5.0 General administration

You can find information about all aspects of administration, as well as all the forms you need, at aqa.org.uk/examsadmin

5.1 Entries and codes

You only need to make one entry for each qualification – this will cover all the question papers, non-exam assessment and certification.

Every specification is given a national discount (classification) code by the Department for Education (DfE), which indicates its subject area.

If a student takes two specifications with the same discount code:
  • further and higher education providers are likely to take the view that they have only achieved one of the two qualifications
  • only one of them will be counted for the purpose of the School and College Performance tables – the DfE's rules on 'early entry' will determine which one.
Please check this before your students start their course.
OptionAQA entry codeDfE discount code
Buddhism and Catholic Christianity (excluding textual studies)8062AADD1
Buddhism and Catholic Christianity (including textual studies)8062ABDD1
Buddhism and Christianity (excluding textual studies)8062BADD1
Buddhism and Christianity (including textual studies)8062BBDD1
Buddhism and Hinduism (excluding textual studies)8062CADD1
Buddhism and Islam (excluding textual studies)8062DADD1
Buddhism and Judaism (excluding textual studies)8062EADD1
Buddhism and Sikhism (excluding textual studies)8062FADD1
Catholic Christianity and Hinduism (excluding textual studies)8062GADD1
Catholic Christianity and Hinduism (including textual studies)8062GBDD1
Catholic Christianity and Islam (excluding textual studies)8062HADD1
Catholic Christianity and Islam (including textual studies)8062HBDD1
Catholic Christianity and Judaism (excluding textual studies)8062JADD1
Catholic Christianity and Judaism (including textual studies)8062JBDD1
Catholic Christianity and Sikhism (excluding textual studies)8062KADD1
Catholic Christianity and Sikhism (including textual studies)8062KBDD1
Christianity and Hinduism (excluding textual studies)8062LADD1
Christianity and Hinduism (including textual studies)8062LBDD1
Christianity and Islam (excluding textual studies)8062MADD1
Christianity and Islam (including textual studies)8062MBDD1
Christianity and Judaism (excluding textual studies)8062NADD1
Christianity and Judaism (including textual studies)8062NBDD1
Christianity and Sikhism (excluding textual studies)8062OADD1
Christianity and Sikhism (including textual studies)8062OBDD1
Hinduism and Islam (excluding textual studies)8062PADD1
Hinduism and Judaism (excluding textual studies)8062QADD1
Hinduism and Sikhism (excluding textual studies)8062RADD1
Islam and Judaism (excluding textual studies)8062SADD1
Islam and Sikhism (excluding textual studies)8062TADD1
Judaism and Sikhism (excluding textual studies)8062UADD1

This specification complies with:

  • Ofqual General conditions of recognition that apply to all regulated qualifications
  • Ofqual GCSE qualification level conditions that apply to all GCSEs
  • Ofqual GCSE subject level conditions that apply to all GCSEs in this subject
  • all other relevant regulatory documents.

The Ofqual qualification accreditation number (QAN) is 601/8400/0 .

5.2 Overlaps with other qualifications

There are no overlaps with any other AQA qualifications at this level.

5.3 Awarding grades and reporting results

The qualification will be graded on a nine-point scale: 1 to 9 – where 9 is the best grade.

Students who fail to reach the minimum standard for grade 1 will be recorded as U (unclassified) and will not receive a qualification certificate.

5.4 Resits and shelf life

Students can resit the qualification as many times as they wish, within the shelf life of the qualification.

5.5 Previous learning and prerequisites

There are no previous learning requirements. Any requirements for entry to a course based on this specification are at the discretion of schools and colleges.

5.6 Access to assessment: diversity and inclusion

General qualifications are designed to prepare students for a wide range of occupations and further study. Therefore our qualifications must assess a wide range of competences.

The subject criteria have been assessed to see if any of the skills or knowledge required present any possible difficulty to any students, whatever their ethnic background, religion, sex, age, disability or sexuality. If any difficulties were encountered, the criteria were reviewed again to make sure that tests of specific competences were only included if they were important to the subject.

As members of the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) we participate in the production of the JCQ document Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments: General and Vocational qualifications . We follow these guidelines when assessing the needs of individual students who may require an access arrangement or reasonable adjustment. This document is published on the JCQ website at jcq.org.uk

5.6.1 Students with disabilities and special needs

We can make arrangements for disabled students and students with special needs to help them access the assessments, as long as the competences being tested are not changed. Access arrangements must be agreed before the assessment. For example, a Braille paper would be a reasonable adjustment for a Braille reader but not for a student who does not read Braille.

We are required by the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to remove or lessen any disadvantage that affects a disabled student.

If you have students who need access arrangements or reasonable adjustments, you can apply using the Access arrangements online service at aqa.org.uk/eaqa

5.6.2 Special consideration

We can give special consideration to students who have been disadvantaged at the time of the assessment through no fault of their own – for example a temporary illness, injury or serious problem such as the death of a relative. We can only do this after the assessment.

Your exams officer should apply online for special consideration at aqa.org.uk/eaqa

For more information and advice about access arrangements, reasonable adjustments and special consideration please see aqa.org.uk/access or email accessarrangementsqueries@aqa.org.uk

5.7 Working with AQA for the first time

If your school or college has not previously offered any AQA specification, you need to register as an AQA centre to offer our specifications to your students. Find out how at aqa.org.uk/becomeacentre

5.8 Private candidates

This specification is available to private candidates.

A private candidate is someone who enters for exams through an AQA-approved school or college but is not enrolled as a student there.

A private candidate may be self-taught, home-schooled or have private tuition, either with a tutor or through a distance learning organisation. You must be based in the UK.

If you have any queries as a private candidate, you can: