← Parent guides · The system
What exam boards are
Who writes and marks the exams.
Exam boards are the organisations that write the specification (what must be taught), set the exam papers and mark them. In England the main GCSE boards are AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and WJEC Eduqas.
Your child's school chooses the board for each subject — and different subjects can use different boards. Ask the school which board they use for each subject.
The board matters because the topics, question styles and mark schemes differ between boards. Revising from the wrong board's material wastes time.