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As the summer exams begin we wanted to make sure that you have everything you need to have a successful series.

You can access our Exam administration - Main index of articles, as well as the EO Support: Spring & Summer 2024 Essential information. However, we wanted to highlight some key information that our exams officers most frequently ask questions about throughout an exam series.

With the advances in AI technology and increasing threats from malicious entities, the security of our assessments and data is as important as ever, and a lot of the guidance we offer is aimed at protecting both.

We would also remind everyone that we have recently re-set all Edexcel Online passwords, as per this communication.
Please encourage any staff who are are actively involved in the running of assessments or who will need access to Edexcel Online (or other associated platforms) during the summer exam series to reset their password as soon as possible. Doing this now will allow us to work with you to resolve any issues before urgent access is required.
You can join us for our regular online webinar events throughout May and June, where we’ll be talking about the summer exam series and you can ask any questions you have.

International exams officer webinar - 8 May - 10 a.m. BST. You can register here if you'd like to attend. 

You can view recordings of previous events on our Pearson Development Hub.
We have made lots of enhancements in recent months, to increase the security of Pearson and centre data, and maintain the integrity of our qualifications and assessment materials. These have included a move to Multi Factor Authentication and enforcing enhanced password requirements for all our platform users. 

We have created a new Security page on or qualifications website, where we will share best practise as well as guidance on how you can spot if something doesn’t seem quite right.
Visit our Cyber Security webpage here
We now have app based Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled for Pearson systems, including Edexcel Online. Its important that anyone who needs to access assessment materials has MFA enabled as soon as possible, to ensure the smooth delivery of assessments.
 
We would ask that you take the following steps to ensure any non-exam staff are prepared:

  • Anyone who needs to access Edexcel Online, SDS, silver/gold padlocked material has a smart device with our MFA app installed, and they have registered an account. 
  • Any existing MFA app users have checked that their current devise is registered. Where a new device is being used, an MFA reset is required in order to register that new device. Android users who have not authenticated in the last 90 days will also need to be reset.
  • Edexcel Online accounts are regularly reviewed and deleted where appropriate. 

We understand that as Exams staff you may be the first port of call for others when they experience problems, and we want to reduce this burden as much as possible. Secure call backs are required as part of some of our troubleshooting and want to avoid having to complete these on an exam day. 

Taking these steps now will help reduce the need for these.
If electronic copies of question papers are required (for late entries or printing onto coloured paper), you can access these through Secure Download Service (SDS).We will only send question papers to you through Secure File Transfer (SFT) in extreme circumstances. We recommend that you make sure you can access SDS and have also registered for an SFT account in advance as this does not happen automatically.

All relevant staff at your centre should have the SDS profile on their EOL account prior to the start of exams. You should make sure at least two people have this access, in line with JCQs policy of having a minimum of 2 key holders for the secure storage of exam materials.

If you need an electronic copy of a question paper on the day of the exam, and you don’t have the required SDS access, you will need to call us, and then be available for a secure call-back to have this added. Completing these checks now will make your exam days run more smoothly. In some cases, we may refer you back to other colleagues who do already have the required access as this will be a significantly quicker option than arranging a secure callback. 

In line with JCQ we have recently updated our guidance on when centres can access electronic copies of question papers, and this has now increased from 45 to 60 minutes prior to the published exam start time.
With Pearson and other awarding bodies now despatching question papers, make sure that your centre has designated members of staff who are available Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm, to receive deliveries of confidential examination/assessment material. 

Facilities staff and reception staff must know how to handle confidential examination material from the awarding bodies. They must always check if one of the approved key holders is on-site before accepting the delivery of confidential examination/assessment material. 

If none of the approved key holders are on-site, then the delivery of confidential examination material must not be accepted. 

Envelopes and boxes containing confidential materials must always be signed for. A log must be kept at the initial point of delivery. The JCQ has produced a log to help centres – Exams Materials Receipt Log – Point of Delivery. This can be found at: JCQ Instructions for Conducting Examinations or you can use a centre devised version.

