Exams Administration

Information and resources for exams officers to plan ahead and stay on track throughout the whole exams lifecycle, from entries to results day.

Question papers and stationery

Find out about what we'll send you and when, what you need to provide and how to order extra exam stationery.

Some of our question papers now have extra lined pages at the end for students to use if they run out of space.

What we'll send you

We'll send you exam materials throughout the year. There are three types of exam materials we'll send to you:

  1. Exam stationery and forms, which we'll send based on your entries.
  2. Early question papers that we send or make available to you before exam day (sometimes called preliminary or pre-release).
  3. Exam day question papers and answer booklets.

Find out how to order extra exam stationery

When we'll send it

The tables below show everything we'll send you and when we will send it. For early exam materials, you can also use our early question paper dates.

January 2024 series

Level

Item

Exam / pre-release issue date

When we'll send it to you

Initially sent using estimated entries

AG & FSK

Question paper pack 2 - January exam papers

8-17 January 2024

Early December

No

AG & FSK

Stationery: includes additional answer books (SLAB4), graph paper, S1 script sacks, S3 coursework sacks

Early December

No

AG & FSK

Attendance records (All timetabled components)

Early December

No

AG & FSK

NLL yellow exam dispatch labels (blank stationery)

Early December

No

March 2024 series

Level

Item

Exam / pre-release issue date

When we'll send it to you

Initially sent using estimated entries?

FSK

Question paper pack 3 - March exam papers

27-28 February

Early February (before half term)

No

FSK

Stationery: includes additional answer books (SLAB4), graph paper, S1 script sacks, S3 coursework sacks

Early February (before half term)

No

FSK

Attendance records (All timetabled components)

Early February (before half term)

No

FSK

NLL yellow exam dispatch labels (blank stationery)

Early February (before half term)

No

Summer 2024 series

Level

Item

Exam / pre-release issue date

When we'll send it to you

Initially sent using estimated entries?

GCE and GCSE

Question paper pack 2 - Jan / Feb issue Art & Design pre-lim

2 January - 1 February 2024

Early December

Yes

GCSE

Question paper pack 4 - GCSE Geography prelim material

22 March 2024

Early March

Yes

GCE and GCSE

Question paper pack 5 - MFL speaking tests

2-8 April 2024

Mid-March

No

GCE

Attendance records (non-timetabled components)

Late March

No

GCSE

Attendance records (non-timetabled components)

Late March

No

GCE

Exam use English anthologies

Late March / Late April (avoiding Easter)

No

GCE and GCSE

Stationery: includes additional answer books (SLAB4), graph paper, S1 script sacks, S3 coursework sacks

Late March to Late April (avoiding Easter)

No

GCSE

Attendance records (May components)

Late March to Late April (avoiding Easter)

No

GCE and GCSE

NLL yellow exam dispatch labels (blank stationery)

Mid-April

No

GCE and GCSE

Question paper pack 6 - Summer exam papers

9-16 May 2024

Mid / Late April (after Easter)

No

GCE

Attendance records (all timetabled components)

Late April / Early May

No

GCE and GCSE

Question paper pack 7 - Summer exam papers

17-23 May 2024

Late April

No

GCSE

Attendance records (June components)

Late April / Early May

No

GCE and GCSE

Question paper pack 8 - Summer exam papers

24 May - 6 June 2024

Late April / Early May

No

GCE and GCSE

Question paper pack 9 - Summer exam papers

7-12 June 2024

Mid / Late May

No

GCE and GCSE

Question paper pack 10 - Summer exam papers

13-21 June 2024

Early June (after half term)

No

What to do if exam materials have been damaged or opened during transit

You must let us know immediately if:

  • A parcel or one of the packets has been opened during transit and therefore there may have been a breach of security.
  • Material has been significantly damaged in transit or upon opening.

You can get in touch with us by sending an email to irregularities-n@aqa.org.uk

How to store exam materials

You must have a secure storage area where you can store confidential exam materials such as question papers, answer booklets and supplementary booklets and sheets. See the requirements in JCQ's instructions for conducting examinations

What you need to provide

You'll need to provide certain stationery to students on exam day. This is in addition to what we'll send you.

It's also important that you check the instructions in your question paper pack to make sure that you're providing everything students need. You can find out more about this in the stationery summary lists on Centre Services

How to create an attendance register

We'll send attendance registers to you before the exams. However, if you're missing one for any reason then you can create your own on Centre Services.

To create an attendance register, you’ll need to:

  1. Log into Centre Services
  2. Go to the Pre-entries tab in the menu.
  3. Then Entries > Current entry reports.
  4. Select an academic year and series.
  5. Select Search.
  6. Select Subject reports.
  7. Select a specification and component – make sure entry code is 'all'.
  8. Select Run report.

You'll then be able to download your attendance register.