GCSEs: Which is the biggest exam board?

AQA remains the largest awarding body for GCSEs, while OCR’s market share continues to decline, new figures show
6th February 2020, 5:18pm

New Ofqual data on the GCSE market reveals that AQA continues to have the largest share of any awarding body, while OCR’s share has more than halved since 2014. 

AQA has improved its market share over the past five years. In 2014-15 it covered 46 per cent of the GCSE market, whereas it now has 61 per cent of market share.


Related: AQA GCSE market share up but Pearson and OCR decline

News: AQA penalised £1m for letting markers check own work

Background: What is AQA? Your guide to the GCSE exam board


OCR, however, has seen a dramatic decline in its share. Having covered 16 per cent of the market in 2014-15, it now has a market share of just 7 per cent.

Pearson’s market share has remained broadly stable since last year - in 2018-19 it held 25 per cent of the market share, increasing its share by one percentage point to 26 per cent in 2018-19.