Accessibility updates for OCR assessment materials

As part of our ongoing commitment to improving the accessibility in assessment materials, we’re making some changes to the layout of our question papers. This affects students taking exams in June 2024 onwards.

In our 2024 question papers*, we are aligning the questions to the left-hand margin instead of being indented. This means:

• there is more space on the page for text, diagrams and sources making them clearer for students.
• the answer lines in sub-questions are longer, extending to the full width of the page.

Take a look at the examples of our improved question papers below:

• GCSE and A Level examples
• Cambridge Technicals examples

Our work on accessibility in assessment materials is based on extensive and ongoing research conducted by Cambridge University Press and Assessment, Ofqual, British Association of Teachers of the Deaf and other relevant organisations. Research has found that reading along the left margin is more ‘natural’ for the eye and therefore easier for the reader. 

While some question papers will look a little different from previous years, the demand of and the types of questions will not change.

*Please note, this change does not apply to our question papers for mathematics as these have different formatting requirements.

If you have any queries about this update, please call our Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998 or email support@ocr.org.uk.