Course end dates and resit information for GCSE Gateway Science Suite: Science B (J261-6)

OCR’s GCSE Gateway Science B suite of qualifications is changing as part of the government reform of general qualifications. 

OCR’s current GCSE Science B (J261), GCSE Additional Science B (J262), GCSE Biology B (J263), GCSE Chemistry B (J264), GCSE Physics B (J265) and GCSE Further Additional Science B (J266) specifications are being withdrawn in summer 2017. This is due to the development of the new GCSE (9-1) Biology A (J247), GCSE (9-1) Chemistry A (J248), GCSE (9-1) Physics A (J249) and GCSE (9-1) Combined Science A (J250) qualifications.

The final assessment opportunity for the current (J241-J246) specifications will be the summer 2017 series. 

We will provide a resit opportunity for the GCSE Science B (J261) and GCSE Additional Science B (J262) qualifications in November 2017. The following rules apply to students wishing to take resits in these qualifications:

• If a student resits any of these qualifications, they will need to resit all the exams for that qualification.
• Students will be able to carry forward controlled assessment units, but they will also be able to resit this part of the qualification if they prefer.
• The resit opportunity is limited to students who have taken any GCSE Science qualification previously, who have good reason not to have taken one (such as illness), or who are aged 16 or above on 31 August 2017.

A summary of the changes can be seen in the table below:

For further information on deadlines for submitting entries, entry amendments/withdrawals and the submission of marks for internal assessment please see the administration webpages. We will continue to support and assess the current qualifications up to the conclusion of the final assessment series with resources such as Examiner Reports. 

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