any qualifications that are not needed (e.g. qualifications students did not enter officially) can be excluded from reports here.
• QN/Qual Title column – Enter the QN codes for each qualification to help make the correct selection from the list. Qualification Title or Syllabus Title can be used as an alternative but may not be as accurate.
• EAP column - Select a suitable EAP from those created in the KS4 / EAP > EAP / Baselines > EAP area. Analytics will check that the grade method used in this EAP matches the grade method expected based on the selection in the QN/Qual Title column.

5 / NATIONAL DATA FOR L3 VALUE ADDED (GRADES > National Data > Value Added)

• Ensure the Value Added Data is set to ‘2019 Amended’, which is the latest available (click ‘Edit VA Data’ to amend if necessary).

Value Added has been suspended by the DfE since 2019, however this is expected to be reported on again from 2024 onwards. Therefore, once the 2024 Value Added data is released by the DfE after the results period, you will need to return to this area and amend to '2024' to publish the reports with this new data.

6 / GRADES MANAGEMENT (GRADES > Grades Management > Select a data set or assessment/collection)

• Check the ‘Grades Count’ column reflects the number of grades you expect for each qualification.
• Address any setup issues flagged with a warning icon, such as: Missing Student Data, Missing Class Data, Grade Not in Method and Sub Grades not Valid in this Data Set.

You will not be able to publish your Exams data set until all main issues are resolved.

7 / PUBLISH REPORTS (STUDENTS, KS4 / EAP & GRADES)

• Publish STUDENTS (STUDENTS > Publish Students > Click ‘Publish’).
• Publish KS4 / EAP (KS4 / EAP > Publish KS4 / EAP > Click ‘Publish’).
• Publish GRADES (GRADES > Publish Grades).
  o Publish any data sets (‘Data Sets’ tab) or assessments (‘Year 12’ and ‘Year 13’ tabs under Assessments heading) you wish to be available for comparison for on results day.
  o Check for discrepancies or blank figures in the reports and resolve these before results day.

Analytics will temporarily place your Exams report for Current Year 13 (23/24) under Embargo upon publishing from 12am on Wednesday 14th August 2024. JCQ have confirmed that the results will be released to students from 8:00am the following day. This will LOCK the report so only staff with ‘View Embargo Reports’ enabled in their Authority Group will have access during this time (by default this will be ‘Admins’).

8 / CHECK YOUR FIGURES (REPORTS > KS5 > select Cohort > select ‘Exams’ > Headlines)

• Check for unexpected or blank figures in the Headlines report (e.g. A Level Cohort, Applied General Cohort, etc.) and resolve these.

Please note that students who have a status of 'On Roll', 'Year 12 Only' or ‘Year 13 Only’ need 2 A Level sized entries (either 2 grades worth at least 1 A Level entry each, or 1 grade worth 2 entries) to be included in school performance measures. We recommend double checking that this status is accurately set for appropriate students using DfE criteria. Please see our cohort eligibility article here if needed. 

Thanks for reading!