Exploring Speededness in Pre-Reform GCSEs (2009 to 2016)

GCSE examinations (taken by students aged 16 years in England) are not intended to be speeded (i.e. to be partly a test of how quickly students can answer questions). However, there has been little research exploring this. The aim of this research was to explore the speededness of past GCSE written examinations, using only the data from scored responses to items from a sample of 340 GCSE components. Speededness was calculated as the average (mean) percentage marks lost from the longest string of unanswered items at the end of each student's examination paper. The potential impact of student ability on examination completion patterns was taken into account. The data suggested that most GCSEs analysed were unlikely to have been speeded. This method of exploring the speededness of exams using only scored responses has potential (although there are limitations), and it can flag potentially problematic components for further investigation.