FAQs

In preparation for the final onscreen examination, there is opportunity for students to sit onscreen mock exams. 

For customers delivering onscreen assessments for qualifications in May/June 2024, we are excited to be able to offer 15% off Onscreen Pearson Marked mocks service.

The mock opportunities will give your students a chance to experience using the platform to respond to questions under an exam-style scenario. This not only allows them to become familiar with item types, the layout of the onscreen assessment and how to use onscreen tools but also gives them a chance to see how much they enjoy the experience and how it benefits them responding to assessment style questions without the pressure of it being a high-stakes final assessment.

This will help to prepare them for what the onscreen exam experience will be like and give them confidence in the use of the platform.

We will welcome feedback from your centre after sitting mock exams and the final onscreen assessment. This is likely to take the form of completing a survey sent out by Pearson and then a possible online follow-up with a member of our onscreen team to dig a little deeper into your responses.

Your feedback is vital throughout the process so that we can get insight into your students’ experience and will play an important role in the development of our exciting onscreen assessment offer. It’s important to us that the onscreen experience is as intuitive and enjoyable for students as possible.

The onscreen mock exams will provide your students with invaluable preparation for the final onscreen assessments and our expectation is that centres who register their interest will enter their students for the onscreen exams. There may be exceptions to this, and where this is the case, we hope to be in communication with centres to understand any concerns they might have about taking the final assessment onscreen.

Accessing the Sample Assessment Materials is easy and teachers and students can follow the below process to try out our onscreen platform:

Follow this link to the platform > Click on “Don’t have an account” > Enter your email address as your UserID > Wait for an automatic email to confirm your email address > Proceed to log in. 

The mock service will give your students a chance to sit a past paper onscreen, and have it marked by our expert marking team.

This is a paid-for service. However, for customers delivering onscreen assessments for qualifications in May/June 2024, we are excited to be able to offer 15% off Onscreen Pearson Marked mocks service. Learn more about the Pearson Mocks Service.

Centres can sit their mock exams at any time that suits them on their chosen date. There are no specific start times for mock exams.

The onscreen mock exams will provide your students with invaluable preparation for the final onscreen assessments and our expectation is that centres who register their interest will enter their students for the onscreen exams. There may be exceptions to this, and where this is the case, we hope to be in communication with centres to understand any concerns they might have about taking the final assessment onscreen.

Accessing the Sample Assessment Materials is easy, and teachers and students can follow the below process to try out our onscreen platform:

Follow this link to the platform > Click on “Don’t have an account” > Enter your email address as your UserID > Wait for an automatic email to confirm your email address > Proceed to log in.

Windows and Mac devices can be centre or candidate-owned. However, we are only supporting centre-owned Chromebooks at this time. 

For the high stakes live onscreen assessments on Mac and Windows devices you must install our secure browser prior to the exam and run it on the day. This will prevent the device from accessing the wider internet or other applications during the exam. For Chromebooks, you do not need to download the secure browser, but you must have them set up in Kiosk-mode for the live exam. This is not a requirement for running your mock exam, but we do recommend trialling the secure browser in at least one of your mocks so that you have experience of the set-up prior to the exam day.

Centres will be able to use computers and laptops to sit their mock and onscreen assessments. Windows and Mac devices can be centre- or candidate-owned devices, as long as they meet the requirements below.

Chromebooks must be centre-owned as we do not currently support the use of candidate-owned Chromebooks.

All devices must run supported operating systems and the device must still be able to receive and install updates. For example, a device that is not able to download software any newer than Microsoft Windows 7 would not be able to be used as it is no longer supported by Microsoft, as they have transitioned to Windows 8, 9, 10 and 11.

Tablets cannot be used to sit mock and onscreen assessments at this time.

As with all our Pearson Edexcel exams, we’re committed to ensuring fairness and security and following consistent processes—no matter how the exam is completed.  High-stakes onscreen exams are delivered through a highly secure, browser-based system or lockdown of device (Chromebooks in kiosk mode). Strict restrictions are in place regarding when the papers can be accessed and only in the secure environment, so they can’t be accessed before the exam.  
 
The exams can only be taken on Windows or MAC devices (centre or student-owned) that have a Secure Exam Browser installed or Chromebooks in kiosk mode. This means that everything other than the exam itself is locked down, so there is no way of accessing any other programs or the internet.

Should a candidate's connection be lost during an onscreen exam, they can continue working through their responses, as their work is being saved locally to their device. As soon as the internet connection is restored, their locally saved work is uploaded to us. If the internet connection is not restored by the end of the exam, we'll help you retrieve the candidate's work from their device, so that it can be marked.  

The onscreen invigilation ratio for onscreen is different from the invigilation ratio for paper-based exams and is one invigilator per 20 students (as opposed to one invigilator per 30 students).

Each work station must be isolated by a minimum space of 1.25 metres measured from the nearest outer edge of one screen to the next, unless the monitors are positioned back-to-back or separated by dividers or protected by privacy screens.

Appropriate steps must be taken to ensure that this can be achieved. The diagram below indicates how centres may wish to organise the exam space.

The texts for the 4EA1 exams are presented onscreen where students can use onscreen annotation tools. These include highlighting, sticky notes and the onscreen notepad function during their planning and as they respond to the questions. Watch this short video for more information about these onscreen features.

Taking a test Onscreen - English video (3:44)

There are several other tools available within the platform, including the zoom function and colour filters, which allow learners to enhance their onscreen experience and to customise their use of the onscreen platform.

The onscreen Sample Assessment Materials and mocks allow learners to familiarise themselves with the onscreen features and be confident in the digital experience, ahead of the final assessment.

Learners may not take notes into the examination room.

However, they can be provided with blank paper in the exam, should they wish to take notes by hand. Please be aware that these notes will not be marked.

Any extra time requirements for candidates should be applied for ahead of the exam through the normal route via the Pearson Access Arrangements online tool, accessible via Edexcel Online (EOL).

Yes - centres who offer the coursework pathway for International GCSE English Language A and International GCSE English Literature can still register for onscreen assessment. Students will sit paper 1 onscreen but will continue to complete and submit the coursework component as normal.

Both paper-based and onscreen will follow the normal awarding process. Measures will be in place to ensure fairness and consistency so that no student is advantaged or disadvantaged as a result of the medium they choose to take the exam.

We understand that centres will have different circumstances. While we expect that many centres will be keen for all students to enter for onscreen assessment, others may choose to split their entry between paper-based and onscreen assessment. A reminder that the mock service will be free of charge only for those learners entered for onscreen assessment for customers delivering onscreen assessments for qualifications in May/June 2024, we are excited to be able to offer 15% off Onscreen Pearson Marked mocks service.