Welcome to our Autumn 2025 newsletter

We hope the new term has started well for you.

We’re looking forward to working with you over the year ahead and receiving the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment review when it’s published. In this email you’ll find all the information to get you started this term, including important reminders to prepare for our end of Applied General Science qualification with final assessment for the extended qualification in 2026 and any resit opportunities.

If any members of your team would like to receive subject-specific updates for our Science qualifications, they can easily sign up for AQA subject updates, so they’re always informed and part of our community.

Damian Gent
Subject Lead for Science

• Sign up to myAQA to get quick access to resources, CPD training and events, Data Insights (our results analysis tool) and much more this autumn term. Make sure you’ve filled in your myAQA profile including your role and subject specialism so we can instantly start connecting you with the tools, training and resources most relevant to you.
• Once you’re logged into your myAQA account, you can also access Centre Services.

Join us for our free live mark scheme guidance and application courses. This live AQA training course will provide you with guidance on how to apply the mark scheme to key questions/question types. You will have the opportunity to take part in marking activities and discussion led by a senior AQA examiner to help with preparation for 2025/26 mock marking.

Book here:

• A-level Biology
• A-level Chemistry
• A-level Physics

Marking non-exam assessment (NEA)

Are you looking to improve the accuracy of your NEA marking this year? Why not use our free Teacher Online standardisation tool during a departmental meeting to check your marking is in line with our lead moderators? 

Looking for resources to support your teaching? The learned societies offer a wealth of free resources and CPD courses. Here's an examples we think you might find useful:

Science and Plants for Schools offer a range of free resources to support Level 3 Biology teaching including Calibrating and measuring in microscopy.

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has some useful links to inspire your students' investigation projects.

STEM also offer a collection of resources for scientific investigations and CLEAPSS have a range of resources including student safety sheets.

Data Insights on Centre Services – see how your school, subject, class and individual students have performed and dig deeper into your students’ results.

Find summer 2025 question papers, mark schemes, and examiners’ reports, all in one place on Centre Services. See what is available and when.

You can find each of the grade boundaries on our website and the overall results statistics with cumulative pass rates for the whole AQA cohort. 

Free@3

• We’re delighted to extend our popular ‘Free at 3’ appointments, following the success of last term’s trial. These 20-minute sessions gave us the chance to speak with many of you – mainly about resources, exams and qualifications and we’re keen to keep those conversations going.
• If there’s something you’d like to discuss, we’d love to hear from you. Just get in touch using the Free@3 link to book your slot in mySupport – available between 3.00pm – 5.00pm, Monday – Thursday.
• Log into myAQA for post-results services to find information and deadlines and easy summary guide.

AQA NEA advisers

• Each school or college has a dedicated NEA adviser. Our advisers are experienced teachers and moderators who can offer guidance and support throughout the academic year on delivering NEA.
• They’re there to answer your questions, explain specification requirements, share teaching ideas and discuss general processes, planning and approaches to NEA tasks.
• Their details may have changed from last year – so you can find them on Centre Services by going to ‘Pre-exams’ and then clicking on ‘NEA Advisers’. If you do not have an assigned adviser, please contact eos@aqa.org.uk
• Please be aware that contact details are confidential and must not be shared with third parties including students and on social media. Further information about our commitment to data privacy can be found in our privacy notice.

Applied General Science end of qualification reminders

As you’re aware our Applied General Science qualification is coming to an end with the final assessment dates for the extended qualification in 2026. To help prepare your students for the final certification and any resit opportunities and to find out what’s available from January 2026 you can read our news message Applied General Science: end of qualification reminders.

The use of AI within assessments

JCQ’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use in Assessments: Protecting the Integrity of Qualifications document provides teachers/assessors involved in delivering JCQ qualifications with the information they need to manage use of AI in assessments. All relevant staff need to be aware of and familiarise themselves with the new guidance and instructions. If AI misuse is detected or suspected by your school or college, and the declaration of authentication has been signed, the case must be reported.

Remember, if you have any learners who use a word processor, it must have all internet connectivity disabled. This is to help prevent, among other things, the potential misuse of AI in exams.

Using AQA resources for AI tools

AQA does not allow anybody (including schools and colleges) to use any AQA materials to train Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered tools or technologies. This includes question papers, specifications, mark schemes, reports, teaching resources and other such materials. While we understand how useful these tools are, putting any AQA material into an AI tool would be in breach of copyright law, and AQA policy.

Student Advisory Group – recruitment for 2025/26

We’re looking for learners to join our Student Advisory Group to help us make key decisions about the future of exams. We’d love to hear from learners who’ve completed AQA specification GCSEs since 2024, as well as from those taking AQA AS and A-levels. We also really want to hear from students taking our vocational qualifications, or vocational qualifications with any other exam board, as long as they have sat at least one AQA qualification. 

Since the Student Advisory group began they’ve; represented the student voice each year at the Parliamentary Youth Reception, shared their views at the Curriculum and Assessment Youth Shadow Panel, fed into our Curriculum and Assessment call for evidence response, given insights on AI in the Classroom at the 2025 Festival of Education, helped with reviewing books for our English literature set texts list, and much more.

So if you know any learners who you think would be interested, please pass this on. Full details of the role and how to apply can be found on our website. Applications open on Monday 8 September and close at 5.00pm on Monday 22 September 2025.

Contact our team

Help is never more than a click away. If you have a question, we’ve got the answer.

Email alevelscience@aqa.org.uk

Call us on 01483 477756 8.00am – 5.00pm Monday to Friday.