Exams Officer update March 2026

Summer 2026 exam series

Entries and amendments

The summer 2026 entry deadline has now passed, but you still have time to make amendments without being charged additional fees. An entry amendment is any change, addition or withdrawal to an entry once the original entry file has been submitted. The amendment deadline is Tuesday 21 April 2026.

Some examples of entry amendments are:

• making additional entries for a student that’s already entered
• changing the tier or option that a student is already entered for
• withdrawing a student
• changing a student’s personal details (e.g. date of birth or the spelling of a name).

If a new student needs to be entered after the original entry file has been sent, it’s classed as an amendment and needs to be sent as an amendment file, but it will now incur a late entry fee.

Entry amendments should be made in the same way you sent your original entry file to us (Centre Services or EDI). If you're submitting your amendments on Centre Services, the file will default to an amendment automatically when you click ‘submit’. If you're using EDI, your MIS should default to ‘A’ for amendment automatically, but please check the file name begins with A before you submit it.

You can find more information about checking, changing and withdrawing entries on our website.

Non-exam assessments (NEA) submissions

With the Centre Marks Submission and Digital Media Portal submission windows opening soon, we recommend that you speak to your subject teachers to make sure they have all the accompanying record forms they need for the upload.

We’ll be in touch soon with detailed NEA guidance. In the meantime, you can find information on our website.

Deliveries – Parcelforce update

For those of you who receive the Yellow Label Service, you’ll have seen a recent email from the Standards & Testing Agency (STA) that ParcelForce has migrated their IT systems to align with the rest of Royal Mail Group.

There are no changes to when labels will be available, or how you access the labels and print them for AQA exams.

You might notice a small difference to the labels, which now have an extra 2D barcode on them, and the service is now called "Exams 24" instead of "Express 24" on each label.

You can find out more about question papers and stationery delivery on our website.

Private candidates

If you have requests from private candidates, there’s guidance on our website for students and parents that might be useful to pass on. You can register to opt in to accept private candidates through the annual NCN (national centre number) update process. The NCN team then collect information from you about the qualifications you offer.

It’s important to note:

• not all qualifications are available to private candidates – please check the Entry Codes 2025-26 v1.1 for details for details
• learners cannot be entered as both an internal and private candidate at the same school/college, and in the same exam series
• if a learner is not known to the centre, and cannot produce a valid passport or driving licence, the private candidate identification form must be used
• access arrangements, special consideration applications and post-results requests should be made by the entering centre. If you are accepting private candidates, you will also be responsible for their access arrangements, special consideration applications, results, post-results requests and certificates.

You can find more information on the JCQ website.

Subject updates

GCSE

• Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) – new speaking test videos and guidance for 2026
• Geography – Paper 3 pre-release materials for summer 2026

Maths and Science – GCSE Maths and GCSE Sciences formulae and equation sheets for 2026-2027