Students who use keyboards in exams get better test scores, according to new research, raising questions about how schools will be affected when digital GCSE and A-level exams become widespread.
The research carried out at University College London tested state school pupils, comparing their scores in essays using handwriting and word processors under mock exam conditions. All pupils, including those with learning difficulties, made big improvements in tests when using word processors.
Emma Sumner, a senior lecturer in psychology and education at Liverpool John Moores University, who led the research, said the “dramatic” improvements meant schools needed to provide laptops and teach touch-typing, as examination boards seek to introduce online exams within the next five years.
Sumner said: “Exams are time-bound and require students being able to quickly transcribe their ideas. If typing is quicker for the majority, or gives the flexibility to revise without lots of crossing outs, then that’s helpful.
“Further research really needs to be done to understand if, by changing the format, the modality, are you in any way changing the assessment? I think that’s really important as a next step.”
For students without literacy difficulties, more than 50% wrote more words using keyboards compared with handwriting. Their test scores rose by 17% on average.
Students with identified difficulties had an average increase of 14% in test scores and produced 31% more words compared with handwriting.
Pearson Edexcel exam board has said its ambition is to offer the option to take all GCSE exams onscreen by 2030, having already run pilot exams in English language and English literature. AQA is also planning online GCSEs in a number of subjects from 2027, subject to approval by England’s exam regulator, Ofqual.
Sumner said: “If that is the case, then absolutely schools need to be thinking about where touch-typing sits within the curriculum, where it could be put within a school day that is already overloaded.
“If students are going to be doing GCSEs online, then they will have to do mock exams online, and it will cascade down from there. It suggests that we need to be thinking about this in line with handwriting – I don’t think we should forget about handwriting.
“There is research to show that handwriting is better for retention and recall of information than typing, so there is a cognitive element that handwriting may be advantageous.”
Students in England are able to use keyboards under exam conditions if allowed by their school or centre, as reasonable adjustments for those with identified difficulties.
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The researchers warned that the use of keyboards needed to be better monitored by regulators to avoid disproportionately helping pupils without special needs. Schools currently do not need approval for GCSE candidates to use keyboards, leading to potential inequalities around their provision.
Sumner said it raised questions about whether some schools might be giving pupils an advantage, “perhaps unknowing”, while other schools might lack the resources to help those who needed laptops.
She said: “A lot of the practitioners we spoke to from state schools were so committed, they wanted to do right, but they had their hands tied in terms of how much staff time they could put into identifying needs or whether they could fully support it.
“They might have known that a student would do better with a word processor, but not having a laptop available meant they couldn’t go down that route.”
The study involving 156 pupils taking GCSE courses, including about half of whom had assessed difficulties, has yet to be published or peer reviewed, and Sumner acknowledged it was a “staged experiment” using past exam papers, which could affect the results.
One technological leap forward will be experienced by 100,000 students in England this year, who will receive their GCSE results via an “education record” app being piloted by the Department for Education.
