Number of kids getting extra time in exams MASSIVELY overstated

[noblegiraffe]

Ofqual are withdrawing their statistics on how many children getting extra time and other accommodations in GCSEs and A-levels because they've admitted that they are completely wrong. It's something I know has been referenced quite a few times here so I thought it worth flagging.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jul/17/ofqual-admits-massively-exaggerating-number-of-students-getting-exam-assistance?

"The new analysis suggests that the actual proportion of students receiving access arrangements – including 25% extra time in exams – is now broadly in line with the proportion of students with special educational needs in the school population."

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofqual-withdraws-access-arrangements-statistics

Nonsense.

I'm yet to have a job that has me writing essays in a short period if time recalling information id learned over the past 2 years.

Nor have I had a job where I apply my knowledge without being able to check or speak with other people or use resources available at my finger tips.

also my broken arm healed nicely and I no longer need someone to write for me.

And actually my anxiety has gone now that I don't have huge parental pressure to do well in an exam at 16.

I'm still blind though, so don't worry I'm not going to be applying for a bus driver job. But I did still need someone to read the questions to me to pass my geography GCSE.

I was a migrant and was learning English after being displaced, so I needed a little extra time to to do my English Literature exam, however, that was 15 years ago and I'm fluent thanks.

Also, my physical condition that allowed me rest breaks whilst being essentially forced to sit and write for 2 hours, is not an issue now because I don't want a job that requested that, thanks.

No, they can have any music I think,but it has to be checked before hand.

That's only really relevant if the employment very closely replicates the conditions of the exam and the reason for the adjustment is permanent.

I didn't answer it because it is irrelevant to the issue of extra time and is designed to derail the debate

That makes no sense.
Your child is assessed as needing 25% extra time. He gets that. Why would everyone else getting it make any difference to him? The reasonable adjustment is that the time allowed is enough for everyone to finish. So the field is level. But what you seem to be arguing for (an additional 25%) is an advantage not a levelling.

The question isn’t irrelevant and it isn’t trying to derail the thread. Extra time is one of many EAA. I was trying to understand your thinking.

It does make sense. Someone has been assessed as needing extra time (25%, 50%, 100%, 200% - not all who have extra time have 25%) because they need more time than others. If you allow everyone to write for 3 hours (and some who don’t qualify for extra time will still use the whole 3 hours, especially in essay subjects), someone who needs more time than others is disadvantaged. They receive the same time as everyone else. They don’t receive the reasonable adjustment. Extra time is not an advantage.

No that doesn't make sense. Making an essay longer for the sake of it does not make it better.

Making an essay longer for the sake of it does not make it better.

I didn’t say it did.

So many people are throwing Ableist slurs to those questioning the system.

What we are doing is not questioning whether a child needs extra time (and please spare me from the amputated arm examples) but the fact that maany MN children seem to get it due to “slow processing”. My DD ( not disabled) is slower on the up take than others at her school. She “gets it” in the end. The school has, over five years, exhorted her to work “harder” because she needs to become “quicker”. She describes herself as fine but clearly not as academic because she doesn’t “get it” as quickly as some of her classmates. She runs out of time in the exam yet knows the answers. Other PPs have had the same experience.

If we, as intelligent and invested parents at (I thought ) decent schools, have not heard of extra time for slow processing, then the whole system is wrong and my DD for one has been disadvantaged simply because we were not TOLD.

Far from being “ableist”, I’m afraid my sympathies lie with truly disadvantaged people. I can’t have much sympathy with Felicity who is predicted 10 grade 9s and james who is on track for four A stars and holds an Oxbridge offer but gets extra time due not to anxiety but to slow processing,when little Johnny who blatantly has slow processing and a disinterested school and non invested parents and who therefore has no concessions in place. For Johnny an extra half an hour would mean he actually passes his maths gcse and can hope to pull himself out of poverty. But no, because extra time for slow processing is not a generic test in schools, he misses out.

I actually think that these ableist slurs are a sign of “the lady doth protest too much”. Quite possibly if Johnny and his ilk got equal concessions as a NATIONAL assessment ( as opposed to being at a good school with invested parents) , those string of grade 9s might drop a notch.

The sheer inequality makes me sick to my stomach

For Johnny an extra half an hour would mean he actually passes his maths gcse and can hope to pull himself out of poverty. But no, because extra time for slow processing is not a generic test in schools, he misses out.

I can wade in on this one because I'm maths.

Maths GCSE is a funny one for extra time because the only kids who really need to complete all the questions are the ones aiming for the top grade on that paper (so a 5 for Foundation and a 9 for higher).

Johnny who is hoping to scrape a grade 4 is far less likely to run out of time due to slow processing because they essentially already get extra time over those aiming for a grade 5 due to having fewer questions they can answer.

We have lots of kids who get extra time generally who don't use it for maths because they don't need to.

But you won't get extra time just for slow processing.

If you read the JCQ guidance you will see how many hoops you have to jump through to qualify.

Even a diagnosis of dyslexia doesn't qualify. You also need the qualifying scores - and those scores put you right in the very bottom percentiles.

What lots of people don't understand is that you can be extremely clever and the potential to be high achieving but have disabilities that make everything much harder because you are constantly compensating.

Someone with working memory on 5th centile and NVR and VR on 99th centile is going to struggle to achieve what they are capable of in an exam.

