Below is a list of Frequently Asked Questions about Exams Results Day in relation to the following processes;
See here for further Exam Results guidance.
General
Q. I can’t see all the exam seasons?
A. Check which Data Boundary you are in. Click on your photo in the top right-hand corner of the MIS, Click My Account then in the General panel > Current Interval make sure this is set to either Nucleus or a section that covers the years that you need to see. See How to Manage Data Boundaries
Embargos
Q. How do I embargo results?
A. Go to Config > Examinations > Seasons, click on the Season you need to embargo in the Seasons panel. In Edit Season ensure that the Results Embargoed is ticked. Important :Remember that if you use the same Season for results due for release on the A-Level day and the GCSE day, you will need to re-embargo the season before you download results on the second limited release day.
A. Permissions: Who can see the embargoed results is defined by roles and permissions. The administrator role will have this permission included in their role. A user with the administrator role can adjust this access for other roles as needed from Config > Setup > Roles and Permissions > Select a role and click Edit. Select the Examination module and tick the access permission under Examination > Maintenance > Configurations > View Embargoed Results. See How to Edit Roles and Permissions.
A. The Results embargo affects pages like Exam Sheets, Student Profile, Assessment pages, MCAS, and Student Portal. It will not restrict access to reports stored in the DMS. Important: In the example a results report is run and then saved in the DMS by a user who has permissions to view embargoed results then the report is outside the limits of the embargo.
A. The Key Stage Dashboards cover multiple seasons and so will need to be embargoed at the dataset. This can be done under Modules > Analysis > Headline Figures data sets. Select the dataset and tick the Embargoed tick box and Save. They are not covered by season embargos.
Q. I’ve set my embargo, but students can see their results on the Student Portal/MCAS, How?
A. If you have run a report and saved it as a document, it is no longer subject to the embargo and will be visible. Much like if you printed this off. If this has happened, you can quickly unpublish the documents until you are ready to republish, go to Modules > Student Portal > Published documents. MyChildAtSchool (MCAS) has its own Examination page, but the same setup applies regarding unpublished documents in MCAS. See How to publish/Unpublish documents in MCAS
A. For the exams pages, and not reports, please check the season to see if it is embargoed from Config > Examination > Season > Select Season. The following pages can also be used to enable/disable Exam Results.
- Config > Student Portal > Exam > Enable Exam Results
- Config > MCAS > Exam > Enable Exam Results
As results belong to the candidate you may want to ensure the MCAS Exam page is disabled before you remove your embargo.
Q. How do I remove an entry for a student?
A. Exam entries cannot be deleted, and once made will need to be withdrawn. Go to Modules > Exams > Manage Candidates, Select the Candidate(s) and Edit. Change the mode from C (centre) to W (withdrawn).
- Unsubmitted exam entries changed from C(centre) to W (withdrawn) will appear blank (with auditing in the system)
- Exam entries contained in a created submission file will remain displayed as W(withdrawn)
Q. The results file says it cannot find the Basedata.
A. Each centre manages its own Basedata. If this is missing it will need to be imported before you can import EDI results. See How to Import/Refresh Basedata.
Q. I can’t Import Basedata / I am unable to see the Basedata when trying to import?
A. Check that the exam board is active in the season you need it for. The quickest way is to view your Basedata page, this will display all the active boards.
A. To adjust any of these go to Config > Exam > Exam Boards. Select the Season from the dropdown , click on the Exam Board and Tick to set the board to Active > Save.
A. If this is a new series you are importing, make sure you have ticked “Show All Files”
A. Make sure the Basedata is not already in another season. Each series can only be used in one season. If it is already in a different season, then it cannot be used again elsewhere.
A. Check that the season is appropriate for the series you are importing. The first character in the series name is the month and the third and fourth tell you the year. E.g. 6G24_10 would be June 2024, and the season must contain this month in order for the Basedata to be available for import.
Q. I can’t see my results file?
A If you are using the A2C link make sure you have disabled your local A2C app. If you have downloaded the files to the standalone program, they cannot be received twice. You will need to upload those files to Bromcom and then import them.
A. If using the A2C exchange, make sure that your connections are refreshed and showing as green. Even if showing green please refresh using the circular arrow next to each exam board. If they are not green but have been previously – ensure that you have your active season set to the season you are looking to import (this will make things easier), then refresh again, go to Config > Exams > A2C Centre Setup
A. Have you imported your file? Make sure that if you either uploaded your file(s) from the standalone program or collect it from system if using the A2C connection. Go to Modules > Exams > Manage Results > Actions > Import results> Wait for the system to check for new available files. It should tell you how many are received from each board.
A. Check the previously imported page, using the toggle. Can you see the file for import? Also check the date range at the top of the page covers the dates that you are expecting to import
A. Is there Basedata imported for that exam board, season, and series? Check if the file appears in Config > Exams > A2C Centre Setup > Actions > View All files. Files without a series will appear here. If this is the case, you will need to import the Basedata first. Then you will be able to import your results.
Q. I’ve imported my results, but they are not showing?
Note: if you raise a case for this with Bromcom Support the agent will ask where these are not showing in the MIS as this will affect the checks made.
A. Go to Modules > Exams > Manage Results > Actions > Import Results. Check the files are not sitting in Files not yet imported
A. When importing did you get an error and chose to “ignore” these results?
Q. Assign candidate/UCI numbers via import not working via Modules > Exams > Manage Candidates > Actions > Assign UCI and Candidate Numbers?
