Advance Information (Ofqual)

Head of New Subjects

Published

about 1 year ago

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The Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual have confirmed that the exam arrangements for students in 2023 will return to those of pre-pandemic.

What is Advance Information?

To support students revising for exams in 2022 after several years of disruption as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ofqual announced that advance information would be provided for the majority of GCSE, AS and A Level subjects.

Advance information was information about which topics within a specification would and would not be assessed in summer 2022. It gave an indication of some of the content, texts, topics, themes and skills that students could expect in their exams. Another change was additional support materials for GCSE Maths (a formulae sheet), GCSE Physics and Combined Science (an equations sheet) were also supplied for the exams.

Advance Information in 2023

The government has confirmed that there will be no advance information for exams scheduled for summer 2023. However, one change that will remain for the 2023 exams is that students will still get support in GCSE mathematics, physics and combined science, with formulae and equation sheets being provided in these exams. This means that for the upcoming 2023 summer exams only, students are not required to memorise formulae for GCSE mathematics and equations for GCSE physics and combined science.

Advance Information in 2024 and Beyond

No decision has been made regarding whether or not support materials in the form of formulae and revised equations sheets for GCSE mathematics, physics and combined science will remain for exams in 2024 and beyond. Students should anticipate that this additional support, provided to compensate for the disruption to learning due to the pandemic, will be removed after this year.

Appendix: 2022 Advance Information Resources

For reference purposes, we have included the links to relevant Advance Information resources shared in 2022 (where they are still publicly available):

Biology Advance Information

Chemistry Advance Information

Maths Advance Information

Physics Advance Information

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Written by Jenna Quinn

Head of New Subjects4 articles

Jenna studied at Cardiff University before training to become a science teacher at the University of Bath specialising in Biology (although she loves teaching all three sciences at GCSE level!). Teaching is her passion, and with 10 years experience teaching across a wide range of specifications – from GCSE and A Level Biology in the UK to IGCSE and IB Biology internationally – she knows what is required to pass those Biology exams.