In defining our approach to examining Cambridge Pre-U in June 2022, we have been guided by subject decisions published by Ofqual. The following information details how these subject decisions will apply to Cambridge Pre-U subjects in the run-up to the June 2022 exam series.
Advance Information
We will produce Advance Information in the majority of Cambridge Pre-U subjects, in line with the Department for Education’s policy decision in England. Advance Information will not be published for Global Perspectives and Art and Design due to the nature of the syllabus content and the assessment.
We will make advance information available on our public website by 7 February 2022 at the latest, and we will write to you when this information is available so that you can plan students' revision accordingly.
Adjustments
We will make adjustments for the subjects listed below along the same principles as those applied to equivalent UK A Levels. The specific adaptations will reflect differences between A Level and Cambridge Pre- U with regard to content and assessment requirements.
- Geography
- Paper 4 will become Paper 44 (9768/04 to 9768/44), as per the June 2021 series. The exam questions that ask candidates to refer to their own fieldwork experiences will be removed from this question paper.
- Art and Design
- Schools can submit two out of three components, in cases where candidates are unable to complete all three of the components due to limited access to resources and facilities. If candidates cannot complete all three components, you need to apply for Special Consideration 'absent from a component for acceptable reasons' for one of the components in the syllabus.
- There will be no centre visits. Schools will need to submit work digitally and we will publish information on the samples database explaining how to do this soon. In the meantime, schools should start to prepare their candidates for digital submission of their work. This can include photographs, scans of drawings, recordings, moving images, digital sketchbooks, powerpoints and copies of blogs or online portfolios.
- Music
- Composing requirements will be reduced and we will allow the use of Sibelius files as long as the material given by the teacher is clearly distinguishable from the candidate’s work. We will provide further information about these requirements by email in December 2021.
- For the Performing and Further Performing components, provision will be made where schools cannot offer ensemble work. The requirement to perform in front of an audience will be relaxed. We will provide further information by email in December 2021.
- We will not send Visiting Examiners to centres to administer and assess the Performing component. Instead, schools will need to administer and record the performances, and submit these recordings to us for marking. We will give you more details about how to do this soon on the samples database.
Speaking tests
We will organise the Speaking tests to take place remotely via an online meeting link. We appreciate this differs from the Ofqual position, which stipulates that speaking tests should return to normal if pandemic conditions allow, and this may be practicable where teachers are assessing their students. However, Cambridge Pre-U requires the attendance of external examiners, and we have to consider the safety and practicalities for our specialists who would potentially be attending multiple schools in person, and the administrative burden for schools in arranging and accommodating these visits.
New coursework deadline – Cambridge Pre-U Art History
We will extend the deadline for Cambridge Pre-U Art History for the June 2022 series, as we did for June 2021. We hope that this affords more time to students whose work may have been disrupted by the pandemic.
The submission date for (9799), Paper 4 (Personal Investigation) has been moved from 15 February to 31 March 2022.