One of the nominated key holders must immediately transfer the envelopes/boxes containing confidential examination material into the secure storage facility until it can be checked.
Did you know? For printing onto coloured paper, or enlarging to A3, where it is the learner’s normal way of working, you can access these yourselves without the need for a formal application. Pearson do not provide the different colours, but we do provide a non-interactive PDF version that you can print in centre within 60 minutes of the exam start time. These can be accessed via SDS or the BTEC assessment download page, providing you have entries that have cleared at least 5 days before.

Interactive PDFs should only be ordered for use with read-and-write software and should not be ordered to be printed on coloured paper.

Where another type of modification is required, such as Braille or Enlarged font an application must be submitted before these can be provided. If a late entry is made that requires a modified format, we still require an application to be submitted via AAO. Once the application has been made and you have an application reference number, you should contact us and we will endeavour to make this this available for you.

Additional support on Modified formats such as how and where to apply can be found in our Modified Papers: Making Applications support article. We also have these Modified Paper FAQs which should answer some more of your general questions
You should make sure you have your learners entered for the correct tier, to receive the correct paper. We will only despatch papers where that tier of entry has been made and other tiers these will not be available to you via SDS. Failure to rectify this ahead of time means you will be required to request a secure call back to arrange an SFT, on the morning or afternoon of that exam. Amending your entries in good time, means there’s a possibility of making them available to you via SDS (for entries that have cleared by five working days) or at the very least you can arrange the secure call back for SFT ahead of the exam.

If a learner does sit the incorrect tier of exam, and this only comes to light afterwards, guidance on how to proceed can be found in our Exams: Candidates sat incorrect tiered paper article.
If a learner have been entered incorrectly, its important that these are amended as soon as possible. 

Learner personal details – These can be amended by you via Edexcel Online. If your learner has already sat some of their exams, its important to make sure that what-ever details they have used on their papers, match those on the entry/registration.

If the student has sat all their exams before an error is identified, please make sure this is corrected prior to certification.

Entry/Option code amendments –  You should amend the entries using Edexcel Online or where appropriate EDI base data. How you will then access the papers for these late amendments will vary depending on your circumstances.

For an exam more than five working days in the future, where you didn’t already have entries for that exam, the new entry will have cleared in enough time for us to make the paper available via Secure Download Service (SDS) . There is no need to request an Secure File Transfer (SFT) for these papers, as you as an Exams Officer should be able to access these providing you have the required access.

If you did already have other learners entered for the correct exam, and these entries were made on time, the electronic version of the papers will be readily available to access via SDS (General Qualifications) .

For an exam less than five working days in the future, where you are making subject entries for the first time, we will need to arrange a SFT of the paper in the hour before the published start time of that exam. SFT requests require a secure call back to ensure the person requesting it are who they say they are. 

If a late entry is being made or an existing entry is being amended to an exam that you already have entries for, and is less than five working days in the future, there is no need to request an SFT for this. If your existing subject entries were made on time then we will make those papers available to you electronically via SDS an hour before the exam is due to start.

In cases where an SFT is requested, but the papers are available to your centre via either SDS, we may reject the SFT request and point you in the direction of other staff members who can access these on your behalf.
Many of our General Qualification exam papers should have already been delivered, with more dispatches scheduled for exams taking place a little later. Here is a break down of our dispatch dates;

Standard formats

  • General qualification exams taking place from 7 May and up until 22 May: from 15 April onwards
  • General qualification exams taking place from 23 May and up until 7 June: from 2 May onwards
  • General qualification exams taking place from 10 June onwards: from 21 May onwards

You can track your standard GQ and BTEC Tech Award (2022) question papers via Edexcel Online.

Modified formats

  • Not all papers will be despatched at the same time; they will be sent as soon as they are ready.
  • If it is a late order, then they may not arrive until the day of the exam, or they will be sent electronically on the day of the exam.

Missing question papers

Question papers will only be delivered, providing entries have been made for a subject. Therefore, please check your entries first. If you are confident that your entries have been made in good time, and you have exhausted all other tracking methods, please contact a us via the Customer Support Portal

Attendance registers

Where entries are made on time, we will always endeavour to send you an upto date attendance register and returns label (where applicable). These are sent separately from your exam papers, and where entries are made late, it’s the exam papers that are prioritised. 

