What an exam board does
An exam board (formally an "awarding body") writes the syllabus for a qualification, sets the exam papers, marks them, and awards the grades. In the UK there are seven boards a tutor or student is likely to encounter — five domestic, one cross-UK, and one internationally-oriented one used heavily at independent schools.
Schools choose which board to use for each subject. A typical state secondary in England might run AQA for English, Pearson Edexcel for Maths, OCR for Computer Science, and AQA for History — all in the same year group. Different subjects, different boards, even at the same school.
The five UK boards
- AQA — England's largest by entry volume. Particularly strong on English (Language and Literature), History, Sociology, Psychology, Religious Studies. Around 60 GCSE specs.
- Pearson Edexcel — owned by Pearson plc since 2003. Dominant in GCSE Maths and Further Maths (about half of all maths entries), Statistics, Astronomy, Business, Economics. ~50 GCSE specs.
- OCR — part of Cambridge Assessment. Owns ~70% of GCSE Computer Science entries; also dominant in Latin, Classical Greek, Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, and (partly) Music.
- WJEC Eduqas — WJEC is the Welsh board (sole provider for Welsh-medium and Welsh-specific subjects); Eduqas is the English-market brand of the same body. Used at many English schools for English Literature, Film Studies, Media Studies, Drama.
- CCEA — the Northern Ireland indigenous board. Some English schools also use CCEA, particularly for unusual subject combinations.
Outside England, Wales, NI
- SQA — the sole Scottish board, awarding Scottish qualifications (Nationals 3/4/5, Highers, Advanced Highers). Scotland's system runs separately from the rest of the UK.
- Cambridge International (CAIE) — part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used at many UK independent schools for IGCSE, AS/A-level, and Pre-U. IGCSEs in technical subjects (Maths, Sciences) are typically more challenging than standard UK GCSEs of the same name.
How board choice affects tutoring
Three things change between boards for the same subject at the same level:
- Paper structure — number of papers, time allocations, calculator policies, ratio of multiple-choice to short-answer to extended writing.
- Set texts and content focus — particularly in English Literature, History, Religious Studies. AQA GCSE English Lit covers different texts from Eduqas; revising the wrong texts is a real problem.
- Mark scheme conventions — what gets credit and how marks are awarded. Tutors who specialise in a board know the assessment objectives and mark scheme rubrics well enough to coach for them.
A tutor who knows the specific board and spec your child is sitting is meaningfully more useful than a generic subject specialist. When you're messaging tutors on Tutorperch, ask them which boards they've prepared students for in the last two years — and whether they've taught your specific spec code (e.g. AQA GCSE Maths 8300, Edexcel A-level Physics 9PH0).
Past papers and revision resources
Each board publishes past papers free on its website (linked above). A few useful conventions:
- Past papers go back at least 3-5 years for current specifications. Older papers (pre-spec change) are usually marked clearly as "legacy".
- Mark schemes are published alongside papers and are the single best resource for understanding what gets credit.
- Examiner reports are published after each exam series, summarising how students performed and the most-common mistakes. Underused by parents but very useful for tutors.
- Specifications (the full syllabus document) are also free. They tell you exactly what content can be tested.
Recent spec changes (high-level)
GCSE and A-level specs were last comprehensively reformed in 2015-2017 (the "9-1" GCSE reforms). Since then, individual subjects have had spec updates: Computer Science specs updated periodically as technology evolves; History and Religious Studies have content updates; Maths has had some content rebalancing.
For the current academic year, all boards publish change notices on their websites summarising any specification updates affecting exams in this series. Tutors who teach actively will be aware of these; ask if you're unsure whether your tutor is up to date.