Access Arrangements and Special Consideration
Transfer of Awards between awarding bodies or specifications
The Joint Council for Qualifications has agreed that, subject to certain conditions, it will be possible for candidates who have taken a GCE AS level qualification with one awarding body to transfer their total AS mark to another awarding body. The transferred mark will then count towards an A level qualification in the same subject.
This facility is also available to enable candidates to transfer from one AQA specification to another in the same subject.
A similar facility enables candidates taking VCE or GNVQ qualifications to transfer individual modules from one awarding body to another.
Key skills candidates who have completed one of the two components at a particular level in an assessment, either the written test or the portfolio, with one awarding body may transfer the completed component and complete the assessment with another awarding body.
Candidates may be eligible for transfer in the following circumstances:
- Individual candidates who are transferring centre mid-way through a course
- Individual candidates returning to take the advanced qualification at a different centre having taken a break, provided that this is in the shelf life of the specification
- The facility will not be available to class groups of candidates
The awarding body the candidate is intending to transfer to for the final qualification has to decide whether or not a particular transfer is acceptable. The Joint Council for Qualifications lays down certain other conditions as follows:
- For GCE candidates only the entire qualification may be transferred and must be certificated (cashed-in) before the transfer takes place. Individual units may not be transferred. For VCE and GNVQ candidates individual units may be transferred
- GCE candidates will not be permitted to re-sit any unit of the first award after transfer. Transfer may, however be deferred so that re sits can take place
It may be necessary in some cases for AQA to stipulate that particular options or set texts are followed after the transfer in order to satisfy the subject criteria. The Joint Council for Qualifications have published a list of acceptable transfers and further advice in a document called Notice to Centres, Arrangements (for) Candidates Transferring Credit.