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Exams update - April 2016 |
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Hot topics | Hints and tips | March Results | Exam time | News roundup | Subject updates | New qualifications | |
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| Welcome to your Exams update |
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Over the last month, we’ve met and supported many new exams officers for training and online sessions for coursework/controlled assessments and e-Subs. This month, we’ve more e-Subs training and an exams day preparation event, just before the summer exams. Thanks for the great feedback you’ve given us; let us know if you’ve more suggestions.
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Our online events have proved really useful and I know the team enjoyed the Q&A sessions with you. The events booked up quickly, so if you didn’t manage to book on, you can watch the recordings via the links from our You Tube channel.
We’ve registered over 800 new exams officers since last September.That's a lot of new colleagues needing our support. We always try our best to strike a balance with information and reminders that will help both new exams officers and our more experienced colleagues. We hope we've got this balance right, but please use our survey if you have any further suggestions.
You must be knee deep in exam papers now our summer deliveries have begun. Thank you in advance for your efforts over the next few months. We really appreciate your hard work so that together we can deliver the right results for your students.
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Hints and tips |
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- Check e-AQA for any outstanding entry warning reports - last date to submit entry amendments without charge for the summer 2016 series is 21 April 2016.
- Read our important message about security for exam time.
- Examiner address labels – please tell us of any changes to your email address so that we can update our records before the start of the summer series.
- Important information about AS French (2650) FREN1 exam – 6 June 2016.
- To avoid any confusion on exam days, please check before opening and distributing question papers, that your students are being given the right paper. It’s possible that you’ll have students taking exams for both the legacy and new reformed specifications sat in the same room, as these exams are timetabled to take place simultaneously. Read more about the changes to GCSE and A-levels.
- Watch our short video – Top tips for exam day.
- Does your school/college accept private candidates? Help us update our records and take our short survey.
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March results |
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| March series 3G16 results and post-results services |
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March 2016 series results were published on Thursday 14 April.
You can request an enquiry about results (review of marking) until 14 May 2016. For access to scripts to support teaching and learning, the deadline to request these is 27 May 2016.
For more information about post-results services, including fees, late awards and deadlines, please visit our website.
Certificates will arrive in schools/colleges by 31 May 2016. |
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Exam time |
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| Summer 2016 entry certification warning reports |
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We’ve started to send certification warning reports where we’ve identified anything that is missing from your school/college subject entries.
If you’ve received one of these emails, you must take action to resolve the entries, so we can issue a subject result on results day for your student(s) – our warning reports page explains what the reports mean and what you need to do. Watch our short video for guidance.
Late amendments and charges
You can amend existing student entries for the same series until 21 April without incurring an additional charge. Any entries for new students submitted after 21 February will be charged a late entry fee up to 21 April after which a very late entry fee will be incurred.
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| Receiving summer 2016 exam materials |
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Question papers and pre-release material
We’ve started to send summer exam materials where school/colleges have told us of their availability to receive dispatches over the Easter holidays:
- pre-release materials - Functional Skills/AS and A-level/Science EMPAs/AQA Certificate/MFL speaking tests/FSMQ/GCSE (pack 6)
- question papers - exams during the period 2-20 May (pack 7).
We’ll continue to send these materials to you and any catch-ups from 18 April when most schools and colleges return after the Easter break.
Question papers for exams during the period:
- GCSE English 23 May-10 June (pack 8) – papers are sent to arrive from 18-29 April
- 23 May- 8 June (pack 9) – papers are sent to arrive 18 April-5 May
- 9-17 June (pack 10) – papers are sent to arrive 6-23 May
- 20-29 June (pack 11) – papers are sent to arrive 24 May-2 June.
To see what materials you can expect to receive and when, including exams stationery, attendance records, OTQ sheets and labels, please visit our exam papers and stationery page.
Tracking your deliveries
To keep you better informed on when you can expect to receive deliveries from us, you’ll get an automated email from ‘AQAorders@linney.com’ to let you know when your exam materials are on their way and when they’ve been delivered (including the name of the signatory), so you can track your items.
We’ll send these to your registered NCNR (National Centre Number Register) email address, so it’s important to keep this information up-to-date – see JCQ General Regulations for Approved Centres.
Submitting summer 2016 coursework/controlled assessment centre-assessed marks
You can now submit marks for the majority of series 6G16 qualifications online, either via the e-Subs: Centre marks submission (CMS) module on e-AQA or EDI - see our guidance for online submissions, mark accuracy and sending students’ samples.
For series 6A16 qualifications, you can submit your centre-assessed marks from 22 April.
If you’re new to CMS, our online tutorials will take you through the system - our email sent to all schools/colleges will also guide you through the steps. Book your place on our e-Subs webinars if you need a bit of help.
