How do I book examinations?
As a home educator, your child does not have to follow a school curriculum or sit examinations, however, if you would like them to, you will have to fund the cost of the exams.
The allocation of places available for home educating young people may be limited so please use the list below to find a school or centre near you that will allow your child to sit the examination.
As a home educator you'll have the flexibility to choose the examination board most appropriate to your child. The major examination boards for GCSEs/IGCSEs are AQA, Edexel and OCR.
Examination costs can vary. If you are able to arrange a contact with a local centre then they may charge a nominal administrative fee on top of the exam entry costs. Examination centres where exams are their business will charge more. With this in mind, we generally advise that fees can vary from £100-£250 for I/GCSE subjects and from £250-£500 for A level subjects.
Examination places for private candidates
Kingsbury Green Academy
Kingsbury Green Academy (KGA), Wiltshire can accommodate external students who wish to take external examinations such as GCSEs, IGCSE's at their school.
There is an admin fee, invigilation fee and an exam entry fee for each student. If you would like to do multiple exam entries, they can accommodate most specifications providing it doesn’t include a non-examination assessments for example coursework. As part of the admin fee, Kingsbury Green Academy will send the results and certificates to students. Mock exams may be able to be arranged if required.
If a student needs access arrangements, please contact the exams officer for more information but note that they are not able to offer a separate room to take exams, but they will do their best to accommodate where they can. Use of laptops for SEND can be agreed as long as it's a student's normal way of working (there is an additional fee for this).
For further information, contact Jane Holloway, Exams Officer at
New College Swindon
Offer exam entry for private candidates. They are able to accept private candidates for AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and WJEC. They can accommodate A Level, AS Level, GCSEs and IGCSEs (for this last one, Pearson Edexcel only), but they cannot offer all subjects – those specifications that carry coursework or practical endorsements are not available. They can also accommodate access arrangements such as extra time, supervised rest breaks, smaller rooms, etc. Normally their admin fee per candidate is £185 (plus any relevant exam fees). If you have a group of students to be entered for one or more subjects, they could apply a discount to the admin fee but this would have to be agreed by their Examinations Manager.
It is worth noting that GCSE English Language carries a speaking component which they cannot offer, and in this case they would have to enter the candidate for IGCSE English with Pearson Edexcel, either specification 4EA1 option A or specification 4EB1. None of these carry speaking exams but just written papers. The documentation they require to enter the candidates is mainly photographic ID. There is a form to fill in that must be signed by the candidates themselves and the ULN is a requirement – without this number they cannot make exam entries at GCSE or GCE levels.
Contact Lorena Martínez, examinations officer at
3A Tutors
Bristol-based examination centre and access to state-of-the-art laboratory facilities have enabled thousands of students to take (or retake) various written, oral, on-screen and practical examinations over the past twenty years. By using their services a large number of students have obtained top grades in their GCSE, IGCSE and A-Level examinations.
3A Tutors are a registered Examination Centre with all the main examination boards in the UK including:
- Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA)
- Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR)
- Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE)
- Pearson / Edexcel- Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) / Eduqas
For further information visit the 3A Tutors website 3A Tutors Ltd | A Private Examination Centre & Tutorial College in Bristol.
Further afield
Tutors and exams
Tutors and Exams have an examination centre in Taunton. For further information visit the Tutors and Exams website
Private Candidate Exam Centre - AQA - EDEXCEL - OCR - Cambridge (tutorsandexams.uk)
Western Tutorial and Examination Centre
Western Tutorial and Examination Centre is a small exam and tuition centre based in Newport. They are an AQA centre so private candidates must sit exams with the AQA board (the biggest exam organisation in the UK). They offer reasonably priced entry fees and have small comfortable exam rooms, with no more than 12 candidates in each room.
They also have equipment for those wanting to do practical work for GCSE or A-level sciences, and can carry out the GCSE English Language spoken assessment on site.
Contact
Oxford Home Learning
Oxford Home Learning have a lot of information on their website about exam booking and their examinations officer is a great help to their students.
For 2021, some of their results include:
- A pass rate of above 96% across maths, English and biology IGCSEs, some of their most popular courses.
- A pass rate of above 90% across all IGCSEs
- A pass rate of above 93% across all A levels
- Over 1300 under 18 students awarded grades
Exam advice from Oxford Home Learning
Exam costs do vary a fair bit depending on where students go so they advise you shop around if you can. Students can also access a map which shows centres which have taken students in the past. For any students enrolled with Oxford Home Learning, they will help as much as they can with locating a local centre that will suit your needs but their policies can change regularly which can make it tricky to keep up with.
For further information visit the Oxford Home Learning website: www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/exams-home
Further information
AQA information on finding an exam centre: https://www.aqa.org.uk/student-and-parent-support/private-candidates/finding-a-school-or-college
With regards to any SEN requirements, AQA say the following:
“It's up to the school or college whether to accept private candidates. We can't ask a school or college to accept your entry. In most cases they will only accept you if they're entering their own students for the subject(s) you wish to enter for. If you have a physical disability or a learning disability and require any access arrangements (for example a scribe, extra time or modified papers) you need to discuss this with the exams officer. Where the arrangements involve school resources it will be entirely the decision of the school or college whether to accept your entry. You'll need to provide appropriate evidence.”
The Joint Council for Qualifications
An updated list of exam centres for private candidates: https://www.jcq.org.uk/private-candidates/