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.

Download and print question papers on the day of an exam

If you’re missing question papers on the day of an exam, you’ll be able to download them from Centre Services and print them.

You must make sure that the question papers are secure at all times. Only trained staff can print and handle question papers.

How to download question papers

You’ll need to be a main administrator in Centre Services to download the question papers.

They'll be available to download 60 minutes before the exam’s published starting time.

To download question papers, you’ll need to:

  1. Log into Centre Services
  2. Go to the Exams tab in the menu.
  3. Then Day of exam material > View day of exam resources.

How to print question papers

You’ll need to set up a colour printer in your secure area to print your question papers.

Check if the paper contains colour images and check the resolution on your printer.

To make sure the papers are the correct standard, you must print them:

  • at 600dpi
  • in colour
  • on A4 or A3 80 gsm paper.

You must make sure that you:

  • print the paper at the correct scale – ie ‘actual size’ or to ‘100% custom scaling. This will make sure that the paper is printed as intended and is a true representation of the PDF. If printed with settings set to ‘Fit’ or ‘shrink oversized pages’, content such as graphs and items to measure will not be at the correct size and learners will not be able to calculate the correct answer.
  • print every page of the question papers
  • don’t photocopy any question papers
  • compare the printed paper with the electronic PDF version to check that it has printed correctly – you should pay particular attention to sizing, shading, colour, graphs, diagrams and images.