Ofqual has contracted the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to develop, administer and analyse the National Reference Test (NRT) in English and maths. This report represents an overview of the findings of the 2018 testing process. In February/March 2018 a random sample of around 12,000 year 11 students from over 300 schools took the NRT. The first live NRT, taken in 2017, was benchmarked against the first awards of the reformed GCSEs in English language and maths, and the 2018 NRT is the first opportunity to compare the performance of students in 2018 with those in 2017. Results are reported as expected percentages of students achieving those grades (and above) based on changes in performance on the NRT.