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Exams Officers page | Spring/Summer support | Development Hub | Support portal

If you are unable to attend these events, you can find recordings of previous events and links to sign up in our support article: Exams Officer Update UK Webinar Events 2024 / 2025.  

•  NEW  Enhanced AI LiveChat

• Key dates
•  NEW  Complete your cohort confirmation by 2 May
•  NEW  BTEC Tech Awards | Earlier release of PSAs

• Key dates
•  NEW   GCSE (9-1) Computer Science
• GCSE and A Level Art & Design
• GCSE Science | Headteacher Declaration form
• A Level Science | Headteacher Declaration form
• GCSE Astronomy | Observation Statement
• General Qualification paper dispatch update | Summer 2025
• Level 3 Core (Mathematics in Context) | Summer 2025 Pre-release
• Modified Papers | Summer 2025
• GCSE Formulae sheets 2025, 2026 and 2027

• Centre Declarations of Interest
• Pearson Portal password reset process update
• Summer 2026 | Provisional Timetables
• Contacting us by email
• The Pearson support portal
• Cyber security and Multi-Factor Authentication
• How to contact us
• Keeping up to date with Pearson communications
• JCQ updates
• Social media | Pearson Exams Officer Support

We will soon be launching our new Enhanced AI live chat service. For users who are logged in to customer support portal, this will replace the existing live chat functionality and provide you with the following benefits:

Unlike non AI driven chat services, one of the key benefits of this new service is that you can ask it any question*, in your own way and it will respond by accessing our vast library of support articles to find you an appropriate answer and reference the source material. 

We will email you to let you know when this service is is up and running, but please remember you can only use this and receive the other benefits mentioned above, if you are logged into the customer support portal. 

We’ve now opened the cohort confirmation, the second of our termtime checkpoints, for you to complete by 2 May in the VQ Learner Tracker. This important activity ensures that every learner is on track to receive their August 2025 results.

 
Not all centres are in scope for this activity; we’ve emailed you directly if you need to complete the confirmation. If your centre doesn’t have any learners with missing external assessment entries or who could be affected by Level 3 defunding, we have an accurate shared view of your learners and you don’t need to do anything beyond continuing to maintain your summer 2025 cohort registrations.  

Find out more about the cohort confirmation
Read our cohort confirmation FAQs

We've heard your feedback and are excited to announce a key improvement to the release schedule for the BTEC Tech Award Pearson Set Assignments (PSAs) used for internally assessed components. PSAs will now be available three months earlier, giving you more time to plan, prepare, mark, and upload assessments.*

New PSA release rates

*these changes do not affect Art and Design Practice, which does not have a December/January assessment series.

Read our full update on the earlier release of PSAs

You can read the March edition of the newsletter here.

Recording (from 12.03.25): Live Support Session: GCSE (9-1) Computer Science (1CP2/02) Onscreen Delivery

Looking ahead to the delivery of the GCSE (9-1) Computer Science – Application of Computational Thinking (1CP2/02), we wanted to share with you the recording of our live support session that was held on Wednesday 12 March 2025.  

This session covered:

To get the most out of this recording, please take the time to read through the Instructions for Conducting Examinations (ICE) and the role specific checklists which can all be found on our qualification website, under Centre Guidance.

We are hosting a further live support session on Wednesday 30 April at 4pm (BST) and you, and any colleagues that you feel would like to attend, can register by using the link below.

System Set Up for GCSE (9-1) Computer Science (1CP2/02)

We would really like to capture information relating to the operating system, integrated development environment (IDE) and equipment that your centre is using to deliver this assessment. This is so that we can tailor further guidance (where needed) to support the successful delivery of this qualification for your centre.  

If you haven’t done so already, please can you complete this form no later than Tuesday 6 May so we can capture this information.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in contact with our Subject Advisor, Tim Brady, by email at teachingcomputerscience@pearson.com 

As centres prepare to sit the GCSE/A level Art and Design 10/15 hour period of sustained focus under examination conditions, we want to share our guidance regarding Extra Time and SEND within these qualifications, which should be read in conjunction with JCQ guidance. The JCQ guidance was updated for 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025 with clarification on the awarding of extra time in a timed Art examination.

