September 2026 International Science Qualification News
Hello colleagues,
Welcome back to a new academic year! I hope those of you who are returning from a holiday have had some quality rest and relaxation, and that you are looking forward to working with your students in the year ahead. This update repeats some key information you may have missed from the past couple of months including links to key results support for those of you analysing results or supporting students who sat exams in May and June. There's also a reminder that we are looking for teachers to help us improve our IAL science courses, links to find the IAL Biology scientific articles for the October Unit 5 exam, and 'onboarding guides' for anyone new to teaching our IAL courses. You'll also find the usual key dates, upcoming training and FAQs below.
As ever, don't hesitate to get in touch if I can help in any way - why not book a Teams call with me (follow the link below) if it would be helpful to talk something over?
Best wishes,
Tim Lawrence
Pearson Edexcel Subject Advisor for International Science Qualifications
In this update:
- Key dates
- Understanding results and supporting students
- IAL Biology, Chemistry and Physics development research
- IAL Biology scientific articles available
- Free onboarding guides for teachers new to Pearson Edexcel
- Upcoming training (CPD) opportunities
- FAQs from teachers of international science courses
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 12 September | October/November Int GCSE exam entry deadline |
| 24 September | Deadline for Reviews of Marking for May/June exam series |
| 24 September | October IAL exam deadline to amend entries avoiding high late fees |
| 16 October | January IAL exam entry deadline |
| 11 December | Deadline for Access to Scripts for May/June exam series |
Final exam timetables for the summer 2027 exam series are available on our webpage linked below.
Teachers interested in services such as Review of Marking and Moderation, and Resultsplus and Access to Scripts (both of which can be invaluable tools for improving teaching through analysis of exam performance) may find our results support page helpful now. If you've not used Resultsplus before consider booking a Teams call with me so I can show you how to get the most out of it!
Written permission from students is required for both reviews of marking and access to scripts.
This is a 'final invite' to join our Teacher Research Panel for IAL Biology, Chemistry and Physics. We want to know what is working, what isn't working and everything in between! You can be involved as much or as little as your time allows and activities could range from simple surveys to more detailed focus groups, as we explore ways to improve these qualifications.
If you are keen to be involved and provide feedback through multiple research opportunities, we want to hear from you! If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, please fill in the form below to indicate your interest.
The scientific articles for the October series for IAL Biology Unit 5 (WBI15) have been published on the 'teaching and learning materials' page - see link below, and a link to our FAQ document on how teachers should use the article to help students prepare for this exam.
As for the May/June series there are two scientific articles, the standard WBI15_01 article and the WBI15_01A article which is for candidates taking the new regional paper. This is only available in a specific region – most countries covered by the regional International GCSE papers are not included in this. If in doubt, please check with your Exams Officer who will receive official confirmation covering which article you should use., or feel free to contact me on teachingscience@pearson.com FAO Tim Lawrence.
You may need to scroll to the bottom of the list of scientific articles to find the current October 2026 articles.
We're sharing these once more for the benefit of teachers new to Pearson who may have missed my preivious update! The guides below have been produced to aid teachers who are new to our specifications, and include advice on free and paid-for resources to support planning and teaching, sources of support and training opportunities.
Free online 'Understanding Assessment and Improving Delivery' training events are running in September on the following dates:
- 17 September Int GCSE Biology Getting Ready To Teach
- 17 September iLowerSecondary Exploring Science webinar
- 21 September Int GCSE (modular) Biology Getting Ready To Teach
- 23 September IAL Biology Getting Ready To Teach
More online events for International GCSE and IAL Biology are available to book now (all via the link below) including 'Enhancing Teaching through Exam Insights' and 'Marking with Accuracy and Insight' events.
Online events for Chemistry and Physics will be launched for booking shortly and you can find them through the link below too.
We have face-to-face training events ready to book onto, for teachers of our International GCSE and IAL science courses in the following locations between September and November:
- Dhaka, Bangladesh -
- Nicosia, Cyprus
- Cairo, Egypt
- Greece
- Kuwait City, Kuwait
- Karachi, Pakistan
- Islamabad, Pakistan
- Lahore, Pakistan
- Doha, Qatar
- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Dubai, UAE
View all International Science courses available and book your places.
We also provide centre-based training opportunities. If this is something you would like to explore, please visit our training page below.
The questions below have been asked during training events recently, in our Facebook group or in emails to teachingscience@pearson.com:
No, for students starting their courses in September 2026 our specifications are unchanged from last year. For linear International GCSE sciences these are the 2017 specifications, and for modular they are those introduced in 2024. For International A Levels they are our 2018 specifications. Look out for announcements about the development of new specifications in the near future however.
Yes, the full list of formulae / equations that has been provided to students in physics exams for International GCSE Physics, Double Award and Single Award Science (and the modular versions of these courses) is now confirmed for the lifetime of these courses.
For schools and colleges outside the UK the best choice for science courses are our International GCSEs (with a choice of linear or modular versions) and International A Levels.
UK GCSEs and 'GCE A Levels' require endorsement of students' practical work with monitoring by Pearson, and this is often complicated or impossible to arrange.
Top UK Universities including Oxford, Cambridge and UCL have confirmed that they have no preference between UK science A Levels and IAL. Their requirement that A Level candidates achieve a pass in the 'practical endorsement' element of their A Levels for science courses only applies to students in the UK. Like our IAL courses, IB students do not have any assessment of their practical skills, and for this reason we advise international centres to follow IAL courses.
However if monitoring visits can be arranged (generally paid for by the school) UK A Levels can be offered by international centres in some cases.
Yes, as long as bilingual translation dictionaries have simple translations of words and not definitions, and they are confirmed to be 'clean copies' with no additional notes in them, they can be used by students whose first language is not English while sitting their exams.
Subject advisor
Irine Muhiuddin and Tim Lawrence
UK and International Science