If you have made late entries or haven’t received your registers and labels in time, you do not have to wait for us to issue these to you. Guidance on how to create your own GCSE/GCE attendance registers, can be found in the relevant support articles. 

Our international centres can also find Guidance on Attendance Registers and Labels 
Did you know that we have a dedicated website for ordering additional exam stationery, and you can do this in advance of the exam series?

You can read our support article accessing and creating an account on the new exam/centre stationery website for more information.

  • You will need to use activation code KEHSY and this is the same for all users.
  • In case of emergencies you can use other AO's exam bags, just cross out their name.
When a learner is unable to sit an examination at their centre due to exceptional circumstances - such as a serious medical condition, suspension or exclusions - they can be transferred to another centre to sit examinations.

The transferred candidate process covers the externally assessed, written components for A level, GCSE, International GCSE, International A Levels and externally-assessed BTEC units only.

The responsibilities of both the entering centre and the host centre are outlined in the JCQ Guidance notes for Transferred candidates 2023/24
Candidates must be entered for one tier and sit all components within a subject at the same tier (Foundation or Higher). This covers GCSE Maths, International GCSE Maths, Single Sciences (Biology, Chemistry & Physics), Combined Science and Languages.

Mixed-tier entry is strictly prohibited. You should make sure that all candidates sit all components at the same tier, and this should be identical to the tier of entry. Irrespective of what tier the candidate/centre think is appropriate the candidate must continue to sit the remaining components at the tier of entry.

Read more about candidates sitting an incorrect tiered paper.

If a learner has sat a different awarding body's exam paper in error, then please apply for Special consideration.
Overnight supervision arrangements should only be applied as a last resort and once all other options have been exhausted.

When candidates are entered for three or more examinations, timetabled for the same day and the total duration for those papers is: 

a) more than six hours for GCE examinations (AS, A2, A-level), including approved extra time allowances and/or supervised rest breaks; or
b) more than five and a half hours for GCSE examinations, including approved extra time allowances and/or supervised rest breaks
candidates may, at the centre’s discretion, be allowed to take an examination scheduled for the afternoon session the following morning (including Saturdays).

Further guidance on Overnight supervision arrangements can be found in the JCQ Instructions for Conducting Examinations, section 8
This is an internally conducted assessment which is externally assessed by Pearson. The assessment must be conducted within the prescribed speaking assessment period as set by Pearson and must be in a face-to-face setting.

The speaking assessment period is from Monday 15 April – Friday 17 May 2024.

The submission deadline for GCSE and GCE MFL candidate speaking recordings is two working days after the last oral exam for that language has taken place in the centre. The final submission deadline is therefore Tuesday 21 May 2024.

Further information can be found in the admin support guides:
Sound files for our listening exams are available to Exams Officers for download through our unique live materials SDS.

You can access the recordings no earlier than 24 hours before the published start time (or the Friday, if the exam is on a Monday) of the examination. Transcripts can only be accessed up to one hour beforehand.

We will not set up scheduled audio file deliveries via SFT. 

Our recommendation is that a minimum of two members of centre staff have SDS included in their Edexcel Online profile. If you need to get additional members of staff added, 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.

Did you know? Where additional time has been approved via an Access Arrangement application, these Audio files are included in the same folders as the standard files within SDS
Your head of centre is required to report incidents of suspected learner malpractice that occur during the delivery of Pearson qualifications.

Follow our process for reporting malpractice.

Read more about malpractice:
If you suspect that a member of staff has committed malpractice or that maladministration of the qualification may have occurred, you must let us know by emailing a completed JCQ M2 Form to pqsmalpractice@pearson.com. Our Investigations team will review the documentation that you provide and advise you on the next steps.
All learner work requiring digital submission, for general qualifications, must be uploaded via the LWT platform (accessed via Edexcel Online). This will include samples for non-examined assessment moderation

Explore our dedicated support articles for detailed guidance. These can all be accessed via our Learner Work Transfer overview & index article.
Should a candidate arrive to an examination late, a centre may start an examination up to 30 minutes after the official start time without having to let us know.

Any time after this and you must inform Pearson by submitting a very late arrival form. This form is submitted through the 'Centre Admin Portal (CAP), accessible through Edexcel Online.

