Please note the following statement from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), the membership organisation comprising the main UK exam boards, namely AQA, Edexcel, OCR, and WJEC.

If you sat GCSE or A level exams with us in May/June 2017 and have any questions or concerns relating to this, please contact us directly on (01625) 501440.

Special consideration: Minimum requirements for enhanced grades reduced to 25%

The move to linear qualifications and recent tragic events have led the awarding organisations to review how enhanced grades are awarded for GCE and GCSE qualifications.

When a candidate has missed a timetabled component/unit for acceptable reasons and the exam centre is prepared to support an application for special consideration, an adjustment may be made to the terminal grade.

Current minimum requirements for enhanced grading in cases of acceptable absence require candidates to have sat at least 40% of the assessment. Awarding organisations have decided to lower this percentage to 25%.  In rare and extenuating circumstances, awarding organisations have the discretion to make an award on a lower percentage.

Therefore, candidates who have missed a timetabled component/unit for acceptable reasons and the centre is prepared to support an application for special consideration, the candidate must have taken at least 25% of the assessment for the awarding organisation to consider an enhanced grade.

The change will be implemented retrospectively for candidates who were due to take examinations in May and June 2017. Please note that for unitised AS/A level qualifications, an A level award will not be issued on the basis of AS units alone.

The Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual have mandated that any candidate undertaking a reformed A/AS Level Science specification with a JCQ awarding body (AQA, Edexcel, OCR) must be given the opportunity to attempt the accompanying Practical Endorsement at the same centre with which they are sitting the written papers. In other words, if you wish to attend Macclesfield Tutorial College and attempt the Practical Endorsement in our fully equipped laboratory, you must also be entered for the written examinations with our Examination Centre.

Attempting the Practical Endorsement is not compulsory, although the development and testing of practical skills is a central component of all A Level Science qualifications, so some experience in a laboratory will prove invaluable and maximise your chances of success in the written exams since a proportion of the questions will focus on practical skills and data interpretation.

Please visit our GCE Science Practical Requirements page for full details, including the value for money Practical Packages we offer.