If you are a student registering with the British Council to sit for UK international school qualifications this FAQs guide will help you.
UK international school qualifications can unlock opportunities for students worldwide
The British Council delivers international school exams for private candidates on behalf of three UK-based awarding bodies: Cambridge International Education, OxfordAQA and Pearson Edexcel.
You can learn more about the awarding bodies, their qualifications and the subjects they offer from their websites:
Cambridge International Education:
https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/
OxfordAQA:
https://www.aqa.org.uk/qualifications
Pearson Edexcel:
Cambridge’s IGCSE, O Level and AS/A Level exams can be sat
in May/June and October/November.
Pearson Edexcel’s International GCSE and International Advanced Levels can be sat in May/June and October/November.
You can also sit International Advanced Levels in January.
OxfordAQA’s International GCSE and International Advanced Levels can be sat in May/June. You can also sit International GCSE in October/November, and International Advanced Levels in January.
You can learn more about the awarding bodies, their qualifications and the subjects they offer from their websites:
Cambridge International Education:
https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/
OxfordAQA:
https://www.aqa.org.uk/qualifications
Pearson Edexcel:
You can register and pay for your exams through the British Council’s School Registration System (SRS).
No. A parent/guardian must register you if you’re under 18 years old. Please follow the instructions on the School Registration System (SRS) carefully to ensure the registration is accepted
The awarding bodies and the British Council don’t impose any age restrictions to sit these exams.
In some countries the Ministry of Education only allows private candidates if certain conditions are met. Please check the School Registration System (SRS) link for the country where you’re registering
No, not all subjects are available to private candidates. You can
find a full list of the subjects available on the School Registration System (SRS).
No, the British Council doesn’t provide any teaching or educational support for these exams.
Please check with the university for information about the subjects and grades needed for admission.
The subject syllabus, past exam papers and other resources
are available on the awarding bodies’ websites.
Yes. You can request a transfer at the Centre you first registered with. They will then process the transfer once they receive approval from the new Centre.
The British Council is unable to provide recommendations about teaching or educational support for these exams.
Access arrangements are for candidates with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries/illnesses
If you’re eligible for an access arrangement, you can submit an application to the British Council to forward to the awarding body. You must provide a valid medical certificate to support your application.
Yes. You must submit a new application for access arrangements for each exam series. Approval for access arrangements can’t be carried forward from a previous series.
You can register and pay for your exams through the British Council’s School Registration System portal.
You must make your payment before the deadline shown on the School Registration System (SRS) or the registration won’t be submitted to the awarding body.
A valid NADRA issued CNIC for Pakistani Nationals or Passport for non – Pakistani nationals.
You can register to sit exams at two different centres during the same series with the same awarding body, but not for the same subjects but British Council do not recommend this.
Yes, you can change the payment method on the School Registration System (SRS).
Yes, you can register for more than one qualification with multiple awarding bodies in the same series. For example, a candidate
can sit Cambridge A Level Physics and Pearson IAL Physics in the same series.
You can’t register for the same subject in different qualifications with the same awarding body. For example, a candidate can’t sit Cambridge IGCSE Physics and Cambridge A Level Physics in the same series.
Yes, you can make changes, but any amendments made after the registration deadline on the School Registration System (SRS) will incur a late fee.
Yes, you can still register, but registrations made after the deadline on the School Registration System (SRS) will incur a late fee and subject to approval from British Council.
You must bring and show the following documents:
— a hard copy of your Statement of Entry (SoE)
— a valid passport or National ID.
Candidates who can’t present these documents risk not being allowed to sit the exam.
Not recommended, as this might delay your exam entry, always remember to bring to valid ID documents used to register on School Registration System (SRS).
You will receive your Statement of Entry (SoE) and Venue Letter via email from the British Council two to three weeks before the start of the exam series.
It’s important that you bring a hard copy of your Statement of Entry (SoE) and a valid passport or national ID.
Make sure you check the subject syllabus and Venue Letter so that you know what materials to bring to the exam. The British Council doesn’t provide any stationery for exams.
Statement of Entry (SoE) and Venue Letter are sent via email from the British Council two to three weeks before the start of the exam series.
You’ll sit both exams consecutively, with a 10-minute supervised break between the exams.
During the supervised break, you won’t be allowed to leave
the examination venue, communicate with other candidates
or have access to the internet.
Special consideration is a post-exam adjustment made to a candidate’s mark by the awarding body to allow for any adverse circumstances faced by the candidate on the day of the exam,
for example illness, bereavement, temporary injury or disruption
to an exam.
If you think you’re eligible for special consideration, you can submit an application to the British Council to forward to the awarding body. You must provide a valid medical certificate to support your application.
If missing an exam component is unavoidable, in some circumstances the awarding body may agree to award an overall grade based on your marks in the other papers. You must provide
a valid medical certificate to support your application.
If you’re forced to miss all exam components for a subject, the awarding body won’t award a grade under any circumstances.
In the rare event that an exam is cancelled, the awarding body may decide to provide candidates with an overall grade based on their marks in the other components.
The awarding bodies post results online approximately six weeks after the exam series. Hard-copy certificates are dispatched on candidate registered postal address
You’ll receive access to your results from the British Council.
Details about grading are available on the awarding bodies’ websites and can be found on the back of each Statement of Results and certificate.
RESULT PENDING’ indicates that a result can’t be issued at present but will follow in due course. ‘RESULT PENDING’ is reported on the Statement of Results but not on the certific
UNGRADED’ indicates that a candidate hasn’t reached the standard required to achieve a grade. ‘UNGRADED’ is reported on the Statement of Results but not on the certificate.
NO RESULT’ indicates that a result can’t be issued because the candidate was absent for one of the components. ‘NO RESULT’ is reported on the Statement of Results but not on the certificate.
Yes, candidates can appeal their results. The awarding bodies charge a fee for this service, which is refunded if the overall grade improves. Currently only result enquiries related to Cambridge can be applied directly through the School Registration System (SRS). Pearson and OxfordAQA call it RoMM (Review of Marking and Moderation). You will need to contact the British Council to request this service on your behalf.
Result enquiries take between six and eight weeks.
Yes, you can resit any exam the next time it’s available.
Yes, if you resit an exam, the highest grade counts.
The Statement of Results contains provisional results, which allows you to request a result enquiry from the awarding body. The certificate contains the final confirmed result.
We send the results via courier to the provided address.
No. Awarding bodies will only provide one original certificate.
We send the results via courier to the provided address.
The British Council keeps Statements of Results and certificates for one year. If you don’t collect them during that time, you have to request replacements from the awarding body
Please contact British Council Pakistan for verification service.Information to reach us are available through contact us page or you can click here to navigate to that page.
No. Certificates and certifying statements can’t be changed.
No. However, you can request a certifying statement directly from the awarding body.