A. Any number in this range already assigned will not be reassigned. UCIs can be checked via quick reports. These should be unique for all time so make sure to include leavers.
Q. Results file not importing/results not in grade range
A. The result gradeset is included in the Basedata set by the exam board .
- Have you refreshed your Basedata?
- If there have been changes to the Basedata then this will be included in a later addition of the Basedata.
- Check the refresh for most Basedata (7B BTECs are different) the number after the full stop is the version number e.g. o6a24_01.XO1 is version one, o6a24_01.XO2 is version two of the same series.
- Please ensure that the Basedata you are using is the latest version. The Match Import for Series drop down should select the correct series to match to so it won’t create a new series or affect entries but will update with the most up to details such as markset changes or dates/times.
- Once refreshed try importing the results again.
Q. We have manually entered some results but on the results report for the students the grade is being listed under “equiv” rather than results? Why is this?
A. Go to Reports > Examinations > Result by Students. Component result and Non-EDI results will not appear in the results columns but in the equivalents column. If you want Non-EDI Results to appear in the Result column of the student results report, there is a tick box called “Non EDI entries in Results column.”
Q. Results by student report not showing all results?
A Go to Modules > Exams > Manage Results > select the Candidate(s) >Edit > Candidate Results. (Also check non-EDI results in the same way) Are the results you expect to see here ?
A. Check which season the results are held in. The Exams panel in the Student profile > Assessment page is a good way to check this. Check for Entries first.
Then change the drop down to Results to check the Results are stored and against which season.
The Reports>Examinations>Results by Student report can be run for both a single selected Season or within a Date Range. Select as appropriate.
Q. My math’s results are in two columns, and I need them in one?
A. Most tiered subjects will be sent from the exam boards as two columns of data as they are different options, for example Higher and Foundation. Maths, Languages, Science are common examples where these will come from the exam boards and appear as two columns. This is out of our control but if you set up a KS4 or KS5 Dashboard based on your results, then the subjects are grouped as a subject, not an exam option, and can be viewed as one column.
Q. I need to send results to the Students not the parents, how do I do this?
A. Exam results belong to the student and not the parents. To send to the student and not their parents, make sure the students own email address is added on their basic details on their profile. (manual data import can be used to bulk add missing student emails).
When you choose to send the document through the My Documents page, there is the option to switch from contact to student at the top and it will use the basic details email address.
Q. I’m getting a session timeout error when running my reports, why?
A. The error message should say to press the Refresh button. This is located at the top left of the menu Bar of the report (not the one in your internet browser bar)
Q. How do I add my extra exam results that don’t come from A2C?
A. Non EDI results are added manually. To do this go to Modules > Exams > Manage Results > Select the candidate(s) > Add > Non-EDI results. See How to Add Non EDI Results
Q. How do I get out a broadsheet of my results?
A. Option 1 go to Modules > Exams > Manage Results, Select Season > Selections > Select all, then Actions > Export Results. Note you can choose to export by Qualification or Exam Options.
A. Option 2 create a KS4 or KS5 Dashboard based on the results. The KS4 dashboard you can go to the download icon on the Cohort Information panel. Here you have the option to produce a Results Broadsheet with grades (or values). See KS4 Performance Guide. On the KS5 dashboard the student view should offer you an exportable dashboard.
A. Option 3 go to Reports > Exams > Results Overview. This gives a broadsheet per exam type (GCSE, BTEC etc). Or if you export the data instead of preview this includes all but as a row per result, not a broadsheet. This could be used for a SISRA import.
A. Option 4 A broadsheet can be built within Quick Reports using the Matrix option. You will need to build this in the Exam Candidates’ domain. Results are held against entries, so will be found here to add to a report. Please add a filter to the report before you start building to limit the candidates you are looking at or this will fail.
Exam Sheets
Q. I’ve set up exam sheets but can’t see them?
A. You either need to be an associated staff member of the group(s) or have the permission to View All Exam Sheets. This can be found under Config>Setup> Roles and Permission, Choose the Role, Edit and you will find the permission to View All Exam Sheets under the Exams module.
Q. How can heads of department see their results?
A. Option 1 – Set up exam sheets and tick the results option, make it read only. See
How to make exam entries (section 3)
A. Option 2 – Set up a KS4 Dashboard. See KS4 Performance Guide – embargo’s are applied to the dashboards. Please note that they will be able to see all results, not just their subject.
Dashboards
Q. A subject is not showing on the KS4 dashboard?
A. Check the result is actually there first. Go to the Student Record and the Assessment tab, check the Exam Results.
A. Check the snapshot is refreshed on the KS4 Dashboard.
A. Check that the course counts in the performance measures. See the DFE guide Key stage 4 qualifications, discount codes and point scores – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Only valid qualifications will pull through to the KS4 dashboard. Common examples that will not show are, Low level Functional Skills, Entry Level Qualifications, and Short Course subjects.
A. Qualifications will display under their discount code description. Please check the DFE documentation for these.
Q. Figures on my KS4 Dashboard don’t look right?
A. Check you have the cohort right in Modules > Analysis > Key Stage Cohort Definitions.
A. Check you have refreshed the dataset Modules > Analysis > Headline Figures Datasets.
A. Check you mapped the subjects for that season by going to Config > Analysis > Exam Option Subjects. If you are looking at progress, check you have added in KS2 fine score equivalent figures under Modules > Analysis > Review KS2 Fine Levels.
A. Check the result are actually there on the Student Record. Go to the Student Profile and the Assessment tab. Check the Exam results.