Reduction in assessment

As outlined in our Cambridge Technicals summer 2023 timeline, it's now time to submit outstanding requests for reduction in assessment from the 2021/22 academic year.

We need all centres that used reduction in assessment in 2021/22, for students certificating in summer 2023 and beyond, to complete this activity.

If you did not use reduction in assessment for any students certificating in summer 2023 and beyond, no action is required.

What do I need to do and when?

If you submitted your reduction in assessment requests in April/May 2022, we now need you to check your spreadsheets in Interchange and submit any changes. Your spreadsheets are pre-populated with the individual student details and reduction in assessment unit information you provided last year.

If you didn’t submit your requests in April/May 2022, only the student details are displayed. You will need to add the units they used reduction in assessment for in 2021/22.

You must do this between 20 March and 28 April 2023.

This is the last opportunity to submit your reduction in assessment requests.

These instructions apply to Cambridge Technicals students certificating in summer 2023 and beyond who require a reduction in assessment from 2021/22.

1 Access the reduction in assessment area of Interchange

Log into Interchange, hover over ‘Reduction in assessment’ and click on ‘Cambridge Technicals’ in the left-hand menu. You'll need the Interchange Centre Administrator role to view this menu item.

Select ‘2022’ from the dropdown menu.

You'll see listed:

• all subjects and qualifications you have qualification entries (registrations) for, which were made before 1 September 2022
• all the subjects and qualifications where students moved to a different size qualification after 1 September 2022 (by topping-up or moving down) – these students are listed under the new qualification entry code.

Students who have already completed their qualification and received their overall result will not be listed.

If you don't see a student, subject or qualification you're expecting, please contact us at vqprocessing@ocr.org.uk.

2 Choose your qualification and download the template

For each qualification, click on ‘Edit’ and you'll see a screen similar to the following:

Click on ‘Download New Template’ to download the spreadsheet containing a list of your students and all the moderated units available for that qualification.

• If you told us last year about your reduction in assessment units, the spreadsheets will be pre-populated with a ‘Y’ for the unit for each student.
• If you did not tell us last year about the reduction in assessment unit(s) from 2021/22, all unit columns will be blank for each student.

3 Check your spreadsheet

If you told us your reduction in assessment information in April/May 2022

Your spreadsheet will be pre-populated with the information you provided. The unit(s) you told us were being reduced will have a ‘Y’ in the relevant unit column. 

Please check your spreadsheet carefully to make sure:

• all students are registered for the correct qualification
• all students who used reduction in assessment in 2021/22 are included
• all students who used reduction in assessment in 2021/22 have a ‘Y’ against the correct reduction in assessment unit(s).

You don’t need to upload and resubmit your spreadsheet if everything you told us last year is correct. No further action is required if:

• your spreadsheet includes the details of all students who used reduction in assessment in 2021/22, and
• you don’t need to make any changes, including making top-up/move-down entries.

If you need to make changes, including topping-up and moving-down, you will need to upload an updated spreadsheet:

• if you need to move a student to a different size qualification, see the instructions below on topping-up and moving down first – do not resubmit your spreadsheet yet
• if any of your students who used reduction in assessment do not have a ‘Y’ against the moderated unit that was reduced or against the wrong unit, you must follow step 4 and upload an updated spreadsheet.

If you didn't tell us your reduction in assessment information in April/May 2022

Please check your spreadsheet carefully to make sure:

• all students are registered for the correct qualification
• all students who used reduction in assessment in 2021/22 are included.

You must add a ‘Y’ to the moderated units(s) the students used reduction in assessment for in 2021/22.

To do this, you must follow step 4 and upload an updated spreadsheet.

If you need to move a student to a different size qualification, see the instructions below on topping-up and moving-down first – do not resubmit your spreadsheet yet.

Do you have blank spreadsheets?

A spreadsheet will be blank (there is no pre-populated data in the unit columns) because either:

• you didn’t use reduction in assessment for your students in 2021/22. No further action is required. Do not upload a blank spreadsheet (a nil-return is not required), or
• you used reduction in assessment last year for your students but did not tell us about it. You must add ‘Y’ in the relevant unit column for each student and upload the updated spreadsheet. Please follow step 4.

4 Amend your spreadsheet (if you have changes)

Where a student was missed from the original reduction in assessment submission last academic year, enter ‘Y’ or ‘y’ in the relevant unit column, do not use ‘yes’. You must leave the ‘Y’ in place for the other students. Removing the ‘Y’ will cancel your reduction in assessment request for those students and we will not calculate a result for the unit.

If you submitted a reduction in assessment against the wrong unit, remove the ‘Y’ and add it in the correct unit column.

You must not enter anything where reduction in assessment is not being used. 

5 Upload your spreadsheet

If you have made changes, you must upload your spreadsheet.

When you have completed and saved your spreadsheet, click ‘Upload file’ then ‘Choose File’ and browse to your saved file. Click ‘Open’ and then ‘Upload’.

You'll see the following message while the file is being validated. Do not refresh this screen. Instead, you can click ‘Back to dashboard’ to see the latest status of your file.

As validation may take a few minutes, you may need to refresh the dashboard screen if the file has not validated immediately. You do not need to stay on this screen while the file is validating.

If there are any errors, the qualification status will show as ‘File has errors’. Click ‘Edit’ and then ‘View errors’ to download a spreadsheet listing any errors in the file. To fix the errors, you can either:

• Edit the file you uploaded – If you need a copy of this, click on ‘Download your uploaded file’.
• Start again and complete a new file – You can download a new template by clicking ‘Download New Template’. This will be pre-populated with any information you have previously submitted successfully.

A list of the common error messages and why these would appear can be found in our FAQ.

You can then upload the replacement file by clicking on 'Replace file'.

6 Submit your spreadsheet

As soon as a qualification status shows as ‘Ready to Submit’ you can submit your file to us. To submit your file, either select the check box on the individual row or click the top check box to select all files with a Ready to Submit status and click ‘Submit’.

Click the checkbox and click on ‘Confirm and Submit’.

You will see the status changes to ‘Submitted’ on the dashboard.

7 Resubmitting a spreadsheet

If you need to replace a spreadsheet after you have submitted it, you can click on 'Reopen' on the dashboard and replace the file. You can do this as many times as you need to until the deadline.

A reduction in assessment request must be supported with a declaration by the Head of Centre or senior leadership member. This confirms the requirements we have asked centres to observe have been followed. If you completed the reduction in assessment declaration last year, you do not need to submit this again.

You can check if you've already submitted the declaration in the reduction in assessment area on Interchange. If you have not already submitted a declaration, you must do this when you submit your changes. You can view the steps on how to do this in our FAQ.

Take a look at our Cambridge Technicals FAQs for further support:

• Reduction in assessment from 2021/22: Students certificating in summer 2023 and beyond
• Using the reduction in assessment area on Interchange – understanding error messages

If you have any queries, please contact the OCR Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998 or email us at support@ocr.org.uk.