Exam preparation and planning, including access arrangements
Exam preparation and planning, including access arrangements.
Plan ahead with key exam dates, preparation guidance, and support for access arrangements to ensure every student is set up for success.
Organising exams involves a lot of preparation and planning which is very similar to managing a large event. As well as sending your exam entries to us, there’s many other tasks you need to complete to run a successful exam session, such as booking rooms, recruiting and training invigilators, putting access arrangements in place, to name a few. The information within this section should give you a starting point.
Mock exams
Most schools and colleges host mock exams at some point during the academic year. Mock exams don’t just benefit learners, they give centre staff an opportunity to dry run the delivery of exams as well.
Another reason why they’re so important is Ofqual’s guidance to schools and colleges on collecting student performance evidence for general qualifications. Ofqual asks that schools and colleges make sure that students sit mock exams in exam conditions before their formal exams, and that their papers are kept as evidence.
The tasks you will complete to prepare for mock exams are very similar to those you complete when preparing for external exams. More detail can be found in the Preparing and Planning for Your Exams section.
Preparing and planning for your exams
There’s lots to think about when it comes to exams. When you have compiled your exam timetable, you can start preparing for the exams and putting things in place.Here are some points that should help you.
Share the timetable with all staff that are involved in the exam process.
Identify exam clashes and plan these into the exam schedule.
Start booking the rooms and spaces that you need for exams. Think about the information that you need to provide to the facilities team or caretakers to ensure each room and space is laid out for exams, and that displays on walls are covered, etc.
Start planning invigilation for your exams.Section 2, part 12 of the JCQ ICE document contains information on the regulations you must follow around Invigilation.
Recruit more invigilators if needed. Do you have enough invigilators? How are you going to plug any invigilation gaps?The National Association of Exams Officers has a useful recruitment map tool, which may also support your centre staffing.
Plan your invigilator training sessions.
Factor Access Arrangements into your plans. More information is in the Access Arrangements section.
Access arrangements
Access arrangements are a key part of any exam session and give learners that qualify the opportunity to demonstrate what they’ve learnt on a level playing field. Access Arrangements include extra time, word processors, readers and computer readers, modified papers, scribes and rest breaks, as well as more individualised arrangements.
Your centre’s SENCo will lead the Access Arrangements process, but Exams Officers play a vital role in bringing Access Arrangements to life before and during exams. There is a lot of guidance to help you below
- the Access Arrangements information on our website
- JCQ documents on this subject, such as the Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments 2024/25 document, are especially useful.
Applications are processed using Access Arrangements Online (AAO) which is accessed through the Centre Admin Portal (CAP). You can login to CAP through Centre Services.
You can find out more about CAP on the JCQ website.
Useful Links
Below are some links to websites you may find useful as general sources of information and support, and we would recommend signing up for their updates.
DfE – Department for Education.
JCQ – Joint Council for Qualifications.
Ofqual – The Office for Qualifications and Examinations Regulation.
The Exams Office – The Exams Office provides training, conferences and support for a yearly fee.
AQA – the pages below on our website are visited regularly by our exams officers: