Domestic Exams

SIMS Examinations Organiser is used to administer public exams, such as GCSEs. The training booklet below explores how Examinations Organiser can also be used to administer domestic (internal/mock/PPE) examinations. This includes; create a domestic exams season identify candidates and issue exam numbers create appropriate basedata record ‘entries’ manage seating including clashes run reports clone a…

New Exam Officer not showing on marksheets

Exam Marksheets do not default to the Exams Officer as the owner, as it depends on the group that the marksheet has been created for. Exam Marksheets setup for different groups will have default owners as below: Classes – Main Class Teacher will be owner Registration Group – Registration Tutor Year Group – Head of…

Course Manager – Linking Exam Awards to course in Course Manager

There are two ways that you can link courses to QANs: 1.Adding an Award to the Examination panel in Maintain Course, clicking new here will pull through any Award that has been imported into Exams Organiser. If the award is new and basedata has not yet been imported that contains the specific award, it will…

Downloading files on the Scomis Hosted Platform

Internet Explorer 11 is now End of Life so we have had to deploy Microsoft’s Edge browser for use. Downloading a file is slightly different in Edge than it was in Internet Explorer. When you click on a file to download (for example, Exams base data files) the file will automatically be downloaded to the…

New Functions in SIMS Autumn 2021

Autumn 2021 SIMS Update New functionality in the SIMS Autumn release, includes adding lookups for Covid medical events; adding UPN, achievement\behaviour points or Pupil Premium to marksheets; adding additional information such as assessable grades to examinations; update to reporting and some housekeeping help for bulk deleting old admission applications. ESS Product videos can be found…

A2C Migration App Update 2021

Hosted Schools: Schools have recently received contact from JCQ to update the A2C Migration App to the new A2C Transport App: The latest A2C Transport app has been installed as recommended by JCQ. Users will continue to use the “A2C Exams Transfer” shortcut within SIMS. A prompt will now be presented when opening the shortcut….

Exam Results Missing

In the first instance, please check through route: Reports | Results |This will show all the ‘certification’ results for the pupil regardless of QCA subject codes or Award to Course Links. ANY RESULTS NOT VISIBLE IN THIS ROUTE INDICATE THAT RESULTS HAVE NOT BEEN IMPORTED. YOU MUST CHECK THIS ROUTE EVEN IF YOU BELIEVE THAT…

UCI No in the result file does not match that recorded for candidate

This error message when importing a Results file is symptomatic of a change made to the Candidate’s UCI. 1.Exams Officers are advised to investigate the original entry file in the Submission Log to ensure that the correct UCI has been sent to the Boards. (This will need to be done for all entry files for…

Import files are not present for the selected board and season

1. Check that current Season is correct for the Basedata selected. Check the user is ‘IN’ the correct Season. (At the bottom of Exams Organiser) 2. Check that the correct Basedata files for that Season are unzipped and in the EXAMIN directory. For example, if user is trying to import Basedata for June 2020, the…

How to Add Non-EDI Results

Adding Non EDI Results In SIMS select Tools | Examinations | Edit PI Data and click OK to confirm an up-to-date download. The system will collate then calculate the PI data. In the YTI drop-down list select Curriculum Year 11 and then click Search. Click the left-hand checkbox for the students required. Notice that the…

Preparation for Summer Exams – Manage Qualifications for PI Reporting

In order for approved qualifications to count in the PI reports in Sims they should be in Sims – Tools / Exams / Manage Performance.  It is the school’s responsibility to make sure that the qualifications they are offering which count in the Performance Tables are added in Manage Performance in Sims. Here’s a reminder of…

Introduction of Discount Families for 16-18 Qualifications

The Summer Release (2018) introduced a new Discounting Family field for 16-18 Qualifications in compliance with DfE specifications announced in January this year.  The field must be populated for all 16-18 qualifications in order to be included in KS5 PI reporting. Tools / Exams / Manage Qualifications the field will show in red for all…

Exams – Component Clash Analysis Report Not Showing All Clashes

There are 3 reasons why a clash would not show on a Component Clash Analysis Report 1   The Award has not been attached to a Course. You can check this by right clicking on the Award and select Properties, is the correct course showing in the Course field?  If not go into Course Manager, select…

What is a good pass when using the new reformed 9-1 grades?

A grade 4 will be classed as a pass and would be the equivalent to a C grade, anything below a 4 would not be classed as a pass. Please see below; Under the new system, a grade 4 and above will be equivalent to a C and above. This is – and will remain…

Troubleshooting KS4 Performance Indicator Reports

Click below for the sample report output. This is only a guide and will likely not be representative of a school’s true data.   KS4 Cohort Information Number of Students at end of KS4 Candidates are identified as being at the end of Key Stage 4 if they were on roll at the school and…

Troubleshooting KS5 16-18 Performance Tables Report

Students at End of KS5 Measure Detail All    % Male    % Female    % KS5 Cohort Information A levels Students at end of KS5 66 100.00 32 48.48 34 51.52 Number of A Level students at end of KS5 66 100.00 32 100.00 34 100.00 Number of A Level full time equivalent students…

Generating Performance Indicator (PI) reports

Running the PI reports Select Tools | Examinations | PI Reports – the default selections are for a Key Stage 4 summary report for the default season. Click the Group Filter browser and expand the Exam Performance Cohort option by clicking on the  + Select PI Cohort 2022 KS4 and click Apply. When you run…

Identifying Basedata

Basedata for a particular series consists of a set of linked files. The names of these files follow an agreed standard, with the first letter denoting what information the file contains. When basedata is first downloaded from the exam board the file will begin with a Z. Files starting with a Z are zipped files that combine all…

Downloading and Importing of Exams Basedata – The Basics.

Details of examinations are supplied by examination boards as basedata files. The exam boards distribute a complete set of basedata appropriate to a particular time of year that they refer to as a Series. The basedata files contain most of the required information including syllabuses, options, components, dates and duration of examinations, maximum marks for…

How do I split Basedata to separate Certification elements into separate awards?

We have received many calls to the helpdesk regarding linking awards to courses in SIMS, where the Basedata Award imported into Examinations may contain more than one certification element. This can cause problems within Course Manager due to the fact you can only link one award to one course, so results for both certifications will…

How do I add a Season in Exams Organiser?

In setting up your season patterns, you should bear in mind that you cannot import two instances of the same element or component into one season. Therefore, if you were to declare a long season, say March to June, that is supposed to contain two opportunities to take OCR GCSE Science or Maths modules, you…