For all the information you need to submit marks, including our up-to-date candidate record forms and May 2016 deadlines, please visit our website.
CMS exceptions - subjects using paper-based process
For a small number of subjects, you can’t use CMS. You’ll need to use the paper centre mark forms or EDI, and the moderator labels we send to you in your stationery pack – see our guidance for subjects using paper-based process.
Carry forward of marks
Please visit our carry forward of marks page to see which subjects allow marks to be carried forward and the associated rules, including guidance for schools and colleges on how to request carry forward.
Modern foreign languages
Teachers must use task planning forms when marking modern foreign languages.
GCSE and A-level Art and Design
The moderator for these qualifications will not contact your school/college until early May; after completion of the standardisation meetings.
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Examiner address labels
We will email examiner address labels to you at least 24 hours before the day of the exam.
Some labels are sent earlier - non-timetabled components will arrive at the start of the assessment window and ‘fixed’ address labels are sent a few weeks in advance.
Please tell us as soon as possible if your email address has changed since the last exam series. For those schools/colleges that do not receive labels by email, your labels will be provided as normal.
For schools/colleges in England, parcels are handled by Parcelforce Worldwide using DfE’s Yellow Label Service.
For all the information you need on how to send scripts for marking, please visit our website.
Important security reminder for exam time
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Please remember e-AQA is a secure website. To prevent any access restrictions, you must not share your password or account details with anyone else. Please also ensure you are only giving the relevant access rights to other users within your school/college that is required for their role. For full details, please refer to section 8 of our terms and conditions.
We’ll never send you an email asking for your personal data and passwords. If you receive an email like this claiming to be from AQA, you must not reply to it, follow any links it contains or attempt to open any attachments in it – please contact eos@aqa.org.uk so we can investigate. These emails are most likely malicious and you will be giving those details to fraudsters. Likewise, we’ll never ask you to open exam material prior to the day of the exam or send these to any third parties.
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If any centre administrators need help logging in to e-AQA or notifying us if their email address has changed, please call Customer Services on 0800 197 7162 (+44 203 671 8010 outside the UK).
Other users can retrieve their forgotten password or register as a new user online. |
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We're here to help
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Our Customer Services team is available to help with your general enquiries. You can contact us on 0800 197 7162 (or +44 203 671 8010 from outside the UK) or email eos@aqa.org.uk.
Online – we will update our exams administration page and on e-AQA with any news affecting most schools, including popular topics. |
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News roundup |
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| Private candidates |
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Non-exam assessment (NEA)
Please visit our website for clarification about the new linear GCSE and A-level specifications which have Non-exam assessment (NEA) and which of these are available to private candidates and what the requirements are with regard to private candidates producing NEA.
Accepting private candidates
Please complete this short survey to let us know if your school or college accepts private candidates so that we can update our records.
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| New AQA Facebook channel for exams officers |
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We’re launching a Facebook channel for exams officers. We’ll post timely information and answer questions about any issues arising. We'll tell you more on our Exams administration page shortly and in our May Exams update.
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| JCQ reminder - instructions for conducting examinations |
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Schools/colleges must ensure that they are familiar with the instructions provided in the JCQ Instructions for conducting examinations (ICE) booklet when entering students.
Please go to pages (i) and (ii) for changes to this year’s booklet. |
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| Ofqual update |
- GCSE and A-levels appeals statistics report - read Ofqual’s key findings on the Summer 2015 exam series.
- Ofqual’s consultation on final entries to outgoing GCSEs, AS and A-levels. Read their full response.
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Subject updates |
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| AS French (2650) |
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FREN1 is timetabled to take place on 6 June 2016, the first day back after the summer half term break. The JCQ (ICE) document states ‘The downloading of listening materials onto centres’ MP3 players, laptops or tablets, from AQA’s secure extranet site (Secure Key Materials) (or from CD) must take place no earlier than one working day before the examination’.
As such, schools will be able to do this on Friday 27 May, provided the materials are kept secure, as this is the last working day before the exam.
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| Level 3 Certificate in Enterprise, Employability and Personal Finance 2805 |
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| We have carefully considered the future of all our qualifications and have decided not to continue with our Level 3 Certificate in Enterprise, Employability and Personal Finance. |
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Our accredited specifications |
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We are pleased to announce that the following specifications for first teaching in September 2016 have recently been accredited by Ofqual. Please take a look at the specifications and supporting resources by visiting the relevant subject pages of our website:
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| Read our Privacy statement.
© Copyright 2016 AQA and its licensors.
AQA Education (AQA) is a registered charity (number 1073334) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (number 3644723). Our registered address is AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX..
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