General Procedure
Oxford Open Learning will email all students who we believe are sitting exams in the summer series in the preceding Autumn.
The exam boards’ deadline for booking exams is the 21st February.
However, please be aware that some popular exam centres fill up very early, many others are now introducing December closing dates and therefore the sooner you begin looking for a place, the better.
After the 21st Feb. you may still be able to book an exam but your choice of centre will be severely limited and you will have to pay late fees.
If we do not know when you are sitting your exam, or you do not follow our instructions, then we cannot help you and things can go badly wrong. Please always keep us informed of your intentions and return your Permission Form.
Exams with no Coursework/ NEA
The Edexcel IGCSE and our AQA GCSE courses (except English) as well as most of our A Levels, do not have examined coursework or NEA (Non Exam Assessment).
The Introduction to your course will make it clear whether your course has examined Coursework/NEA or not. Please be aware that your Tutor-marked Assignments are not Coursework.
If an exam does not include NEA then the procedure is simple, as follows;
- Contact possible centres as early as possible, using the information that we provide by email and on our website. KNOW YOUR ENTRY CODE BEFORE CONTACTING ANYWHERE.
- When you have found a centre, fill in their entry form, pay the fee and get a confirmation of entry.
There is nothing else to do except get the exam dates and starting times from the exam officer and a Confirmation of Entry to ensure it has been booked correctly.
Remember to turn up at the correct time for any orals and your written exams. No other exam board forms are required, except form RP3 for Language A levels, although Oxford Open Learning will need the Permission Form (see below) to know where you are sitting and make any enquiries on your behalf.
Exams with Coursework or an NEA
The subjects in this category are GCSE English and A Level History, English Language and English Literature.
For these subjects only you will be an Oxford Open Learning internal exam candidate and you must book and pay for your exam with our Examination Officer, Mrs Jenny Booth (jenny@ool.co.uk tel. 01865 798022). We can only accept entries for NEA subjects.
Oxford Open Learning will make your exam entry and deal with your coursework, but you will sit your written papers at a centre which is more local to you. You will not be able to sit the written papers here at OOL.
You must find a local centre in the same way as any other OOL candidate, but for NEA subjects you will have to explain that they need only accept you as a transfer of entry student and not a full private candidate. They will not be your “entering centre”, they will be your “host centre” and their fee should reflect this.
Transfer of Entry forms will be organised and sent to host centres by OOL. The host centre will not incur any costs for the transfer.
For NEA subjects only, we will deal with everything that a normal exam centre is responsible for, ie; payment for exam entry, making your entry with AQA, helping with the transfer of entry procedure, marking your coursework, any enquiries about results or appeals and providing your results slip and final certificate. The only thing we cannot do is allow you to sit written exams with us here in Oxford.
If you have a Tutors and Exams centre which is convenient, then an alternative is to enter and sit with them. If you do this, there is no transfer required and your OOL tutor will still mark your coursework, but everything else is dealt with by Tutors and Exams. This is an especially good option if you have SEN requirements.
Please be aware of the following;
- When you begin your course your Student Adviser will confirm if you have a subject with NEA. If this is the case then it is very important that you let us know if you have any special educational needs which will need to be assessed for the exam. If you do not do this straight away we will not be able to help you.
- Your coursework has to be authenticated by your Oxford Open Learning tutor. This will not happen until the tutor has seen at least 4 Tutor-marked Assignments, a plan and a draft essay.
- The NEA rules are very strict, please see our separate section on this; NEA Guidelines. You can send plans and one draft to your tutor for comments and guidance. Make sure you allow plenty of time to do this and to make your final submission by our deadline, which is the 15th March. Coursework rules are shown on the back of the Enrolment Form that all students must sign before they can begin our courses. Please also make yourself familiar with the JCQ document ” Information for Candidates – non-examination assessments”.
- All final coursework must be with your Oxford Open Learning tutor for authentication by 15th March. Do not work to the AQA deadlines, ours have to be much earlier. Do not send any final coursework to your Oxford Open Learning tutor unless it is accompanied by a Candidate Record Form signed by you and attached with a treasury tag.
- We will send another form to you (sometime during February) known as the Permission Form. Please return it to us promptly. It is not part of the booking procedure but it allows us to know where you are sitting.
- There is more detailed NEA information on this website and a question and answer section on NEA on the Oxford Home Schooling website which you may find useful.
November Exams
There are no longer any winter A levels.
The procedures for November exams are exactly the same as for the summer series. However, students wishing to sit in November will be responsible for meeting the deadlines themselves. Oxford Open Learning will assist, but if you choose to sit at any time other than summer we do not guarantee automatically to send out information and forms.
THE PERMISSION FORM
This is an internal OOL/OHS form which we send out to students who are sitting summer exams. You do not need it to book your exams, but we need it to establish where you are going to sit, to make enquiries on your behalf and to get your results afterwards.