Patrick McCabe passes seven GCSEs after four months of eye-tracking exams

Patrick McCabe, a 16-year-old pupil at Fallibroome Academy in Macclesfield, Cheshire, has begun A-levels after passing seven GCSEs taken with eye-tracking technology over four months. The Guardian reported on 2 October that his exams ran from 2 February to 5 June, illustrating the time an accessible route through standard assessments can demand of one pupil.

McCabe has cerebral palsy and uses an augmentative and alternative communication device. He told the Guardian that he wanted the opportunity to learn alongside other pupils at his local mainstream school. He passed every GCSE he took and gained the grades needed to continue into sixth form, according to the newspaper.

How Patrick McCabe took his GCSEs

The Guardian said McCabe sat exams each morning across the February to June period using eye-tracking technology. A single 30-mark question could take him up to six hours, it reported. The account does not set out the full list of arrangements approved for each paper or describe how the technology was configured for every assessment.

McCabe said preparing for the exams was tiring before he even began answering questions. ‘I felt I had to work harder to express what I know, even when I understand the subject,’ he told the Guardian. He said he needed extra breaks to rest and described the effort as both physical and mental.

The Guardian reported that CandLE, an organisation supporting students who use augmentative and alternative communication, helped McCabe throughout. At school, teaching assistants supported both his learning and personal care. Teaching assistant Rachel Crew said the school was proud of him and its other pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

What England’s exam access figures show

Ofqual’s 2024–25 statistics provide context for exam access across England. The regulator estimated that 18.0% to 27.7% of students assessed in at least one GCSE, AS or A-level qualification had at least one access arrangement valid for use that year. That broad range covers many kinds of support; it is not a count of pupils using eye-tracking technology.

Ofqual estimated that 16.6% to 25.5% of assessed students had approval for 25% extra time in 2024–25, compared with 14.7% to 20.6% in 2023–24. Those are approvals across the student population. They do not identify McCabe’s approved arrangements or show how long any individual student actually spent in an exam.

The regulator presents the figures as ranges because it cannot always tell whether records refer to students assessed in that academic year or whether some arrangements were recorded more than once. It says the upper estimates for 2024–25 may decrease as further data becomes available. Its release also says approvals do not show whether students used an arrangement during an exam, and some arrangements requiring no exam-board approval are outside the figures.

Ofqual recorded 65,910 requests for modified papers fulfilled in summer 2025, 4.6% fewer than the 69,095 fulfilled in summer 2024. It attributed much of that decrease to WJEC no longer requiring centres to request non-interactive electronic papers. The change therefore cannot, on its own, be read as a measure of changing need among pupils.

McCabe’s move to A-levels

McCabe has started studying French, business and media studies at A-level. He told the Guardian that the move to sixth form was going well and that he hoped to study media at university. He also said pupils with physical disabilities who use eye-tracking technology should be assessed in a more appropriate way, so that the assessment itself creates fewer barriers.

Exams were only one part of his experience. McCabe told the Guardian that communication barriers made it harder to build friendships because other people were not always familiar with eye-gaze technology or willing to try it. He said friendships remained a concern as he began sixth form, even while the school was supporting his transition.

Martland told the Guardian that he supported the government’s ambitions for more inclusive education, but worried that schools would face significant pressure if the plans were not properly funded. His concern speaks to the staff and time involved in McCabe’s case. Neither the Guardian account nor Ofqual’s national figures establish what support or funding would be sufficient for other pupils with different needs.