Often SEN is spotted because there is a huge gulf between ability and results. The child that works at an 8 or 9 in class and then gets a 3 in the mock exams raises far more questions than the child who works at a 5 and get a 4.

@noblegiraffeBut why should Johnny ve content to “scrape a grade 4”? Maybe, just maybe, if he had extra time, he would be in your Additional Maths class and joining middle class James at Oxford.

Yeah....no. If little Johnny is trying his best to scrape a 4 in maths, then he is not actually 'very good at maths but needs a little bit of extra time'.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow but people on this thread DO get extra time for “slow processing” ( and in the absence of other “co morbidities “ such as anxiety/dyslexia/amputated limbs)

But either way, my argument is that it doesn’t level the playing field because only invested parents and clued up schools will mention that there are hoops through which one must jump.

I and other PPs who have left the thread extremely distressed, were not aware that such hoops existed for slow processing because no one told us! Fine if our DC didn’t meet the criteria. But so many children must fall under the radar because they are not given the opportunity to attempt to jump those hoops and thus miss out on extra time.

Your DC might have a level playing field, but countless others do not.

No he wouldn't be because he doesn't have the skills or ability to access the Grade 6,7,8 or 9 questions. Even if he had 4 hours for 3 Grade 6,7,8 or 9 questions he likely wouldn't do well because he doesn't understand the content. So if he wants to scrap a 4, he needs to study and practice Grade 4,5,6 questions and try and get better through hard work and revision not just 4 weeks before the exam but for months. Going over skills he is week in e.g trigonometry. Watching videos, practicing the skills. Then he'll be able to get enough marks on the Grade 4,5 and 6 questions that he should get a 4 or 5.

Also most marks in Maths are for working out so actually if he does attempts many questions he should get quite a few marks. If he's getting a 3, will all the best will in the world, he's not going to be able to do a Grade 8/9 circle theorem question AND even if he had 200% extra time - if he doesn't understand, hasn't bothered to learn, or study for months and do practice questions on circle theorems. He won't be able to do the questions because they'll be way to difficult.

Also teachers and support staff are trained to identify anyone who needs extra time. Also yes I've mentioned slow processing but it won't just be that. They often have to do tests to see whether or not they qualify. JCQ do very regular checks on schools to make sure they are following the rules. Often children will need more than that with examples of dyslexia,ADHD etc. Also a pupil with just anxiety will likely not get extra time they may get a seperate room or smaller room and/or rest breaks. Anxiety on its own won't qualify for extra time.

Finally, it's highly unlikely (stats show) that Johnny will be the one who doesn't get arrangements for exams. Often it's girls because it wasn't till early 2000s that people realised they could have ADHD, dyspraxia etc and they present differently. Even now many girls aren't diagnosed till uni or later because they can mask and training on how to spot in them isn't always done. Then it's actually BAME girls out of all girls who on top of that suffer more, lack of cultural education and again masking.

But maybe he could get a grade 6 and go onto a good sixth form and have better self worth.

I’d rather give him the opportunity rather than pigeon holing him aged 15-16.

@TheLivelyViper
The point is that he hasn’t been given the chance…

I can’t believe that people are against everyone being screened for slow processing!

i think it rather proves my point…

Kids who are scraping a 4 are struggling with content that they have been taught repeatedly since primary school. They have had plenty of extra time to learn it over a kid who is getting a grade 6, and they are still not able to do it.

It's not the length of time of the exam that is the problem there.

You're arguing, in the case of maths, about something you don't understand.

What is little Johnny getting in class?

If he's working at an 8/9 and then struggling to scrape a 4 in the exams then absolutely there is an issue and teachers should have been trying to work this out years ago (we are in that exact position).

But if he's struggling to scrape a 4 in class, then all the extra time in the world isn't going to help.

Nobody is getting access arrangements JUST for 'slow processing'. The kids I know who do have slow processing as one of their factors also have ADHD or ASD or other SpLd issues.

A child who is scraping a 4 won't be able to get a 6 even with 2 hours extra in an exam, it just isn't possible I'm afraid. Take a look at a higher level GCSE maths exam Vs foundation level to compare the 2.

If he's working at an 8/9 and then struggling to scrape a 4 in the exams then absolutely there is an issue and teachers should have been trying to work this out years ago (we are in that exact position).

Interesting. What have they come up with? My first thought would be anxiety?

@queenofthesuburbs for many with slow processing, it is part of their disability. For example, for some, slow processing is one way their autism presents. It can also be one part of how cerebral palsy presents for some.

The standardised scores are only relevant for applications for those with learning difficulties without an EHCP. Standardised scores are not required for applications not made under the learning difficulties criteria (e.g. for candidates with ASD &/or CP) or for those with learning difficulties with an EHCP.

Many schools do screen all DC for access arrangements even if they don’t do this openly. If your school hasn’t (that you know of. Just because you don’t know they have, doesn’t mean they haven’t.) the problem is with the school not JCQ’s EAA guidance.

I beg to differ but my DD was working at a 7-8 in maths but was unable to finish the paper and knew the answers.

Maths was an example and it’s derailing my point which is that EVERY child should be given the opportunity to jump through hoops to test for Slow Processing.

The system is blatantly unfair because many people have never heard of such concessions being given