GCSE Art and Design Extra Time and SEND FAQs

A level Art and Design Extra Time and SEND FAQs

JCQ Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments 2024/25

We have also issued guidance for line managers and individuals without specialised knowledge to aid in supporting GCSE and A level Art and Design departments. It would be advantageous for management colleagues to refer to this guide during the internal assessment and moderation period for this series, as it will contribute to achieving positive results for learners.

Supporting Art and Design departments to deliver GCSE and A level courses

Centres entering students for GCSE Sciences must complete and submit an online GCSE Headteacher Declaration form to confirm that reasonable steps have been taken to ensure candidates have completed the required practical activities set in the following GCSE specifications.

The deadline to complete this is 15 April.

Read our GCSE Science: GCSE Core Practical Headteacher Declaration Form support article for more information.

Centres are required to sign and send in the A level Science Headteacher form to declare that students have completed the practical activities that meet the practical Endorsement requirements of the A level science specifications.  

The deadline to complete this is 15 May.

Read our A Level Science: Headteacher Declaration Form support article for more information.

Centres entering students for GCSE Astronomy (1AS0) must complete and submit an Observation Statement to confirm that reasonable steps have been taken to ensure each candidate has completed at least one unaided and one aided observation.

The deadline to submit this statement is 15 April.  

Read our GCSE Astronomy (1AS0) Observation Statement support article for more information.

Looking ahead to the summer series, here’s an update on when you will start receiving exam materials.

You can expect to start receiving standard and modified question papers from the following dates:

You will be able to track your standard question paper despatch for General Qualifications via Edexcel Online.

Please ensure that appropriate colleagues are aware that question papers will be arriving soon and what they need to do with them. Question papers need to be carefully checked to ensure that you have received what you were expecting and that all question paper packs are in good condition. You should report any issues relating to question papers as soon as possible.  

Whilst the vast majority of question paper deliveries marked for the attention of Exams Officers are made during normal centre hours, on rare occasions, a courier may attempt delivery when the main reception has closed, so papers cannot be stored securely. We encourage centres to inform staff to refuse these deliveries, and the papers will be redelivered.

The yellow label service will be in place for this summer series for centres in England to return scripts. Please read the yellow label service guidance for exams officers on the government website.     

Attendance registers

You can expect to start receiving attendance registers and labels from 23 April onwards.

Availability of Electronic Copies of Question Papers

Our goal is to ensure that your centre's exams run as smoothly and as stress-free for centre staff as possible. To help us achieve this goal, we would appreciate you making checks outlined below well ahead of your centre's first exam.   

If your centre requires access to electronic copies of question papers in the Summer 2025 exam series, for example if you make a late entry or need to print onto coloured paper, they will be available to download on the Secure Download Service (SDS). This also includes audio files and transcripts for listening exams. Our recommendation is that a minimum of two members of centre staff have SDS included in their Edexcel Online (EOL) profile.

If your exam staff do not already have SDS added to their EOL profile, they will need to contact us and be available to receive a secure call-back from our Customer Services Specialist on your centre's main telephone number. Once this call has been performed successfully, access to the SDS platform will be added to their account.   

Please see the SDS support guide for further details: Secure Download Service (SDS)

If you have centre exams staff without access to SDS, they should contact us as soon as possible, and well ahead of the summer exam series so that we can update their account.  

If you make any entries a week or less before the date of the exam, hard copies will not be sent to your centre. You will need to print the required amount of question papers from an electronic copy.

Electronic copies of question papers will be available via SDS if you are making additional entries. If you are making an entry for the first time this series for a new subject/paper, please contact us to request the question paper to be sent via (Secure File Transfer) SFT.  

It is important that all exam staff can access SDS as we will not be able to send electronic question papers via Secure File Transfer (SFT) on the day of the exam without a secure call back to your centre’s main telephone number first. This could result in logistical challenges for your centre at a critical time in the day - with staff required to move between an exam hall and your reception/ exam office. This may result in delays, including potentially impacting the start time of the exam in question. To avoid this please make checks to your exam staff EOL profiles (and specifically SDS) today. 

Please be reminded that, as published on our website, the deadline to submit requests for modified papers for the summer series was 31 January 2025. This deadline is the same every year.

To order modified papers please select ‘Access Arrangements Online’ on Edexcel Online.

