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Exams Officers page |  Development Hub | Support portal

As always, our customer support portal offers a wide range of articles to support you in your day to day activities. As we begin to look ahead to the summer exam period, you may find our Entries and Registrations article useful

You can view recordings of previous events on our Pearson Development Hub.

• Key dates
• International A Level and modular International GCSE cash in guidance
• Making entries for International GCSE's
•  NEW  Exam start times
•  NEW  Question paper dispatch update | summer 2024
•  NEW  stationary and materials spreadsheet | summer 2024

• Modified papers | Summer 2024
• Models for use with summer 2024 Mathematics modified papers
• Exams Officer training survey
• JCQ Updated AI guidance
• Instructions for Conducting Examinations
• Multi Factor Authentication | Smartphone requirements
• Customer Support Portal
• Social media | Pearson Exams Officer Support

A cash-in code is entered for International A Level (IAL) and Modular International GCSEs only (from 2025) and is used to tie all units together and calculate an overall grade.  

Without a cash-in code, a result or certificate CANNOT be given; however, only enter a cash-in code once all units have been entered.  

Knowledge base articles: Entries: Making Entries (International)

You can enter the cash-in code alongside the entries.  

You will only pay for the unit entries.

You can remove this throughout the exam series and no charge will be issued.

Only enter a cash-in code once the correct number of units have been entered to be eligible for the overall award.  

Re-sits  

Candidates re-sitting units, you must cash-in again with the original cash-in code. The best results over the last 2 sessions will be used (this does not apply to maths).

Cash in rules

Entering a cash-in code without the correct number of units will cause the candidate to be ineligible.

Please see International A Level (IAL) Eligibility    

 

On March 6 2024 we hosted a live event, aimed at offering support in making entries for the new Modular International GCSE qualifications. If you werent able to attend this event we have made a recording available.

We have also produced the following articles to support you with the administration of this qualification;

Our exams are delivered at the same time all around the world. The sessions are based upon a UK morning (a.m.) session and an afternoon (p.m.) session. You need to check the correct start times for exams in your country.  

You must deliver your exams according to the examination start time guidance detailed on our website here. The examination start times documents give the start times for all exams by country/time zone for each series. You need to check the start times for your region for the summer series.  

Please note that for the East Africa, Middle East, South Asia and Asia-Pacific regions, there are separate documents for UK exams and our international exams.

There are some permitted exceptions to exam start times, as detailed in sections 7 and 8 of the JCQ Instructions for Conducting Examinations.  

Where a timetable variation is used, candidates must be kept under examination conditions until the end of the scheduled exam time. Centres must ensure that invigilators have been trained on supervising candidates under clash supervision arrangements. More details can be found in section 7 of the JCQ Instructions for Conducting Examinations.

Exams for AS Maths, AS Further Maths, A level Maths, A level Further Maths, A level Statistics, and International A level (IAL) Maths must not be moved to an earlier session – more information can be found in the JCQ guidance here and on our website here. 

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

You can expect to start receiving your oral materials for your language oral exams and Pre-Release Material for GCE Music (9MU0/02) from

12 March.

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.

If you have any concerns that your centre will be closed for the Easter holidays and you will therefore be unable to take receipt of question papers, please contact us by 26 March so that we can rearrange your delivery.  

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. 

Further information, guidance and tools can be found in:  

Attendance registers

You can expect to start receiving attendance registers and labels from 16 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 2024 exam series, for example if you make a very 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) (pearson.com)

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.  

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 specifcally SDS) today. 

The stationery and materials list provides information on the stationery and equipment required for our general qualification examinations in the next series.

The updated version for Summer 2024 can be found here

The deadline for ordering modified papers for the Summer 2024 exam series has now passed.

If you were unable to meet the deadline, please place your late order on AAO/PAAO as a matter of urgency and then contact us by way of email on additional_requirements@pearson.com, quoting your order number and centre number. We will then be able to advise you if it will be possible to supply a modified paper.

Please be aware the deadlines for ordering modified papers are as follows

These do not change each year. 

Models for use with summer 2024 Mathematics modified papers

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

Please note that 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 Maths, please complete this form to order your candidate 3D models.

Failure to respond will result in no models being sent to your centre.

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

For further information on modified papers, access to past modified papers and answers to FAQs, please go to the modified formats page on our website.

Accessing electronic copies of question papers

After consultation with Awarding Organisations, JCQ have now revised their timings for when electronic question papers are made available to centres, either by Secure File Transfer or Secure Download Service.

These updates can be viewed in the JCQ Instructions for Conducting Examinations booklet

This has now been increased from 45 to 60 minutes before the published exam start time.

We have also updated our Secure File Transfer (SFT) and Secure Download Service (SDS) guidance to reflect this change.

We are currently reviewing our onboarding process for new Exams Officers, as well as how we support those more established within the role.

To assist with this, we are currently gathering insights from Exams Officers on the average time in post and training availability / options for newer members of the centre staff that work with us. This is also an opportunity to have your say and share any feedback you may wish to provide on the training we currently offer.
We would appreciate your assistance by completing a short survey (8 questions) which should only take a few minutes to complete. You can complete this by scanning the QR code below, or of you would prefer you can access the form using this link.

On 2 February the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) published their updated JCQ guidance on AI Use in Assessments.

The guidance is designed to help students and teachers to complete NEAs, coursework and other internal assessments successfully, giving students the chance to demonstrate skills which cannot be assessed in exams.

Please do share the latest version of the guidance with senior leaders, teachers and assessors in your school or college. This guidance should inform school policies on AI use, so schools and colleges can provide staff and students with clear information.

A summary of the key updates is available on the JCQ website. They've also produced a poster for students on the use of AI and assessments and an information sheet for teachers along with PowerPoint presentations for teachers and students.

Read all the information on JCQ blog and download the updated guidance and support materials.

We want to ensure you have all the help and support you need at your fingertips; that’s why we’ve got a library of support articles hosted on our Customer Support Portal. Each article contains answers, detailed information, step-by-step guides, instructional videos, and general advice. Articles require no special access, are easily searchable by keywords in their title, and are available 24/7, 365 days a year. And for good measure, we also have the portal user guide.

Take a look at our short video that explains more about our support portal, the information you can find and the further benefits it provides. 

Check out the Pearson Support Portal.

If in the event you cannot find the answers you are looking for, we have a team of customer service specialists on hand to help resolve your queries. You can reach this team by either raising a case in the Pearson Support Portal, or by calling them on +44 (0) 120 4770 696