Records of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board

The Board was established in 1873 on the initiative of the Schools Examination Syndicate in Cambridge and the Delegacy for the Inspection and Examination of Schools in Oxford. It set a variety of school examinations from the 1880s onwards, including Higher, Lower and School Certificates and, from 1951, the GCE O' and A' Levels. In Cambridge, the Board was administered from the College of its secretary, the principal administrator, until 1914 when it moved into premises at 61a St Andrew's Street. In 1934, it moved to 62 Sidney Street. In 1937, it moved to Brook House, Trumpington Street. The Board was abolished in 1995 when the majority of its functions were taken over the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (from 2005, known as Cambridge Assessment).

For background information, see G.M.D. Howat, Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board (Oxford: Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, 1974). A copy is in the Rare Books Department of the University Library, classmark Cam.b.974.12.

These are the surviving records of the Cambridge side of operations, together with extensive runs of printed examination papers and reports.

The records were transferred from the Board in 1995 and the Local Examinations Syndicate in 1997.

OCEX 7-9, 20, 24-9, 38-9, 44: numbers not used.

Please cite as Cambridge University Archives, Records of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, OCEX

Surviving records of the Oxford side are held at Oxford University Archives, Bodleian Library, Oxford OX1 3BG .

The online catalogue for Janus was completed in February 2006 and emended in May 2008.