Then select the relevant portal depending on the qualification.

Access Arrangements Online – GCSE, GCE, Edexcel Award, L3C, PLSC.

Pearson Access Arrangements Online – BTEC, International A Level, International GCSE.

Models for use with summer 2025 Mathematics modified papers

Please be aware that we no longer automatically supply 3D models with the modified large print Maths papers.

Please note: these will still come as standard with all orders for UEB Grade 1 and Grade 2 braille. You do not need to order these if your candidate uses braille.

If your centre has placed an order for modified large print papers for GCSE, International GCSE, A Level Maths or Edexcel Award Number & Measure, and your student requires 3D models, please complete this form to order these.

If you require any further information regarding this, please contact the Modified Formats Team at additional_requirements@pearson.com.

Read our NEW Modified Papers: Important Information support article for further information on modified formats. 

The DfE has confirmed that students will not need to memorise formulae and equations for GCSE Maths, Physics and Combined Science (physics) for June 2025, 2026 and 2027.

We will follow the same approach for our International GCSE Physics, Science Double Award and Single Award (physics papers) for all series.

Pearson will continue to provide students with support materials in the form of a formulae sheet for International GCSE Physics, Science Double Award and Single Award (Physics) in 2025, 2026 and 2027. We will provide clean copies with their 2025, 2026 and 2027 exam papers.

This means the formulae sheet to be used in the 2025 exams will be the same as those used for exams in 2024. As such, students and teachers may access exam boards’ 2024 sheets for practice purposes, if they wish.

At Pearson, we value protecting the integrity of our qualifications and assessments for our learners. We would like to remind you that our centres have a shared responsibility to help us do this through reporting and managing possible conflicts of interest that may arise relating to our qualification assessments.

We have recently made some changes to the process of resetting your password; particularly the design of the email received, as well as the email address this is sent from.

Password reset emails are now sent from noreply@notifications.pearson.com. 

Please pass this information onto your internal IT support team, as they may need to add this to any Safe Sender lists used for your centre. Further guidance on this process can be found in our Edexcel Online: resetting your password support article. 

If you choose to contact us via email to examsofficers@pearson.com, you'll notice that our responses are sent from 'customersupport.reply@pearson.com'. This is a response only email address, and allows any responses you send, by clicking 'reply/reply all', to be linked to the existing support case.

However, if you were to compose a brand new email and send to that reply email address, there is no case to link it to, so we do not receive your email and you will not receive a response. This should result in a bounce back email stating the address is invalid.

Read our getting started support article here: Customer Support Portal: Getting Started, and remember to bookmark the portal in Chrome, Edge, Safari or other web browser for quick access. 

Cyber Security

Whether you’re a new or experienced Edexcel Online user, it's important that we are all aware of the possible threats to our collective data. We would encourage all exams staff, new and old, to visit our cyber security webpage and watch our short training video.

Multi Factor Authentication

Although it has now become a standard way of accessing our systems, that we should all be familiar with, it can sometimes present challenges if a smart device is lost or replaced. You can read more information, see a quick start guide and access FAQs and troubleshooting for our authenticator app in our Pearson Portal Authenticator support article. 

The likelihood is that Pearson won’t be the only awarding organisation that you or your centre work with, and this means that you will receive lots of different communications. Some of these may be more relevant to your role than others, so it’s important that you and your colleagues are signed up to receive the regular updates that matter to you. It's also important that Edexcel Online accounts are accurate as these are used to determine who needs to receive ad hoc communications.

As Exams Officers, you will be responsible for the creation and maintenance of Edexcel Online accounts for those in other roles, such as teachers or other curriculum staff. Whilst doing this you could also sign them up to receive the relevant subject advisor updates.

Here is a full list of all the regular updates we send, including an archive of previous editions and the sign-up forms.

The JCQ published its latest update on 12 March, highlighting Term time checkpoints, the NAEO survey and more.

Don't forget we have a dedicated Pearson Exams Officer Support page on Facebook. This provides you with a quick and convenient way to stay up to date with our latest news and live updates from the team.

Important and informative announcements will be posted on the page daily and messages will be monitored 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday by Charlie, Emma and Seren; our dedicated Social Media Team. Message them with for help with your queries throughout your working day.