A candidate will be considered very late if he/she arrives: 

a) more than one hour after the awarding body’s published starting time for an examination which lasts one hour or more, i.e. after 10:00 am for a morning examination or after 2:30 pm for an afternoon examination.
 
b) after the awarding body’s published finishing time for an examination that lasts less than one hour

Where a candidate arrives very late for an examination centres must: 

a) send the script to the awarding body/examiner in the normal way.

b) submit Form JCQ/VLA-Report on candidate admitted very late to examination room online, using the Centre Admin Portal (CAP), within seven days of the examination having taken place. 

c) warn the candidate that the awarding body may not accept their script.
Centres must provide the following information: 

  • the time the candidate came under centre staff supervision.
  • the reason the candidate arrived late, including any details of special arrangements made for the candidate to reach the centre.
  • the actual starting and finishing times of the examination.
  • the time the candidate started the examination.
  • the time the candidate finished the examination.
  • any assurances that the candidate did not access and was not made aware of the paper’s content prior to sitting the exam.

Question papers, mark schemes and examiner reports for the most recent exam sessions (within the last 12 months) can be accessed only by registered centres. 

Past papers and mark schemes accompanied by a padlock are not available for students, but only for teachers and exams officers of registered centres.

Exam papers for the current series will be uploaded to the website under padlock after the completion of all exams in the series.

Please don’t include anything other than exam scripts, cover sheets, the
attendance register in the exam bags. We often receive unused question papers or other exam-related material which is scanned and then slows down the marking process. 

Did you know? Any unused or spare question papers can be released to your teachers after the published finishing time or after all candidates in your centre have completed the exam, whichever is later (see section 31 of the JCQ Instructions for conducting examinations).
A candidate's examination performance can sometimes be affected by circumstances out of their control. Special consideration is a post-examination adjustment that compensates candidates who were suffering from a temporary illness or condition or who were otherwise disadvantaged at the time of the examination.

Special Consideration applications may also be made where a learner has missed a unit or component of their qualification. In these cases, learners must have completed at least 15% (for summer 2024) of the total assessment to be considered for an aegrotat grade.

All applications for special consideration must be made within seven days of the last examination of the series.

We appreciate that each year there will be exceptional cases where a student is unable to sit any of the assessments for a qualification. If you are aware of students who you believe may find themselves in this situation, please contact us for advice. The earlier you are able to do this, the greater the possibility we may be able to assist. 

More information on the Special Consideration process, including how and when to apply, can be found in our Special Requirements index article
We are aware that some travel disruption may be caused by industrial action in May and would like to remind you that you should have a full contingency plan in place to ensure assessments can go ahead. You can read more about contingency planning on the JCQ website. If you’re concerned about any disruption, you can contact us through the Pearson support portal.
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. 
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.

Please spread the word to your colleagues about this page as it can be a valuable source of support and information.
We are very excited to announce our new and improved Live Chat service.
 
We have extended our contact hours to 8 am - 5 pm BST and we have expanded our team to accommodate more Live Chat queries during the exam series. 

We understand that sometimes our phoneline is the preferred contact to use in times of urgency, however we understand an Exams Officers time is precious and so we encourage you to contact us via Live Chat for all queries without the need to wait on the phone on hold.

You can contact our team via the Live Chat service on Edexcel Online or the 'contact us' section of the Pearson Qualifications website. You will be greeted by a pop-up on the screen and can start chatting with one of our Live Chat members after our Live Chat bot has assisted. 

We look forward to chatting with you!
As always, should you need us we are here to answer your calls for more urgent or complex queries. During the exam series however we are making some changes to how we handle your calls.

From Tuesday 7 May, when you call through your relevant customer service team you will hear an option for urgent exam queries. 

During the hours of 8 am BST to 9.30 am BST and 12 pm BST to 1.30 pm BST we will have a team of people dedicated specifically to answering those questions as quickly as possible (Option 1).

You can still call with other non exam related queries but you may experience a longer wait to be answered (Option 3). If you'd prefer you can raise those queries using the other channels available mentioned above.

If you have a call relating to multi-factor authentication, such as needing an MFA account resetting, you can select option 2.

Pearson Customer Services

The Lighthouse, Manchester, M50 3BF

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