WJEC Successfully Deliver First Ever A-Level Examinations On-screen Using BTL Surpass

Cardiff-based awarding body successfully delivers the first ever on-screen A-Level examinations in England and Wales

BTL Group Ltd is delighted to announce that, during the summer of 2009, WJEC - the Cardiff-based awarding body - successfully delivered the first ever on-screen A-Level examinations in England and Wales, using BTL’s Surpass e‑Assessment solution. 

WJEC is amongst a number of leading UK examination boards who use BTL’s Surpass to develop and deliver high stakes examinations such as A-Levels, GCSEs and NVQs.  GCE Applied ICT and GCE Applied Business were the WJEC qualifications which had units assessed on-screen this summer. The examinations included innovative and engaging content, including video (avatars) and audio. 

The e-Assessments were delivered at WJEC examination centres (schools and colleges), through the medium of Welsh and English, via a secure LAN (Local Area Network) connection.  One of the key features of the examinations was the combination of computer and human marking, allowing WJEC the flexibility to include both subjective questions, for example, open-ended free-response, and objective ones, for example, multiple choice questions. 

Keith Myers, BTL Managing Director at BTL, says ‘We are extremely pleased to see that WJEC are leading the way in taking A-Levels on-screen.  BTL Surpass is a tried, tested and trusted system that is capable of successfully delivering high stakes, high-volume examinations and we are delighted that it has been used to deliver the first ever A-Levels done as e-Assessments. We expect that, due to the success of this roll out, other examination boards will follow suit.’

About WJEC

WJEC is an awarding body based in Cardiff and operating throughout Wales and England.

Qualifications offered include: GCSEs; AS/A levels; Functional Skills; Entry Levels and the Welsh Baccalaureate.

Approximately 4,000 examination centres are registered with WJEC in Wales and England, representing about 700,000 candidate entries for different subjects at the various levels.

In addition to offering examinations and assessment, WJEC also provides professional development training courses for teachers and a range of educational support material in print and online.  More information and contact details are available on www.wjec.co.uk

About BTL          

BTL is a leading UK owned e-Assessment development and delivery company. With over 1 million certified exams powered by BTL, our content development and delivery tools are helping some of the UK's largest agencies face the challenge of on-screen delivery.

Since 1985, we have been successfully helping our customers exceed their assessment and learning expectations.

For further information about BTL and its product offerings visit www.btl.com.

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