Important: 2015 entry deadlines, oral exam windows and other key dates for language teachers

New entries deadlines

This year’s entries deadline for GCSE, A level and Entry Level Certificates is earlier than last year for UK centres. The deadline is 21 February 2015. However, the entries deadline for these qualifications at international centres remains 21 March, 2015. 

The entries deadline for International GCSE and Edexcel Certificates qualifications both in the UK and internationally is 21 March, 2015.

Please be advised that your school may also impose an earlier internal deadline for the above qualifications.

2015 oral windows

Please note that the oral examinations for each of the following qualifications should be undertaken on one day only unless your centre has a large cohort, in which case it is possible to undertake them on consecutive days. Different days can, of course, be allocated to different languages.

The windows for the orals in all of our language qualifications are given below:

GCSE Arabic, Greek, Japanese and Russian: 7 March–15 May 2015.

GCSE Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Urdu are assessed via controlled assessments so there is no fixed oral assessment window.

Edexcel Certificate and International GCSE:

• Chinese: 15 March–19 May 2015*
• French: 15 March–12 May 2015*
• German: 15 March–3 June 2015*
• Spanish: 15 March–15 May 2015*.

* The last date of the orals window for the Edexcel Certificates and International GCSEs coincides with the date of the last written exam.

The oral unit is compulsory for students taking the above qualifications. However, our International GCSE qualifications in other languages do not feature an oral component.

International GCSE English (2nd Language): 15 April–10 June 2015.

Please note that the oral for this qualification is a separate and optional component that does not contribute to the overall qualification marks.

A level Arabic, Greek and Japanese: No oral element.

A level Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Urdu: 4 April–15 May 2015.

GCSE controlled assessments submission deadline

GCSE Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Urdu: 15 May 2015.

All work requested for the oral sample must be submitted to your allocated moderator and both of the controlled writing tasks from all of your students must also be sent to the examiner allocated to your centre by the above date. Please be advised that your school may also impose an earlier internal deadline than the above.

A level London orals

Pearson Edexcel offers a London Centre Orals service which enables students from your centre to undertake their A level orals with an Edexcel-appointed examiner in London. This facility is only available for the following A level languages and is not available for our other language qualifications:

• Russian
• Italian
• German
• Spanish
• Urdu. 

This is particularly useful for private candidates, where there may not be a teacher of the language in place. You'll find more information about this facility in the following guide:

You will need to send the OR7 form below to LondonCentreOrals@pearson.com.

The deadline date to request a London Centre Oral for your candidates is 13 February 2015.