The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. Public schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. However, private schools in Scotland often choose to follow the English GCSE system.
AQA Education, trading as AQA, is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds examinations in various subjects at GCSE, AS and A Level and offers vocational qualifications. AQA is a registered charity and independent of the government. However, its qualifications and exam syllabi are regulated by the Government of the United Kingdom, which is the regulator for the public examinations system in England and Wales.
Edexcel is a British multinational education and examination body formed in 1996 and wholly owned by Pearson plc since 2005. It is the only privately owned examination board in the United Kingdom. Its name is a portmanteau term combining the words education and excellence.
The Advanced Extension Awards are a type of school-leaving qualification in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, usually taken in the final year of schooling, and designed to allow students to "demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills to the full". Currently, it is only available for Mathematics and offered by the exam board Edexcel.
An examination board is an organization that sets examinations, is responsible for marking them, and distributes the results. Some are run by governmental entities; some are run as not-for-profit organizations.
Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR) is an examination board that sets examinations and awards qualifications. It is one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland's five main examination boards.
The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) is an awarding body in Northern Ireland. It develops and delivers qualifications, including GCSEs, AS, and A Levels, and provides curriculum support and assessments for schools. CCEA is a non-departmental public body and regulator, approving and monitoring Awarding Organisations offering qualifications in Northern Ireland.
WJEC is an examination board providing examinations, professional development and educational resources to schools and colleges in Wales and Northern Ireland under its own name, and the Eduqas brand for England.
A private candidate, also known as an external candidate, in the UK examination system is a person who enters an examination but is not enrolled as a student at the centre where he or she sits the exam. They may have trained themselves for the exam, been taught privately, or studied at an institution which is not a registered examination centre. Centres are not compelled to accept private candidates, and many do not.
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based secondary qualification similar to the GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attainment. It was developed by Cambridge Assessment International Education. The examination boards Edexcel, Learning Resource Network (LRN), and Oxford AQA also offer their own versions of International GCSEs. Students normally begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 10 and take the test at the end of Year 11. However, in some international schools, students can begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 9 and take the test at the end of Year 10.
The A-level is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational authorities of British Crown dependencies to students completing secondary or pre-university education. They were introduced in England and Wales in 1951 to replace the Higher School Certificate. The A-level permits students to have potential access to a chosen university they applied to with UCAS points. They could be accepted into it should they meet the requirements of the university.
The Associated Examining Board (AEB) was an examination board serving England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1953 until 2000 when it merged with NEAB to form AQA.
The O-Level is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It began in the United Kingdom and has been adopted, often with modifications, in several other countries.
In the United Kingdom, an awarding body is an examination board which sets examinations and awards qualifications, such as GCSEs and A-levels. Additionally, these Awarding Bodies provide professional awards in the form of tertiary level Certificates, Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas, Graduate Diplomas, and Post Graduate Diplomas. There are seven main examination boards in the United Kingdom:
The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) is a non-ministerial government department that regulates qualifications, exams and tests in England. Colloquially and publicly, Ofqual is often referred to as the exam "watchdog".
Examination boards in the United Kingdom are the examination boards responsible for setting and awarding secondary education level qualifications, such as GCSEs, Standard Grades, A Levels, Highers and vocational qualifications, to students in the United Kingdom.
The A-level is a main school leaving qualification of the General Certificate of Education in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is available as an alternative qualification in other countries, where it is similarly known as an A-Level.
The Entry Level Certificate (ELC) is a qualification offered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It lies at Entry Level of the National Qualifications Framework, pitching it just below GCSE level.
Additional Mathematics is a qualification in mathematics, commonly taken by students in high-school. It features a range of problems set out in a different format and wider content to the standard Mathematics at the same level.
