This document provides an overview of resit rules for WJEC and WJEC Eduqas GCE and GCSE qualifications. 1 P a g e
Contents Section 1: WJEC legacy qualifications... 3 GCE legacy resit eligibility criteria... 3 GCSE legacy resit eligibility criteria... 3 Section 2: WJEC reformed qualifications approved by Qualifications Wales (not available to centres in England)... 4 GCE... 4 GCSE... 4 GCSE November series... 5 Section 3: WJEC Eduqas reformed qualifications accredited by Ofqual.... 5 GCSE November series... 5 2 P a g e
Section 1: WJEC legacy qualifications WJEC will be offering a resit opportunity for all legacy AS, A level (GCE) and GCSE qualifications, subject to demand. Centres are required to submit intention to enter information by the 20 th September each year for candidates wishing to be entered for the final 'resit only' opportunity. If there is no demand the assessment opportunity will be withdrawn. Information confirming the resit opportunities available will be published on our website in October each year and a circular will be sent to centres. The assessment units available for legacy resits in 2019 are available here. GCE legacy resit eligibility criteria Under regulatory requirements, an awarding organisation must take all reasonable steps to ensure that it only provides a legacy GCE resit to a Learner who (a) was issued a result for the relevant qualification before 31st August in the final year of assessment, or (b) would have been entered to complete the assessments by examination for the qualification before 1st July in the final year of assessment, but was not entered due to illness, injury or some other event outside of his or her control. For example, the final year of assessment for the legacy AS and A level Media Studies specification was 2018. Candidates would be eligible to resit in 2019 if they had been issued with a result for the qualification before the 31 st August 2018 or would have been entered to complete the assessment by examination before the 1 st July 2018 but was not entered due to the reasons listed above. GCE candidates may carry forward or re-take coursework assessments. All GCE re-sits will be held in the June series. GCSE legacy resit eligibility criteria Under regulatory requirements, an awarding organisation must take all reasonable steps to ensure that it only provides a GCSE resit to a Learner who (a) was issued with a result for a GCSE qualification (graded A* to G) before 31st August in the final year of assessment, (b) would have been entered to complete the assessments by examination for the qualification (graded A* to G) before 1st July in the final year of assessment, but was not entered due to illness, injury or some other event outside of his or her control, or (c) has reached at least the age of 16 on or before 31st August in the final year of assessment. For subjects with a final assessment in 2018, regulators have stated that awarding organisations may, but are not required to, offer GCSE resit opportunities. WJEC has decided to offer a resit opportunity for all its legacy GCSEs, subject to demand from centres who inform us of their intention to enter for such qualifications by our published deadline of September 20. 3 P a g e
Candidates will only be able to resit examined units. Controlled assessments cannot be retaken and must be re-used/carried forward, with the exception of Welsh Second Language Applied where the 40% terminal rule means candidates resitting the written unit will also have to sit the Unit 4 Oral. Section 2: WJEC reformed qualifications approved by Qualifications Wales (not available to centres in England) The criteria below apply to WJEC reformed qualifications which have been approved by Qualifications Wales. They do not apply to centres in England. Please see Section 3 for Ofqual accredited WJEC Eduqas qualifications. GCE GCE qualifications approved by Qualifications Wales are unitised. Students may resit an individual unit ONCE only. This applies to all AS and A2 units. The better uniform mark score from the two attempts will be used in calculating the final overall grade. A qualification may be taken more than once. However, if any unit has been attempted twice and a candidate wishes to enter the unit for the third time, then the candidate will have to re-enter all units and the appropriate cash-in(s). This is referred to as a 'fresh start'. When retaking a qualification (fresh start), a student may have up to two attempts at each unit. However, no results from units taken prior to the fresh start can be used in aggregating the new grade(s). If a candidate has been entered for but is absent for a unit, the absence does not count as an attempt. The candidate would, however, qualify as a resit candidate. Marks for non-examinations assessment (NEA) units may be carried forward for the life of the GCSE There are unitised and linear reformed GCSE's approved by Qualifications Wales. Resit rules differ depending on whether a qualification is unitised or linear. For unitised specifications, learners may resit an individual unit ONCE only. The better uniform mark score from the two attempts will be used in calculating the final overall grade subject to the terminal rule being satisfied first i.e. that learners must complete a minimum amount of the assessment for a qualification in the series in which they are cashing in. The terminal rule is set at 40% of the overall qualifications for all subjects other than GCSE Welsh second language which has a 75% terminal rule. If the assessment being re-taken contributes to the 40%/75% terminal rule requirement, the mark for the new assessment will count and not the best mark from the last two attempts. If any unit has been attempted twice and a candidate wishes to enter the unit for the third time, the candidate will have to re-enter all units and the appropriate cash-in (s). This is referred to as a 'fresh start'. When retaking a qualification (fresh start), a student may have up to two attempts at each unit. However, no results from units taken prior to the fresh start can be used in aggregating the new grade(s). If a candidate has been entered for but is absent for a unit, the absence does not count as an attempt. The candidate would, however, qualify as a resit candidate. 4 P a g e
Marks for non-examinations assessment (NEA) units may be carried forward for the life of the For linear GCSEs, a qualification may be taken more than once. Candidates must resit all examination components in the same series. Marks for NEA units/components may be carried forward for the life of the If a candidate retakes the NEA unit/component (rather than carrying forward the previous NEA mark), it is the new mark that will count towards the overall grade, even if it is lower than a previous attempt. Where a candidate has certificated on two or more previous occasions, the most recent NEA mark is carried forward, regardless of whether that mark is higher or lower (unless that mark is absent). GCSE November series From the November 2018 series onwards, there is no resit rule for candidates taking WJEC GCSE English Language, GCSE Welsh Language, GCSE Mathematics and GCSE Mathematics Numeracy qualifications. Candidates may, therefore, sit these examinations for the first time in the November series. Section 3: WJEC Eduqas reformed qualifications accredited by Ofqual. All WJEC Eduqas reformed qualifications, accredited by Ofqual, are linear. Candidates must resit all examination components in the same series. Non-examination assessment (NEA) components can be re-taken or the mark carried forward. An NEA mark can be carried forward for the lifetime of the When a candidate certificates for a second time and re-takes (instead of carrying forward) the nonexam assessment, the new mark will count. Where a candidate has certificated on two or more previous occasions, the most recent NEA mark is carried forward, regardless of whether that mark is higher or lower (unless that mark is absent). Within the lifetime of the specification, there is no limit to the number of times that a candidate may re-take the qualification. GCSE November series The eligibility criteria for the WJEC Eduqas GCSE November series is that a candidate must have reached at least the age of 16 on or before the 31st August prior to the November resit series (e.g. a candidate may take an examination in the GCSE November 2018 series if they were at least 16 on or before the 31 st August 2018) 5 P a g e